My old friend， Harrison， had lived in the Mediterranean for many years before he returned to England. He had often dreamed of retiring in England and had planned to settle down in the country. He had no sooner returned than he bought a house and went to live there. Almost immediately he began to complain about the weather， for even though it was still summer， it rained continually and it was often bitterly cold. After so many years of sunshine， Harrison got a shock. He acted as if he had never lived in England before. In the end， it was more than he could bear. He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the country. The dream he had had for so many years ended there. Harrison had thought of everything except the weather.

New words and expressions   生词和短语

except prep. 除了

Mediterranean n. 地中海

complain v. 抱怨

continually adv. 不断地

bitterly adv. 刺骨地

sunshine n. 阳光

参考译文

我的老朋友哈里森在回到英国以前曾多年居住在地中海地区。过去他常幻想退休后到英国，并计划在乡间安顿下来。他刚一回到英国便买下了一幢房子住了进去。但紧接着他就开始抱怨那里的天气了。因为即使那时仍为夏季，但雨总是下个不停，而且常常冷得厉害。在阳光下生活了那么多年的哈里森对此感到惊奇。他的举动就好像他从未在英国生活过一样。最后，他再也忍受不住，还没等安顿下来就卖掉了房子，离开了这个国家。他多年来的幻想从此破灭。哈里森把每件事情都考虑到了，唯独没想到天气。