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Nội dung: <blockquote data-quote="Butchi" data-source="post: 92085" data-attributes="member: 7">A Municipal Report Hướng dẫn: Nghe audio và tìm từ điền vào chỗ trống. Bôi đen chỗ trống để xem đáp án.[MP3]https://server1.vnkienthuc.com/files/3/Media/A_Municipal_Report_-_By_O_Henry.mp3[/MP3] ANNOUNCER: And now, the weekly VOA Special English program of American stories.(MUSIC)Our  story today is called "A Municipal Report."  It was written by O. Henry  and first published in nineteen-oh-four. Here is Shep ONeal with the  story.(MUSIC) STORYTELLE:  It was raining as I got off the  train in Nashville, Tennessee -- a slow, gray rain. I was tired so I  went straight to my hotel.A big, heavy man was walking up and  down in the [A]hotel lobby[/A]. Something about the way he moved made me think  of a hungry dog looking for a bone. He had a big, fat, red face and a  sleepy[A] expression[/A] in his eyes. He introduced himself as Wentworth  Caswell -- Major Wentworth Caswell -- from "a fine southern family."   Caswell pulled me into the hotels barroom and yelled for a waiter. We  ordered drinks. While we drank, he talked continually about himself, his  family, his wife and her family. He said his wife was rich. He showed  me a handful of silver coins that he pulled from his[A] coat pocket[/A].By this time, I had decided that I wanted no more of him. I said good night.I  went up to my room and looked out the window. It was ten oclock but the  town was silent. "A nice quiet place," I said to myself as I got ready  for bed. Just an ordinary, sleepy [A]southern town[/A]."I was born in  the south myself. But I live in New York now. I write for a large  magazine. My boss had asked me to go to Nashville. The magazine had  received some stories and poems from a writer in Nashville, named Azalea  Adair. The editor liked her work very much. The publisher asked me to  get her to sign an [A]agreement[/A] to write only for his magazine.I  left the hotel at nine oclock the next morning to find Miss Adair. It  was still raining.  As soon as I stepped outside I met Uncle Caesar. He  was a big, old black man with [A]fuzzy gray hair[/A].Uncle Caesar was  wearing the strangest coat I had ever seen. It must have been a military  officers coat. It was very long and when it was new it had been gray.  But now rain, sun and age had made it a [A]rainbow[/A] of colors. Only one of  the buttons was left. It was yellow and as big as a fifty cent coin.Uncle  Caesar stood near a horse and carriage. He opened the carriage door and  said softly, "Step right in, sir. Ill take you anywhere in the city.""I  want to go to eight-sixty-one Jasmine Street," I said, and I started to  climb into the carriage. But the old man stopped me. "Why do you want  to go there, sir? ""What business is it of yours?" I said  angrily. Uncle Caesar relaxed and smiled. "Nothing, sir. But its a  lonely part of town. Just step in and Ill take you there right away."Eight-sixty-one Jasmine Street had been a fine house once, but now it was old and dying. I got out of the carriage."That  will be two dollars, sir," Uncle Caesar said. I gave him two one-dollar  bills. As I handed them to him, I noticed that one had been torn in  half and fixed with a piece of [A]blue paper[/A]. Also, the upper right hand  corner was missing.Azalea Adair herself opened the door when I  knocked. She was about fifty years old. Her white hair was pulled back  from her small,[A] tired face[/A]. She wore a pale yellow dress. It was old,  but very clean.Azalea Adair led me into her living room. A damaged table, three chairs and an old red sofa were in the center of [A]the floor[/A].Azalea  Adair and I sat down at the table and began to talk. I told her about  the [A]magazines[/A] offer and she told me about herself. She was from an old  southern family. Her father had been a judge.Azalea Adair told me  she had never traveled or even attended school. Her parents taught her  at home with [A]private teachers[/A]. We finished our meeting. I promised to  return with the agreement the next day, and rose to leave.At that  moment, someone knocked at the back door. Azalea Adair [A]whispered[/A] a soft  apology and went to answer the caller. She came back a minute later  with bright eyes and pink cheeks. She looked ten years younger.  "You  must have a cup of tea before you go," she said. She shook a little bell  on the table, and a small black girl about twelve years old ran into  the room.Azalea Aair opened a tiny old purse and took out a  dollar bill. It had been fixed with a piece of blue paper and the upper  right hand corner was missing. It was the dollar I had given to Uncle  Caesar. "Go to Mr. Bakers store, Impy," she said, "and get me  twenty-five cents worth of tea and ten cents worth of [A]sugar cakes[/A]. And  please hurry."The child ran out of the room. We heard the back  door close. Then the girl screamed. Her cry mixed with a mans angry  voice. Azalea Adair stood up. Her face showed no emotion as she left the  room. I heard the mans rough voice and her gentle one. Then a door  [A]slammed [/A]and she came back into the room."I am sorry, but I wont  be able to offer you any tea after all," she said. "It seems that Mr.  Baker has no more tea. Perhaps he will find some for our visit  tomorrow."We said good-bye. I went back to my hotel.Just  before dinner, Major Wentworth Caswell found me. It was[A] impossible  to avoid[/A] him. He insisted on buying me a drink and pulled two one-dollar  bills from his pocket. Again I saw a torn dollar fixed with blue paper,  with a corner missing. It was the one I gave Uncle Caesar. How strange,  I thought. I wondered how Caswell got it.Uncle Caesar was  waiting outside the hotel the next afternoon. He took me to Miss Adairs  house and agreed to wait there until we had finished our business.Azalea  Adair did not look well. I [A]explained the agreement [/A]to her. She signed  it. Then, as she started to rise from the table, Azalea Adair fainted  and fell to the floor. I picked her up and carried her to the old red  sofa. I ran to the door and yelled to Uncle Caesar for help. He ran down  the street. Five minutes later, he was back with a doctor.The  doctor examined Miss Adair and turned to the old black driver. "Uncle  Caesar," he said, "run to my house and ask my wife for some milk and  some eggs. Hurry!"Then the doctor turned to me. "She does not get  enough to eat," he said. "She has many friends who want to help her,  but she is proud. Misses Caswell will [A]accept[/A] help only from that old  black man. He was once her familys slave.""Misses Caswell." I said in surprise. "I thought she was Azalea Adair.""She  was," the doctor answered, "until she married Wentworth Caswell twenty  years ago. But hes a hopeless drunk who takes even the small amount of  money that Uncle Caesar gives her."After the doctor left I heard  Caesars voice in the other room. "Did he take all the money I gave you  yesterday, Miss Azalea?"  "Yes, Caesar," I heard her answer softly. "He  took[A] both dollars[/A]."I went into the room and gave Azalea Adair  fifty dollars. I told her it was from the magazine. Then Uncle Caesar  drove me back to the hotel.A few hours later, I went out for [A]a  walk before dinner[/A]. A crowd of people were talking excitedly in front of  a store. I pushed my way into the store. Major Caswell was lying on the  floor. He was dead.Someone had found his body on the street. He  had been killed in a fight. In fact, his hands were still closed into  tight fists. But as I stood near his body, Caswells right hand opened.  Something fell from it and rolled near my feet. I put my foot on it,  then picked it up and put it in my pocket.People said they  believed a thief had killed him. They said Caswell had been showing  everyone that he had fifty dollars. But when he was found, he had no  money on him.I left Nashville the next morning. As the train  crossed a river I took out of my pocket the object that had dropped from  Caswells [A]dead hand[/A]. I threw it into the river below.It was a button. A yellow button...the one from Uncle Caesars coat.(MUSIC)You  have just heard the story "A Municipal Report."   It was written by O.  Henry and adapted for Special English by Dona de Sanctis. Your narrator  was Shep ONeal.  This is Susan Clark.  Join us again next time for  another American story on the Voice of America.</blockquote>

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