《大学英语阅读教程》unit 6-1.pptVIP

At the end of May it was still cold, we were still swimming indoors, and I mentioned that I would be leaving next winter to work on a book about human-animal relationships. Her eyes widened, and she told me about Stormy Weather. Eleanor was born in the desert of Texas, grew up in the farmlands of central Florida, and spent her teenage years in the hills of Maine. Her father was a Texas horseman, and whenever the family moved, it was always to a place where her father could keep his horse. The family house and the stables were just different parts of her home to Eleanor. From the beginning she rode tucked in front of her father on his horse. When she wasn’t old enough to ride a horse herself, she rode together with her father, protected in the space formed with her father’s both hands holding the rein. The situation was difficult for Eleanor’s mother, who was afraid of horses. She imagined all of the accidents that can happen around horses happening to her child. In her mother’s visions, Eleanor wandered into the corral(畜栏) and was kicked by a horse. Or she was riding with her father and as the horse reared, her father lost his hold on her and she fell and was trampled. Or she was riding with her father, and when the horse tried to stand his back legs, her father lost his control over her and she fell and was hurt by the horse. Her fears were compounded by her knowledge that there was something wrong with Eleanors sight. The horse was already much more powerful than her tiny child. The horse would sense the childs added weakness and use it against the child. Knowing about Eleanor’s poor eyesight made her even more afraid. Eleanor was born with limited depth perception. When she walked, she couldnt see the ground clearly. So Eleanor, as a three-year-old child, did not see the edge and fell down a staircase. She was fitted for glasses after this fall. But it is hard for a child to keep her glasses on. Essentially, her visual world was a sphere of clarity close aroun