That sound you hear is an elevated train rushing up Sixth Avenue in New York City.
The year is 1902. It's a different world. ( One where ) a cup of coffee costs a nickel,
a postage stamp costs two cents, and that's what you pay for daily paper - two cents.
Can you hear the clopping of horses' hoofs and the creak of wagons ?
There's hardly an automobile of any sort; they haven't caught on yet.
And over there at the corner of 16th Street is Gorman's rooming house.
Mrs. Gorman gets eight dollars a week for that dingy little room right on the elevated train tracks. It 's rented by Jim and Della Young.
They've been married a year, and they're oh-so-in-love.
Jim has just come home from his job as a draftsman in an architect's office.
It's fierce to have to work that hard for twenty dollars a week . but thing will get better.
Kids across the street singing Christmas carols.
It's Monday, so day after tomorrow is Christmas.
Christmas is going to be so skimpy this year.
we don't even have a Christmas tree
You do love my hair, don't you?
I never saw anything like it.
We've gotta gotta get out of this place; I can't even kiss my girl in peace and quiet.
Look how big the flakes are. Won't last long.
好大的雪花片片，下不了多久的
Still a lot of people out shopping.
Look at them all over there in front of the jewelry shop. I wonder what' s got
them hooked.
Putting the rings on his toes,huh?
Excuse me, sir what's the crowd about?
Claim they have the largest topaz in the world in the window there. I think it's glass.
It's too heavy. You'd have to put your hand in a sling.
Certainly is a big one.
It would be just right with your granddaddy's watch.
It says so right there beside it. That's more than a week's pay for me. come on.
I'm gonna make this town sit up and take notice.(make +O+Vo 句型)
You'll have the world's largest topaz, and tortoise shell combs in that beautiful hair;
and the combs will be inlaid with diamonds. you wait and see.
Della get down the little jar( where she kept the pennies and nickels she'd been so carefully saving )ever since their wedding day.
What can I buy him for a dollar eighty-seven cents?
You and Jim have a fight or something?
But you look like you're about ti burst into tears.
that's all I've got( in the world )to buy a Christmas present for Jim.
What can I get for a dollar eighty-seven cents, for heaven's sakes?
1. 在疑問字（wh-word）後面上副詞 on earth，其意義是「到底；究竟」，表加強語氣。
2. 與 on earth 同樣用法與意義的副詞另外有：
ever, the devil, the hell, in the world, in the name of common sense
精選例句：
1. 你們到底在談論些什麼？
What on earth are you talking about?
2. 你究竟要求什麼？
What in the world did you ask for?
I saw a rocking chair in the furniture store down the street for a dollar and a half. 一塊半
He'll treasure all his life.
That would set you back some.
Sell my hair? You can't be serious.
How long is your hair?
Golly, it reaches below your knees!
Another girlfriend of mine sold her hair, not to Madam Sofronie, but that one really cut it
pretty short. I've gotta be honest with you.
And then what did your friend do? I mean, how did she fix her hair?
She put it up in curls, you know. And I've got to say,
she kinda looked like one of those Coney Island chorus girls.
You're getting set to do it, are't you!
Maybe.let's go down and talk to that Madam Sofronie.
I was thinking about a gold bracelet, maybe, Or...or even one of those,
you know, pearl necklaces with the cultured pearls, but forget it .
After ( the pay cut ) we got, it's not in the cards.
after : 介係詞
Della and I even priced them. Do you know how much they are?
Twenty-five bucks!
Ew! This's highway robbery.
that's what the clock ( out there ) says.
I told you it belonged to my grandfather.
You fellas going to spend the whole morning gossiping, like a couple of old ladies over the back fence?
Back across town, Della and Mabel are standing in the street in front of a shop (bearing a sign)
which reads, " Hair Goods, Bought and Sold - Madam Sofronie."
That thing sure makes a peck of noise.
