练习材料：

L49-1: The ideal servant

It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants. Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. She had a huge, rambling country house called 'The Gables'. She was sentimentally attached to this house, for even though it was far too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband's death. Before she grew old, Aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. I often visited The Gables when I was a boy. No matter how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate. The parquet floors shone like mirrors; highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished. She always referred to them as 'the shifting population', for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names.

任务配置：L0+L4

知识笔记：

aunt /ænt/

leisurely adj.慢悠悠的，不慌不忙的

rambling 〔建筑〕大而格局凌乱的

gable n.山墙

sentimentally adv.感情上

lavishly adv.大方地，慷慨地

entertain v.招待宾客

immaculate adj.非常整洁的very clean and tidy

parquet n.镶木地板

shine-shone-shone

gleaming adj.闪耀的，明亮的

preside v.负责

scrubbed adj.纯净的

frequency n.频率

air one's views on 对......发表意见

练习感悟：

Never leave the things until tomorrow you can do today.