When one loves one’s Art, no service seems too hard.
Joe was a man with a genius(天才) for art. Delia did things in six octaves(音階) promisingly.
Joe and Delia became in love with one of the other, or each of the other, as you please, and in a short time were married – for (see above), when one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard.
They began housekeeping in a flat. It was a lonesome(無人跡的) flat, but they were happy; for they had their Art, and they had each other.
Joe was learning painting in the class of the great Magister – you know his fame. His fees are high; his lessons are light – his high-lights have brought him fame. Delia was studying under Rosenstock – you know his reputation as a disturber of the piano keys.
They were mighty(非常地) happy as long as their money lasted.
After a while, Art flagged(減退). Everything going out and nothing coming in, money was lacking to pay Mr. Magister and Rosenstock their prices. When one loves one’s Art, no service seems too hard. So, Delia said she must give music lessons to make the ends meet.
For two or three days she went out looking for pupils. One evening she came home overjoyed.
“Joe, dear,” she said, cheerfully, “I’ve a pupil. And, oh, the loveliest people! General – General Pinkney’s daughter Clementina – on Seventy-first street.”
“That’s all right for you, Dele,” said Joe, “but how about me? Do you think I’m going to let you work while I play in the regions of high art? ”
Delia came and hung about his neck.
“Joe, dear, you are silly. You must keep on at your studies. It is not as if I had quit my music and gone to work at something else. While I teach I learn. I am always with my music.”
“All right,” said Joe. “But I may sell some of my pictures as well.”
The next few weeks, they both busied themselves with their own business and brought back a ten, a five, a two and a one – all legal tender notes – and laid them beside each others’ earnings.
One Saturday evening Joe reached home first. He spread his $18 on the table and washed what seemed to be a great deal of dark paint from his hands.
Half an hour later Delia arrived, her right hand tied up in a shapeless bundle(束) of wraps and bandages(繃帶).
“How is this?” asked Joe. Delia laughed, but not very joyously. “Clementina,” she explained, “insisted upon a Welsh rabbit(一種奶酪) after her lesson. In serving the rabbit she spilled a great lot of it, boiling hot, over my wrist. Nothing serious, dear.”
“What time this afternoon did you burn your hand, Dele?”
“Five o’clock, I think,” said Dele. “The iron – I mean the rabbit came off the fire about that time.”
“Sit down here a moment, Dele,” said Joe. “What have you been doing for the last few weeks, Dele?” he asked.
She braved it for a moment or two with an eye full of love and stubbornness, but at last down went her head and out came the truth and tears.
“I couldn’t get any pupils,” she wept. “I got a place ironing shirts in that big Twenty-fourth street laundry(洗衣店). A girl in the laundry set down a hot iron(熨斗) on my hand this afternoon. I think I did very well to make up both General Pinkney and Clementina. What made you ever suspect that I wasn’t giving music lessons?”
“I didn’t,” said Joe, “until tonight. And I wouldn’t have then, only I sent up this cotton waste and oil from the engine-room this afternoon for a girl upstairs who had her hand burned with a smoothing-iron. I’ve been firing the engine in that laundry for the last few weeks.”
“And then you didn’t …” said Delia
And then they both looked at each other and laughed, and Joe began:
“When one loves one’s Art no service seems …”
But Delia stopped him with her hand on his lips. “No,” she said – “just ‘When one loves.’”
1.What can we know about the couple from the story?
A. They both became famous for their talents in art.
B. They turned out to be working at the same laundry.
C . Art helped them out of the poverty they were faced with.
D. Studying from famous teachers contributed most to their poverty.
2.What qualities of the couple’s are best conveyed in the story?
A. intelligent and economical
B. faithful and romantic
C. considerate and giving
D. hardworking and loyal
3.Which of the following does NOT give readers a clue(線索) that the couple were telling white lies?
A. Delia said she must give music lessons to make the ends meet.
B. Joe washed what seemed to be a great deal of dark paint from his hands.
C. Delia’s right wrist was tied up in a shapeless bundle of wraps and bandages.
D. “The iron – I mean the rabbit came off the fire about that time” said Dele.
4.Why does the author repeat “When one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard.”?
A. To reveal the theme of the story.
B. To explain the author’s writing purpose.
C. To indicate the sad mood of the story.
D. To assist with the development of the story.
5.What can serve as the best title of this story?
A. A Service of Love B. A Service of Art
C. No Art No Love D. The Love for Art
