'The Gift of the Magi,' by O. Henry

2014 · VOA Learning English

This speaker is a general-american model. Each line below can be recorded and scored against it.

Transcript

1. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all.

   15.4s–19.8sPractise this

2. And sixty cents of it in the smallest pieces of money - pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the men at the market who sold vegetables and meat.

   19.7s–34.7sPractise this

3. Negotiating until one's face burned with the silent knowledge of being poor. Three times Della counted it.

   34.6s–46.0sPractise this

4. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

   46.0s–53.3sPractise this

5. There was clearly nothing to do but sit down and cry. So Della cried.

   53.6s–60.0sPractise this

6. Which led to the thought that life is made up of little cries and smiles, with more little cries than smiles.

   60.0s–72.4sPractise this

7. Della finished her crying and dried her face.

   72.7s–77.2sPractise this

8. She stood by the window and looked out unhappily at a gray cat walking along a gray fence in a gray back yard.

   77.3s–88.3sPractise this

9. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy her husband Jim a gift.

   88.7s–100.0sPractise this

10. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Jim earned twenty dollars a week, which does not go far.

    100.2s–113.4sPractise this

11. Expenses had been greater than she had expected. They always are.

    113.7s–119.1sPractise this

12. Many a happy hour she had spent planning to buy something nice for him. Something fine and rare -- something close to being worthy of the honor of belonging to Jim.

    119.3s–134.3sPractise this

13. There was a tall glass mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly Della turned from the window and stood before the glass mirror and looked at herself.

    134.5s–147.1sPractise this

14. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds.

    147.3s–155.7sPractise this

15. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. Now, Mr.

    155.8s–163.6sPractise this

16. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young had two possessions which they valued.

    163.6s–170.7sPractise this

17. One was Jim's gold time piece, the watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair.

    170.8s–184.1sPractise this

18. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in their building, Della would have let her hair hang out the window to dry just to reduce the value of the queen's jewels.

    184.4s–198.4sPractise this

19. So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a brown waterfall. It reached below her knees and made itself almost like a covering for her.

    198.9s–212.6sPractise this

20. And then quickly she put it up again. She stood still while a few tears fell on the floor.

    212.7s–222.6sPractise this

21. She put on her coat and her old brown hat. With a quick motion and brightness still in her eyes, she danced out the door and down the street.

    222.8s–234.9sPractise this

22. Where she stopped the sign read: "Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds."

    235.1s–242.5sPractise this

23. Della ran up the steps to the shop, out of breath. "Will you buy my hair?"

    242.9s–249.6sPractise this

24. asked Della. "I buy hair," said Madame.

    249.9s–254.6sPractise this

25. "Take your hat off and let us have a look at it." Down came the beautiful brown waterfall of hair.

    254.7s–265.1sPractise this

26. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the hair with an experienced hand.

    265.3s–270.5sPractise this

27. "Give it to me quick," said Della.

    271.1s–282.6sPractise this

28. The next two hours went by as if they had wings. Della looked in all the stores to choose a gift for Jim.

    284.0s–296.7sPractise this

29. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else.

    296.9s–304.0sPractise this

30. It was perfect for Jim's gold watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be for him.

    309.7s–318.5sPractise this

31. It was like him. Quiet and with great value.

    318.6s–325.7sPractise this

32. She gave the shopkeeper twenty-one dollars and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents that was left. When Della arrived home she began to repair what was left of her hair.

    326.0s–337.3sPractise this

33. The hair had been ruined by her love and her desire to give a special gift. Repairing the damage was a very big job.

    337.3s–349.2sPractise this

34. Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny round curls of hair that made her look wonderfully like a schoolboy.

    349.4s–360.1sPractise this

35. She looked at herself in the glass mirror long and carefully. "If Jim does not kill me before he takes a second look at me," she said to herself, "he'll say I look like a song girl.

    360.8s–374.1sPractise this

36. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"

    374.1s–381.2sPractise this

37. At seven o'clock that night the coffee was made and the pan on the back of the stove was hot and ready to cook the meat. Jim was never late coming home from work.

    381.4s–395.4sPractise this

38. Della held the silver chain in her hand and sat near the door. Then she heard his step and she turned white for just a minute.

    395.4s–409.4sPractise this

39. She had a way of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God,

    409.6s–423.8sPractise this

40. make him think I am still pretty." The door opened and Jim stepped in.

