這週要談的是「少年男喪」題辭。題辭較少,因此這次老師逐條解釋。
1.天不假年:天不願意多借些壽命。假,借之意。
For generations, historians and boat lovers have been trying to
learn more about the brave ship that brought the Pilgrims to America.
The task is a difficult one because Mayflower was such a common
name for ships back in early seventeenth-century England that there
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were at least twenty of them when the Pilgrims left for the New World.
An exact duplicate of the Mayflower has been built in England
and given to the people of the US as a symbol of good will and
common ancestry linking Britons and Americans. The Pilgrims’
Mayflower apparently was built originally as a fishing vessel. It seems
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to have been 90 feet long by 22 feet wide, displacing 180 tons of
water. The duplicate measures 90 feet by 26 feet, displaces 183
tons, and has a crew of 21, as did the original vessel. The new
Mayflower has no motor but travels faster than the old boat.
What happened to the historic boat? So far as can be told, the
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Mayflower went back to less colorful jobs and, not too many years
later, was scrapped. What happened to the beams, masts, and
planking is questionable. In the English city of Abingdon, there is a
Congregational church that contains two heavy wooden pillars. Some
say these pillars are masts from the Mayflower. A barn in the English
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town of Jordans seemed to be built with old ship timbers. Marine
experts said these timbers were impregnated with salt and, if put
together, would form a vessel 90 feet by 22 beet. The man who
owned the farm when the peculiar barn was built was a relative of the
man who appraised the Mayflower when it was scrapped.
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So the original Mayflower may still be doing service ashore while
her duplicate sails the seas again.
Many people do not know how to spend their leisure time wisely.
For some people leisure time merely means idleness, and idleness
__1__ danger. It __2__ a great deal of difference whether people
spend their leisure hours just drifting into some kind of __3__, or
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whether they select wholesome activities. Misuse of leisure time may
__4__ harm to both the individual and the society.
