Lesson 30 The death of a ghost

For years, villagers believed that Endley Farm was haunted. The farm was owned by two brothers, Joe and Bob Cox. They employed a few farmhands, but no one was willing to work there long. Every time a worker gave up his job, he told the same story经历. Farm labourers said that they always woke up to find that work had been done overnight. Hay had been cut and cowsheds had been cleaned. A farm worker, who stayed up all night, claimed to have seen a figure人 cutting corn in the moonlight. In time, it became an accepted fact that the Cox brothers employed a conscientious ghost that did most of their work for them.
No one suspected认为是 that there might be someone else on the farm who had never been seen. This was indeed the case. A short time ago, villagers were astonished to learn that the ghost of Endley had died. Everyone went to the funeral, for the ‘ghost’ was none other than正是 Eric Cox, a third brother who was supposed to have died as a young man. After the funeral, Joe and Bob revealed a secret which they had kept for over fifty years.
Eric had been the eldest son of the family, very much older than his two brothers. He had been obliged to join the army during the Second World War. As he hated army life, he decided to desert his regiment. When he learnt that he would be sent abroad, he returned to the farm and his father hid him until the end of the war. Fearing the authorities, Eric remained in hiding after the war as well. His father told everybody that Eric had been killed in action. The only other people who knew the secret were Joe and Bob. They did not even tell their wives. When their father died, they thought it their duty to keep Eric in hiding. All these years, Eric had lived as a recluse. He used to过去常常 sleep during the day and work at night, quite unaware of the fact that he had become the ghost of Endley. When he died, however, his borthers found it impossible to keep the secret any longer.

New word and expressions
labourer        劳动者
overnight        一夜间
hay                干*
corn            谷物
moonlight        月光
conscientious    尽职尽责的认真的
suspect            怀疑是
desert            开小差
regiment        团（军队）
action            战斗
recluse            隐士

Notes on the text
l    peasant（职业）农民
├farmer农夫（农场中劳动）
├labourer工者（无固定职业）
└farm hands农场帮手
l    overnight（不一定一晚）一夜（成名）
The singer rose to fame overnight.
┌corn玉米，谷物
└barn仓库（corn被buy回来）
My girlfriend and I swam in the moonlight.
l    conscious意识的
└conscientious勤劳的
be conscious of意识到
l    sceptical adj.充满怀疑的
├doubt v.对…表示怀疑（不相信）
└suspect怀疑是(This is fact)
suspect疑犯
This is a sceptical age.
There is no doubt,不用怀疑
I suspect that…
l    desert the army军中开小差
His villa is haunted.（别墅）闹鬼，萦绕 /Rn/
His smiles still haunt my mind / memory / imagination.
No on

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