Unit Four


In big cities Like New York, you can find homeless women with shopping bags wandering on the streets. They choose to live in an isolated, mistrustful world of their own. They are called lady hermits or just shopping-bag ladies.


LADY HERMITS WHO ARE DOWN BUT NOT OUT


Every large city has its shifting population of vagrants. But in most cases these are men, usually with an unhealthy appetite for alcohol. Only New York, it seems, attracts this peculiar populace of lone and homeless women who live in an isolated, mistrustful world of their own.

Shopping-bag ladies do not drink. They do not huddle together for warmth and companionship like bums. They do not seem to like one another very much . Neither, are they too keen on conventional people. Urban hermits, one sociologist has called them. They will spend their days and nights in the same neighbourhood for months on end, then disappear as in explicably as they came. They know the hours when restaurants put their leftovers in the garbage cans where they search for food And local residents, seeing the same bag lady on the same corner every day, will slip her some change as they pass.

Shopping-bag ladies do not overtly beg, but they do not refuse what is offered. Once a shopping-bag lady becomes a figure of your neighbourhood, it is as hard to pass her by without giving her some money as it is to ignore the collection box in church. And although you may not like it, if she chooses your doorway as her place to sleep in the night, it is as morally hard to turn her away as it is a lost dog.

There are various categories of bag ladies: those who live on the streets, claiming they enjoy the freedom from constraints of society; those who became homeless because a relative died or because they couldn't keep up rent payments, and they didn't know where to go or how to apply for relief; and quasi bag ladies who have an anchor point-a sister or brother whom they can visit once in a while to take a bath.

Most shopping-bag ladies seem to be between the ages of 40 and 65. They wear layers of clothes even in summer time, with newspapers stuffed between the layers as further protection against bad weather. In general, the more bags the ladies carry the better organised they are to cope with life on the streets.
"You may think I have a lot of garbage in these bags," one shoppingbag lady volunteered over lunch in a church soup kitchen, "but it's everything I need. Extra clothes, newspapers for the cold." Shopping-bag ladies are not very communicative and take genera l conversation as an intrusion. But after a while, warmed by chicken soup, she began to speak. "The place is nice," she volunteered, "people are friendly. Most New Yorkers are very cold I have sisters in the city, but when you grow up, each goes his own way. Right?"

"I go out a lot because of my teeth. You know how it is: you pick up something in a restaurant and your teeth turn rotten, no matter how careful you are. People aren't considerate. The restaurants don't wash the glasses properly, and before you know where you are you have caught it. That's what happened to me. I don't like meeting people until I have this dental work done. So I go out to forget my troubles. I sit a little while somewhere, have something to eat at one of these places, then go wherever I have to go. I take all my things with me because you can't trust people." The story of the dental work was a typical shopping-bag lady fantasy. Psychiatrists say that even after long interviews shopping-bag ladies are still at a loss to separate truth from imagination.

One quasi bag lady spends about eight hours every day at the foot of the main escalator in a railroad station, although she rents a room in a cheap hotel in the neighbourhood. One of the priests from the nearby church found this lodging for her after he discovered that she was entitled to a small disability pension which she had never claimed. But every day from about nine to five, she still asks a milk crate and sits by the station escalator, not doing anything or talking to anyone. It's like a job to her.

No one knows how many shopping-bag ladies there are in New York. The figure is going up. Some priests, nuns and researchers spend a great deal of time shepherding or observing shopping-bag ladies and are doing what they can to better the life of the lady hermits who are down.
　

