While I was waiting to enter university, I saw advertised in a local newspaper a teaching post at a school in a suburb of London about ten miles from where I lived. Being very short of money and wanting to do something useful（現在分詞表原因）, I applied, fearing（伴隨狀語） as（當） I did so, that without a degree and with no experience in teaching my chances of getting the job were slim（fear的賓語）.However, three days later a letter arrived, asking me to go to Croydon for an interview. It proved an awkward journey: a train to Croydon station; a ten-minute bus ride and then a walk of at least a quarter to feel nervous.
The school was a red brick house with big windows, The front garden was a gravel square; four evergreen shrubs stood at each corner, where they struggled to survive the dust and fumes from a busy main road.
It was clearly the headmaster himself that opened the door（強調句）. He was short and fat. He had a sandy-coloured moustache, a wrinkled forehead and hardly any hair.
He looked at me with an air of surprised disapproval, as a colonel might look at a private whose bootlaces were undone. 'Ah yes,' he grunted. 'You'd better come inside.' The narrow, sunless hall smelled unpleasantly of stale cabbage; the walls were dirty with ink marks; it was all silent. His study, judging by the crumbs on the carpet, was also his dining-room. 'You'd better sit down,' he said, and proceeded to ask me a number of questions: what subjects I had taken in my General School Certificate; how old I was; what games I played; then fixing me suddenly with his bloodshot eyes, he asked me whether I thought games were a vital part of a boy's education. I mumbled something about not attaching too much importance to them. He grunted. I had said the wrong thing. The headmaster and I obviously had very little in common.
slim
a. small, slight; slender 微小的;苗條的
depress
vt. make sad 使沮喪
depression
n.
brick
n. 磚
gravel
n. 礫石
evergreen
a. with green leaves throughout the year 常綠的
shrub
n. low bush with several woody stems 灌木
fume
n. strong-smelling smoke, gas or vapour 濃烈難聞的煙,氣,汽
headmaster
n. (中,小學的)校長
sandy-coloured
a. yellowish-red 沙色的,黃中帶紅的
moustache
n. hair growing on the upper lip 小胡子
disapproval
n. unfavorable opinion or feeling; dislike 不贊成;不滿
colonel
n. 上校
private
n. soldier of the lowest rank 列兵;士兵
bootlace
n. shoelace for a high shoe or boot 靴帶
undo
vt. untie, unfasten 解開;松開