I'm half scared to death.
if you decide you don't what to do it, you can always leave.
Is there anyone here ?
I'm comin'. I'll be there right away.
Let your hair down, Del, so she can see what she's buying.
isn't that a fine-looking head of hair.
Della here wants to know how much you'll pay her for her hair.
but cut it off just below the shoulders.
that's two and a half feet or so...Twelve dollars.
If you cut it off close, what would you give her?
she's got an Irish temper. You're as Irish as I am.
I thought "Sofronie" would be Italian or something.
I'm as Irish as Paddy's pig.
My born name's O'Callahan. Sofronie was my husband.
It has the right sound for the hair business. kinda chic, don't you think?
It surely is.
thank you very much, Madam Sofronie, for your time.
It bein' the Christmas season and all...twenty dollars it is. but I want
you to understand I'll be cuttin' it pretty close.
A Christmas present from me to you.
Let's get on with it. here, sit right down here in this chair. I'll get me scissors.
It'll only take a minute, girl. I'll have it off in no time at all.
You're getting twenty dollars. That's what you want, and that's what you want,
and that's what you need to buy the present for Jim, so don't lose your nerve.
You can look in the mirror or not as you like.
Might as well look. You're gonna have to face up to it sometime.
Your hubby will say he never saw the like.
My hubby will kill me, and I won't blame him.
you see how quick it is; I'm half done already.
there must be two pounds of it here.
Your head's going to feel a whole lot lighter,girl
Now there's a girl with a head on her shoulders. I'll get it for you right away.
it's in the backroom.
I'll need all the luck I can get.
The damage was done. Del and Mabel hurried home through the snow to see if
there was any way to conceal, repair or improve the carnage wrought by Madame
Sofronie's busy scissors.
We need to light the gas on the stove so we can heat the curling iron.
look how I look, isn't that the worst?
It's not as though you lost an arm or a leg or something.
it's just hair, and it'll grow back again. So it will take a little time. So what?
So, meantime he'll fall in love with somebody with beautiful long hair like I used to have-
that's so what.
Look, honey, just put your mind on that platinum watch fob you're going to buy Jim.
Just remember, you got a twenty-dollar gold piece to buy it with.
Now, let's get to work on your hair, We're going to make it all little curls, all over your head.
Jim will love it.
But finally the job was done, and any fair-minded person would have to agree that Della
looked as cute as a bug's ear. Her head was all-over curls. She did look a little boyish. and
in the fashions of the time, that was somewhat out of place, but she tried to ignore the long stares as she and Mabel hurried across the street late in the afternoon to Mr. Feldstein,
the jeweler where (the precious platinum watch fob) lay.
Will you stop that? You're getting me nervous. Of course he hasn't sold it. Here we are.
Let's get through the crowd here.
It's gone! It was right there beside the topaz.
I will be with you in a moment.
I have a customer.
The customer left a deposit in the watch fob at noon today, and he said that he would be by by five o'clock to pick it up. But the watch fob is sold.
if he doesn't get here by five o'clock we'll simply sell the watch fob to someone else.
She has the money right there in her purse. and if he isn't here by five o'clock, at
one second after five, we want that watch fob.
The minutes ticked by. Della and Mabel kept their eyes fastened on the front door to the store.
Every time a man walked in, the girls' heart sank. but, no one asked for the watch fob.
your own clock up there on the wall is saying it.
a gold piece and four quarters. 一枚二十塊金幣和四枚兩毛五
These ladies want to purchase the platinum watch fob - the one there's a deposit on.
The customer said he would be by to pick it up at five o'clock.
I think we ought to give the customer who put down the deposit...uh... a moment or
two of grace.
Wrap up the watch fob, Henry, and make a pretty package of it for this pretty young lady.
that's the nicest thing you ever said.
Pretty as a picture, and I hope your husband enjoys the watch fob and appreciates it.