　

New Words

　

hermit n. person who avoids other people and lives alone 隐士

shift vi. move from one place, position, etc. to another 转移，移动

vagrant n. person who lives a wandering life with no steady home or work 流浪者

appetite n. desire or wish, esp. for food食欲,胃口

alcohol n. 酒,酒精

attract  vt. draw towards oneself 吸引

attraction  n.
　
attractive  a. 　

peculiar a. unusual; strange 奇特的;奇怪的

populace n. population; the common people

lone a. without other people or things 孤独的

isolate  vt. separate from others 使隔离,使孤立

mistrustful  a. lacking confidence or trust

shopping-bag  n. 购物袋
huddle vi. crowd together 挤作一团

warmth  n. the state or quality of being warm

companionship  n. 伴侣关系,友谊;一群伙伴

companion n. 同伴,伴侣

bum n. wandering beggar 游民,叫花子

keen a. eager, anxious to do things 热心的, 渴望的

conventional a. following accepted practices, customs, and standards 习俗的,寻常的

convention n. 习俗,惯例

sociologist n. a person who studies societies and human behavior in groups 社会学家

neighborhood n. a group of people and their homes forming a small area within a larger place 街坊,四邻

inexplicably ad. in a way not capable of explanation

leftovers n. (used with a pl. v.) food remaining uneaten after a meal

garbage n. waste material; rubbish; scraps of food to be thrown away

garbage can dustbin 垃圾桶

resident n. person living in a place permanently, not just a visitor 居民

slip vt. give or pay secretly 悄悄给

overtly ad. publicly 公开地

collection n. the gathering of money at a religious service; money collected 募捐;募金

collection box a box for the collection of money, esp. one passed from hand to hand in church 奉献箱

doorway n. 门口;门道

morally ad. with regard to right behavior 道德上
moral a. 　

category n class 种类

claim kleim vt. declare to be true; ask for as a right; take as a rightful owner 声称;要求;认领

constraint n. sth. that limits one's freedom of action 拘束

rent n. money paid regularly for the use of a room, building, or piece of land 租金
vt. pay at regular times for the use of (property) 租用
payment n. the amount of money (to be) paid

relief n. help given to people in trouble 救济

quasi a. half; seeming 半,准

anchor n. 锚;依靠

layer n. 层

stuff vt. fill tightly with 把...塞满

protection n. the act of protecting or the state of being protected
protective a. 　

cope vi. deal successfully with a difficult situation 对付,应付

volunteer vt. tell or say without being asked; make a willing offer 主动讲;自愿提供
voluntary a. 　

soup n. 汤

communicative  a. ready and willing to talk or give information 愿意交谈的

communication  n. 交流;通讯

. conversation  n. (an) informal talk 谈话

intrusion n. coming unasked and unwanted (often suggesting rudeness and invasion of privacy) 侵犯;打扰

rotten  a. having gone bad 腐烂的;腐朽的

considerate  a. thoughtful of the rights or feelings of others 体谅的

dental  a. of or for the teeth

wherever  conj. in, at, or to whatever place

fantasy  n. any strange mental image or illusion; wild imagination 怪念头;幻想

psychiatrist  n. doctor who treats mental and emotional disorders 精神病医生

loss n. the act or example of losing sth.

escalator n. 自动楼梯

priest n. 牧师;教士;神父

lodging n. a (temporary) place to live (临时)住所

lodge v. (使)暂住,(使)寄宿

entitle vt. give the right to 给...以权利

disability n. the condition of being unable to perform a task or function because of a physical or mental impairment 伤残

pension n. regular payment made (by a government or a company) to sb. old, retired, or disabled 养老金;退休金;抚恤金

crate n. a plastic or wooden tray divided into sections for carrying bottles of milk, beer, etc. 篮,篓,箱

nun n. 修女;尼姑

shepherd  vt. take care of; guide or direct (people) like sheep 看护;带领

better  vt. improve

　

　

Phrases & Expressions

　

keen on interested in, fond of

on end continuously 连续地

pass by go past; pay no attention to 从...旁 走过;忽视

turn away refuse to allow (sb.) to enter 将... 拒之门外

keep up maintain; continue

once in a while sometimes, but not often 间或,偶尔

in general in mast cases; usually 通常

cope with deal effectively with 善于处理

no matter howwhat, etc. however, whatever, etc.

at a loss uncertain what to do or say; confused 不知所措

be entitled to have the right to