[al:新概念英语（三）] [ar:MP3 同步字幕版（英音）] [ti:The Ideal Servant] [by:更多学习内容，请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”] [00:01.50]Lesson 49 [00:03.32]The ideal servant [00:12.33]What was Bessie's 'little weakness' ? [00:17.35]It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. [00:20.99]If she were alive today [00:23.03]she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants. [00:30.06]Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. [00:36.01]She had a huge, rambling country house called 'The Gables'. [00:41.15]She was sentimentally attached to this house, [00:44.00]for even though it was far too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband's death. [00:51.53]Before she grew old, aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. [00:56.86]I often visited The Gables when I was a boy. [01:00.54]No matter how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate. [01:06.62]The parquet floors shone like mirrors; [01:09.66]highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; [01:14.24]even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. [01:19.87]Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished. [01:28.98]She always referred to them as 'the shifting population', [01:32.73]for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names. [01:39.15]Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days an enlightened policy, [01:44.24]in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please. [01:52.45]While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature, [01:56.87]she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days, [02:03.24]even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie. [02:08.33]Bessie worked for aunt Harriet for three years. [02:11.86]During that time she so gained my aunt's confidence, that she was put in charge of the domestic staff. [02:19.52]Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency. [02:25.63]In addition to all her other qualifications, Bessie was an expert cook. [02:31.61]She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before Aunt Harriet discovered her 'little weakness'. [02:38.96]After being absent from The Gables for a week, [02:41.68]my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner. [02:50.09]Not only was the meal well below the usual standard, but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily. [02:57.24]She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests. [03:01.93]When she came in with the last course--a huge pudding--she tripped on the carpet [03:07.47]and the pudding went flying through the air, narrowly missed my aunt, and crashed on the dining table with considerable force. [03:16.29]Though this caused great mirth among the guests, Aunt Harriet was horrified. [03:21.98]She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk. [03:27.25]The guests had, of course, realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and, long before the final catastrophe, [03:34.77]had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement. [03:38.60]The poor girl was dismissed instantly. [03:41.56]After her departure, Aunt Harriet discovered [03:44.36]that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie's wardrobe. [03:52.32]They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine cellar!