I hope it looks wonderful on his watch. Merry Christmas to you.
what a noble thing to do for her husband, I wish to him...well, never mind.
Henry brought back the watch fob, wrapped in the most beautiful paper Mr. Feldstein could provide. Now Della was radiant and full to bursting with the Christmas spirit.
As they crossed Sixth Avenue, the girls heard the carolers who had been there the night before.
Jim probably won't be home till seven o'clock. Let's stop and listen a minute.
I'd better be getting home. I wanna get things tidied up before I have to face Jimmy
with my boy's haircut. I feel so much better now, now that I have his present right here in my
hand.
It's what I give him that counts with me. I suppose it'll be something simple: a box of
candy or something, because he's just as broke as I am, and he doesn't have any hair
to sell.
That's the first laugh I've heard out of you today.
I know, but I'm still scared.
Della dropped Mable at the door, then she primped and tidied up the drab little room as
best she could and waited for the man she loved. Promptly at seven, she heard those familiar footsteps on the stairs. She took a deep breath, posed herself on the corner of the table and waited.
Don't you like me just as much anyhow? I'm me even without my hair. Jim.
I feel so good in your arms.
Don't make any mistake about me, gal... I don't think there's anything in the way of a
haircut that can make me like my gal less.
--> in the way of
here ,here's something I bought you. Let me
get it out of my pocket here. If you'll unwrap that package, you may see why you had
me going there as first.
You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now.
I wanna see what it looks like it.
Let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use at present.
I sold my watch to buy you the combs.
But in a last word to the wise these days, let it be said that of all those who give gifts,
these two young lovers were the wisest.
As Jim and Della clung to one another, out in the snowy street below, the carolers' voice rose to greet Christmas, and nowhere was the spirit of Christmas more real than in that
little room overlooking the elevated train in New York town. Quietly, the young lovers listened.
it's the very best Christmas anyone could ever have.
Gift of the magi, one of the world's best stories, was written by william Sidney Porter, better known as O.Henry. thank you for spending a little bit of Christmas with us.
The year is 1902. It's a different world. ( One where ) a cup of coffee costs a nickel,
a postage stamp costs two cents, and that's what you pay for daily paper - two cents.
Can you hear the clopping of horses' hoofs and the creak of wagons ?
There's hardly an automobile of any sort; they haven't caught on yet.
And over there at the corner of 16th Street is Gorman's rooming house.
Mrs. Gorman gets eight dollars a week for that dingy little room right on the elevated train tracks. It 's rented by Jim and Della Young.
They've been married a year, and they're oh-so-in-love.
Jim has just come home from his job as a draftsman in an architect's office.
It's fierce to have to work that hard for twenty dollars a week . but thing will get better.
Kids across the street singing Christmas carols.
It's Monday, so day after tomorrow is Christmas.
Christmas is going to be so skimpy this year.
we don't even have a Christmas tree
You do love my hair, don't you?
I never saw anything like it.
We've gotta gotta get out of this place; I can't even kiss my girl in peace and quiet.
Look how big the flakes are. Won't last long.
好大的雪花片片，下不了多久的
Still a lot of people out shopping.
Look at them all over there in front of the jewelry shop. I wonder what' s got
them hooked.
Putting the rings on his toes,huh?
Excuse me, sir what's the crowd about?
Claim they have the largest topaz in the world in the window there. I think it's glass.
It's too heavy. You'd have to put your hand in a sling.
Certainly is a big one.
It would be just right with your granddaddy's watch.
It says so right there beside it. That's more than a week's pay for me. come on.
I'm gonna make this town sit up and take notice.(make +O+Vo 句型)
You'll have the world's largest topaz, and tortoise shell combs in that beautiful hair;
and the combs will be inlaid with diamonds. you wait and see.
Della get down the little jar( where she kept the pennies and nickels she'd been so carefully saving )ever since their wedding day.
What can I buy him for a dollar eighty-seven cents?