    424.3s–433.5sPractise this

41. He looked thin and very serious. Poor man, he was only twenty-two and he had to care for a wife.

    433.4s–442.3sPractise this

42. He needed a new coat and gloves to keep his hands warm. Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a dog smelling a bird.

    442.7s–455.7sPractise this

43. His eyes were fixed upon Della. There was an expression in them that she could not read, and it frightened her.

    455.9s–467.2sPractise this

44. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor fear, nor any of the feelings that she had been prepared for.

    467.3s–475.4sPractise this

45. He simply looked at her with a strange expression on his face. Della went to him.

    476.0s–485.3sPractise this

46. "Jim, my love," she cried, "do not look at me that way. I had my hair cut and sold because I could not have lived through Christmas without giving you a gift.

    485.4s–498.3sPractise this

47. My hair will grow out again. I just had to do it.

    498.6s–503.9sPractise this

48. My hair grows very fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!'

    504.1s–508.9sPractise this

49. Jim, and let us be happy. You do not know what a nice-- what a beautiful, nice gift I have for you."

    509.0s–518.4sPractise this

50. "You have cut off your hair?" asked Jim, slowly, as if he had not accepted the information even after his mind worked very hard.

    518.5s–531.4sPractise this

51. "Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Do you not like me just as well?

    531.6s–538.7sPractise this

52. I am the same person without my hair, right? Jim looked about the room as if he were looking for something.

    538.8s–548.8sPractise this

53. "You say your hair is gone?" he asked.

    548.9s–553.3sPractise this

54. "You need not look for it," said Della. "It is sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too.

    553.5s–561.0sPractise this

55. It is Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it was cut for you.

    561.2s–567.6sPractise this

56. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you.

    568.0s–579.0sPractise this

57. Shall I put the meat on, Jim?" Jim seemed to awaken quickly and put his arms around Della.

    579.2s–589.4sPractise this

58. Then he took a package from his coat and threw it on the table. "Do not make any mistake about me, Dell," he said.

    589.5s–598.6sPractise this

59. "I do not think there is any haircut that could make me like my girl any less. But if you will open that package you may see why you had me frightened at first."

    598.8s–612.9sPractise this

60. White fingers quickly tore at the string and paper. There was a scream of joy; and then, alas!

    613.0s–623.4sPractise this

61. a change to tears and cries, requiring the man of the house to use all his skill to calm his wife.

    623.5s–634.4sPractise this

62. For there were the combs -- the special set of objects to hold her hair that Della had wanted ever since she saw them in a shop

    634.6s–649.4sPractise this

63. Beautiful combs, made of shells, with jewels at the edge --just the color to wear in the beautiful hair that was no longer hers.

    650.1s–665.4sPractise this

64. They cost a lot of money, she knew, and her heart had wanted them without ever hoping to have them.

    665.5s–674.7sPractise this

65. And now, the beautiful combs were hers, but the hair that should have touched them was gone.

    675.0s–687.6sPractise this

66. But she held the combs to herself, and soon she was able to look up with a smile and say, "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

    687.9s–701.6sPractise this

67. Then Della jumped up like a little burned cat and cried, "Oh, oh!" Jim had not yet seen his beautiful gift.

    701.5s–713.0sPractise this

68. She happily held it out to him in her open hands. The silver chain seemed so bright.

    713.1s–722.1sPractise this

69. "Isn't it wonderful, Jim? I looked all over town to find it.

    722.5s–727.5sPractise this

70. You will have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch.

    727.6s–734.3sPractise this

71. I want to see how it looks on it." Instead of obeying, Jim fell on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

    734.4s–746.3sPractise this

72. "Dell," said he, "let us put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They are too nice to use just right now.

    746.8s–760.8sPractise this

73. I sold my gold watch to get the money to buy the set of combs for your hair.

    761.0s–767.8sPractise this

74. And now, why not put the meat on."

    767.9s–781.6sPractise this

75. The magi were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. They invented the art of giving Christmas gifts.

    783.7s–797.9sPractise this

76. And here I have told you the story of two young people who most unwisely gave for each other the greatest treasures of their house.

    802.4s–814.8sPractise this

77. But in a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest.

    815.0s–827.0sPractise this

78. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

    827.3s–834.6sPractise this