作者：(美)欧·亨利(Henry, O.)
出版社：外语教学与研究出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
欧·亨利短篇小说集(2级)试读：
内容简介
是什么使一座城市异于另一座城市呢？是建筑、气候还是人？城市是由人塑造成的，要想了解一个城市，就必须要了解那个城市的人，了解他们的喜与悲以及他们日常生活的点点滴滴。
20世纪初期，在纽约生活的是怎样一群人呢？现在的纽约人和一百年前有没有不同？岁月流逝，城市越来越大，新的建筑拔地而起，旧的建筑倒下，大大小小的汽车取代了马车，时尚也在变化，但人没有变。这些故事里的纽约人各不相同，但不论是流浪者还是律师，他们的希望同样重要；不论是女招待还是女演员，她们的爱情也同样动人。而且我们可以看到，尽管时光飞逝，人们的希望、担忧和梦想并没有改变。
O. Henry's Short Stories
What makes one city different from another city? Is it the buildings, the weather, the people? It is the people who make a city, and to know a city, you must know its people. You must know what makes them laugh and cry, know the small details of their everyday lives.
What kind of people lived in New York at the beginning of the twentieth century? Are New Yorkers different now from a hundred years ago? Cities grow bigger with the years, new buildings are put up and old buildings are pulled down, horses are replaced by cars and buses, fashions change. But people do not change. The New Yorkers in these stories are very different from each other, but the hopes of a tramp are as important as the hopes of a lawyer; the love of a waitress is as exciting as the love of an actress. And we see that people's hopes and fears and dreams do not change with the years.1The Christmas Presents
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. Every day, when she went to the shops, she spent very little money. She bought the cheapest meat, the cheapest vegetables. And when she was tired, she still walked round and round the shops to find the cheapest food. She saved every cent possible.
Della counted the money again. There was no mistake. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And the next day was Christmas.
She couldn't do anything about it. She could only sit down and cry. So she sat there, in the poor little room, and she cried.
Della lived in this poor little room, in New York, with her husband, James Dillingham Young. They also had a bedroom, and a kitchen and a bathroom — all poor little rooms. James Dillingham Young was lucky, because he had a job, but it was not a good job. These rooms took most of his money. Della tried to find work, but times were bad, and there was no work for her. But when Mr James Dillingham Young came home to his rooms, Mrs James Dillingham Young called him 'Jim' and put her arms round him. And that was good.
Della stopped crying and she washed her face. She stood by the window, and looked out at a grey cat on a grey wall in the grey road. Tomorrow was Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy Jim a Christmas present. Her Jim. She wanted very much to buy him something really fine, something to show how much she loved him.
Suddenly, Della turned round and ran over to look in the glass on the wall. Her eyes were bright.
Now, the James Dillingham Youngs had two very special things. One was Jim's gold watch. It once belonged to his father, and, before that, to his grandfather. The other special thing was Della's hair.
Quickly, Della let down her beautiful, long hair. It fell down her back, and it was almost like a coat around her. Then she put her hair up again, quickly. For a second or two she stood still, and cried a little.
Then she put on her old brown coat, and her old brown hat, turned, and left the room. She went downstairs and out into the road, and her eyes were bright.
She walked along by the shops, and stopped when she came to a door with 'Madame Eloise — Hair' on it. Inside there was a fat woman. She did not look like an 'Eloise'.
'Will you buy my hair?' Della asked.
'I buy hair,' Madame replied. 'Take your hat off, then, and show me your hair.'
The beautiful brown hair fell down.
'Twenty dollars,' Madame said, and she touched the hair with her hand.
'Quick! Cut it off! Give me the money!' Della said. The next two hours went quickly. Della was happy because she was looking round the shops for Jim's present.
At last she found it. It was a gold chain for The Watch. Jim loved his watch, but it had no chain. When Della saw this gold chain, she knew immediately that it was right for Jim. She must have it.
The shop took twenty-one dollars from her for it, and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents.
When she arrived there, she looked at her very short hair in the glass. 'What can I do with it?' she thought. For the next half an hour she was very busy.
Then she looked again in the glass. Her hair was now in very small curls all over her head. 'Oh, dear. I look like a schoolgirl!' she said to herself. 'What's Jim going to say when he sees me?'
At seven o'clock the dinner was nearly ready and Della was waiting. 'Oh, I hope he thinks that I'm still beautiful!' she thought.
The door opened and Jim came in and closed it. He looked very thin and he needed a new coat. His eyes were on Della. She could not understand the look on his face, and she was afraid. He was not angry or surprised. He just watched her, with that strange look on his face.
Della ran to him.
'Jim,' she cried. 'Don't look at me like that. I sold my hair because I wanted to give you a present. It will soon be long again. I had to do it, Jim. Say "Happy Christmas", please. I have a wonderful present for you!'
'You've cut off your hair?' asked Jim.
'Yes. I cut it off and sold it,' Della said. 'But don't you love me any more, Jim? I'm still me.'
Jim looked round the room.
'You say your hair has gone?' he said, almost stupidly.
'Yes. I told you. Because I love you! Shall I get the dinner now, Jim?'
Suddenly Jim put his arms round his Della. Then he took something from his pocket and put it on the table.
'I love you, Della,' he said. 'It doesn't matter if your hair is short or long. But if you open that, you'll see why I was unhappy at first.'
Excited, Della pulled off the paper. Then she gave a little scream of happiness. But a second later there were cries of unhappiness.
Because there were The Combs — the combs for her beautiful
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