You and Jim have a fight or something?
But you look like you're about ti burst into tears.
that's all I've got( in the world )to buy a Christmas present for Jim.
What can I get for a dollar eighty-seven cents, for heaven's sakes?
1. 在疑問字（wh-word）後面上副詞 on earth，其意義是「到底；究竟」，表加強語氣。
2. 與 on earth 同樣用法與意義的副詞另外有：
ever, the devil, the hell, in the world, in the name of common sense
精選例句：
1. 你們到底在談論些什麼？
What on earth are you talking about?
2. 你究竟要求什麼？
What in the world did you ask for?
I saw a rocking chair in the furniture store down the street for a dollar and a half. 一塊半
He'll treasure all his life.
That would set you back some.
Sell my hair? You can't be serious.
How long is your hair?
Golly, it reaches below your knees!
Another girlfriend of mine sold her hair, not to Madam Sofronie, but that one really cut it
pretty short. I've gotta be honest with you.
And then what did your friend do? I mean, how did she fix her hair?
She put it up in curls, you know. And I've got to say,
she kinda looked like one of those Coney Island chorus girls.
You're getting set to do it, are't you!
Maybe.let's go down and talk to that Madam Sofronie.
I was thinking about a gold bracelet, maybe, Or...or even one of those,
you know, pearl necklaces with the cultured pearls, but forget it .
After ( the pay cut ) we got, it's not in the cards.
after : 介係詞
Della and I even priced them. Do you know how much they are?
Twenty-five bucks!
Ew! This's highway robbery.
that's what the clock ( out there ) says.
I told you it belonged to my grandfather.
You fellas going to spend the whole morning gossiping, like a couple of old ladies over the back fence?
Back across town, Della and Mabel are standing in the street in front of a shop (bearing a sign)
which reads, " Hair Goods, Bought and Sold - Madam Sofronie."
That thing sure makes a peck of noise.
I'm half scared to death.
if you decide you don't what to do it, you can always leave.
Is there anyone here ?
I'm comin'. I'll be there right away.
Let your hair down, Del, so she can see what she's buying.
isn't that a fine-looking head of hair.
Della here wants to know how much you'll pay her for her hair.
but cut it off just below the shoulders.
that's two and a half feet or so...Twelve dollars.
If you cut it off close, what would you give her?
she's got an Irish temper. You're as Irish as I am.
I thought "Sofronie" would be Italian or something.
I'm as Irish as Paddy's pig.
My born name's O'Callahan. Sofronie was my husband.
It has the right sound for the hair business. kinda chic, don't you think?
It surely is.
thank you very much, Madam Sofronie, for your time.
It bein' the Christmas season and all...twenty dollars it is. but I want
you to understand I'll be cuttin' it pretty close.
A Christmas present from me to you.
Let's get on with it. here, sit right down here in this chair. I'll get me scissors.
It'll only take a minute, girl. I'll have it off in no time at all.
You're getting twenty dollars. That's what you want, and that's what you want,
and that's what you need to buy the present for Jim, so don't lose your nerve.
You can look in the mirror or not as you like.
Might as well look. You're gonna have to face up to it sometime.
Your hubby will say he never saw the like.
My hubby will kill me, and I won't blame him.
you see how quick it is; I'm half done already.
there must be two pounds of it here.
Your head's going to feel a whole lot lighter,girl
Now there's a girl with a head on her shoulders. I'll get it for you right away.
it's in the backroom.
I'll need all the luck I can get.
The damage was done. Del and Mabel hurried home through the snow to see if
there was any way to conceal, repair or improve the carnage wrought by Madame
Sofronie's busy scissors.
We need to light the gas on the stove so we can heat the curling iron.
look how I look, isn't that the worst?
It's not as though you lost an arm or a leg or something.
it's just hair, and it'll grow back again. So it will take a little time. So what?
So, meantime he'll fall in love with somebody with beautiful long hair like I used to have-
that's so what.
