高中英语 The 39 Steps第三十九级台阶课外阅读素材.docVIP

The 39 Steps第三十九级台阶 The Man Who Died I returned from the City about three oclock on thatMay afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I hadbeen three months in the Old Country, and was fed upwith it. If any one had told me a year ago that I wouldhave been feeling like that I should have laughed athim; but there was the fact. The weather made meliverish, the talk of the ordinary Englishman made mesick, I couldnt get enough exercise, and theamusements of London seemed as flat as soda-waterthat has been standing in the sun. Richard Hannay, Ikept telling myself, you have got into the wrong ditch,my friend, and you had better climb out. It made me bite my lips to think of the plans I hadbeen building up those last years in Bulawayo. I hadgot my pile--not one of the big ones, but good enoughfor me; and I had figured out all kinds of ways ofenjoying myself. My father had brought me out fromScotland at the age of six, and I had never been homesince; so England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me,and I counted on stopping there for the rest of mydays. But from the first I was disappointed with it. In about aweek I was tired of seeing sights, and in less than amonth I had had enough of restaurants and theatresand race-meetings. I had no real pal to go about with,which probably explains things. Plenty of peopleinvited me to their houses, but they didnt seem muchinterested in me. They would fling me a question ortwo about South Africa, and then get on to their ownaffairs. A lot of Imperialist ladies asked me to tea tomeet schoolmasters from New Zealand and editorsfrom Vancouver, and that was the dismallest businessof all. Here was I, thirty-seven years old, sound in windand limb, with enough money to have a good time,yawning my head off all day. I had just about settled toclear out and get back to the veld, for I was the bestbored man in the United Kingdom. That afternoon I had been worrying my brokers aboutinvestments to give my mind something to work on,an