11. The sound of the other shoe

Mr. Johnson is 65 and retired1 now. Because he is a very good doctor, a lot of people still asked him to look them over. He was very busy in the daytime and wanted to have a good rest at night.

Several weeks ago, a young man moved in the room upstairs. Every night, he came back late, then always took off his shoes and threw them on the floor. At this time, the doctor was trying to sleep. But every night he heard the noise upstairs. Bang! One shoe. Bang! The other shoe! Too bad. The doctor found it was very difficult to get to sleep and was rather angry with the man.

One day, the doctor went to talk to the young man. With a smile the doctor said: "I'm sorry to trouble you, sir."

What is it?

Well, every time you get back at night, you drop your shoes on the floor. It happens every night. The noise wakes me up2! Would you please not do that?

I'm very sorry, sir, said the young man. "I won't do it again."

The next evening, the young man came back home late tiredly as usual. He took off his first shoe and threw it on the floor. Then he remembered the doctor downstairs. So he took off the second shoe and put it on the floor very quietly. He had his supper, listened to the radio, read a newspaper and then went to bed. He was just falling asleep when there was a loud knock at the door. He opened it and saw the doctor downstairs.

Please! Said the doctor. "Please drop the other shoe! I was waiting for the sound of it! I can't get to sleep!"

Notes:

1. retire 退休

2. wake up 吵醒，叫醒

另一只鞋的声音

约翰逊先生65岁，已经退休了。因为他是个很好的医生，很多人仍然上门求诊。他白天非常忙，因此晚上想好好休息。

几周以前，一位年轻人搬进了楼上的房间。每天晚上，年轻人都回来很晚。他总是脱下鞋并把它们扔到地板上。这时正是医生快要睡着的时候，但是每天晚上他都听见楼上的声音，砰！一只鞋。砰！另一只鞋。太糟糕了，医生发现自己很难入睡，因此对年轻人很生气。

医生要去和年轻人谈谈。医生带着微笑说：“抱歉打扰您了，先生”。

“什么事？”

“呃，每次您晚上回来都把鞋子扔在地板上，每晚都是这样！这样的声音总是把我吵醒！您能否不那样做呢？”

“实在对不起，先生。”年轻人说，“我不会再扔了。”

第二天晚上，年轻人和以往一样很晚才疲倦地回到家。他脱下第一只鞋子扔到了地板上，接着想起了医生，于是他脱下第二只鞋，轻轻地放到了地板上。他吃完晚饭，听了会收音机，读了会报纸，就上床了。刚刚睡着他就听见有人大声敲门。他打开门看见医生在门口。

“求求你了！”医生说，“请把另一只鞋丢到地板上去吧！我在等着它的声音啊！不然我睡不着！”

Useful link:

根据最新调查，2009年美国收入最多的前20个职业中，有一半都属于医学这个大范畴。在美国的各行各业中，只要和“医”字沾边的，工作就会比较稳定，收入也不会太低。