Look, honey, just put your mind on that platinum watch fob you're going to buy Jim.
Just remember, you got a twenty-dollar gold piece to buy it with.
Now, let's get to work on your hair, We're going to make it all little curls, all over your head.
Jim will love it.
But finally the job was done, and any fair-minded person would have to agree that Della
looked as cute as a bug's ear. Her head was all-over curls. She did look a little boyish. and
in the fashions of the time, that was somewhat out of place, but she tried to ignore the long stares as she and Mabel hurried across the street late in the afternoon to Mr. Feldstein,
the jeweler where (the precious platinum watch fob) lay.
Will you stop that? You're getting me nervous. Of course he hasn't sold it. Here we are.
Let's get through the crowd here.
It's gone! It was right there beside the topaz.
I will be with you in a moment.
I have a customer.
The customer left a deposit in the watch fob at noon today, and he said that he would be by by five o'clock to pick it up. But the watch fob is sold.
if he doesn't get here by five o'clock we'll simply sell the watch fob to someone else.
She has the money right there in her purse. and if he isn't here by five o'clock, at
one second after five, we want that watch fob.
The minutes ticked by. Della and Mabel kept their eyes fastened on the front door to the store.
Every time a man walked in, the girls' heart sank. but, no one asked for the watch fob.
your own clock up there on the wall is saying it.
a gold piece and four quarters. 一枚二十塊金幣和四枚兩毛五
These ladies want to purchase the platinum watch fob - the one there's a deposit on.
The customer said he would be by to pick it up at five o'clock.
I think we ought to give the customer who put down the deposit...uh... a moment or
two of grace.
Wrap up the watch fob, Henry, and make a pretty package of it for this pretty young lady.
that's the nicest thing you ever said.
Pretty as a picture, and I hope your husband enjoys the watch fob and appreciates it.
I hope it looks wonderful on his watch. Merry Christmas to you.
what a noble thing to do for her husband, I wish to him...well, never mind.
Henry brought back the watch fob, wrapped in the most beautiful paper Mr. Feldstein could provide. Now Della was radiant and full to bursting with the Christmas spirit.
As they crossed Sixth Avenue, the girls heard the carolers who had been there the night before.
Jim probably won't be home till seven o'clock. Let's stop and listen a minute.
I'd better be getting home. I wanna get things tidied up before I have to face Jimmy
with my boy's haircut. I feel so much better now, now that I have his present right here in my
hand.
It's what I give him that counts with me. I suppose it'll be something simple: a box of
candy or something, because he's just as broke as I am, and he doesn't have any hair
to sell.
That's the first laugh I've heard out of you today.
I know, but I'm still scared.
Della dropped Mable at the door, then she primped and tidied up the drab little room as
best she could and waited for the man she loved. Promptly at seven, she heard those familiar footsteps on the stairs. She took a deep breath, posed herself on the corner of the table and waited.
Don't you like me just as much anyhow? I'm me even without my hair. Jim.
I feel so good in your arms.
Don't make any mistake about me, gal... I don't think there's anything in the way of a
haircut that can make me like my gal less.
--> in the way of
here ,here's something I bought you. Let me
get it out of my pocket here. If you'll unwrap that package, you may see why you had
me going there as first.
You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now.
I wanna see what it looks like it.
Let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use at present.
I sold my watch to buy you the combs.
But in a last word to the wise these days, let it be said that of all those who give gifts,
these two young lovers were the wisest.
As Jim and Della clung to one another, out in the snowy street below, the carolers' voice rose to greet Christmas, and nowhere was the spirit of Christmas more real than in that
little room overlooking the elevated train in New York town. Quietly, the young lovers listened.
it's the very best Christmas anyone could ever have.
Gift of the magi, one of the world's best stories, was written by william Sidney Porter, better known as O.Henry. thank you for spending a little bit of Christmas with us.
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