介绍： 微信公众号：【英语PK台】每日18点推送当日课堂音频及全文本
联系主持人 新浪微博： @京晶am774 @英语PK台

The Fat Lady
1. Hi! How are you?” The woman smiled as she took the seat beside me. She had to lower herself slowly, squeezing her ample bottom into the seat, filling all available space. Positioning herself...

介绍： 微信公众号：【英语PK台】每日18点推送当日课堂音频及全文本
联系主持人 新浪微博： @京晶am774 @英语PK台

The Fat Lady
1. Hi! How are you?” The woman smiled as she took the seat beside me. She had to lower herself slowly, squeezing her ample bottom into the seat, filling all available space. Positioning herself comfortably, she plopped her enormous arm on our common armrest. Her immensity saturated the space around us, shrinking me and my seat into insignificance.

2. I cringed and reclined towards the window. She repeated her greeting in an upbeat, friendly voice. “Hi,” I replied with obvious loathing. I turned away to stare out the window, sulking silently about the long hours of discomfort I was going to experience with this monster beside me.
3. She nudged me with her meaty arm. “My name is Laura. I’m from Britain. “Come on, if we’re going to spend six hours side-by-side on this flight, we’d better be friends, don’t you think?” I reluctantly stayed silent, but Laura took no notice of my unfriendly reactions. Instead, she started talking excitedly about herself and rattled on about her friends waiting for her now at our mutual destination; Indonesia.
4. I only gave one-word answers to her questions about me. Unperturbed by my coldness, she nodded as she made appreciative comments to them. She was particularly considerate and obliging when we were served drinks and meals, making sure that I had room to manoeuvre in my seat. “I don’t want to clobber you with my elephant size!” she said with utmost sincerity.
5. After an hour or so, I couldn’t help but let down my guard slowly. As much as she had repulsed me in the beginning, she was an interesting conversationalist. She was well-read in many subjects, from philosophy to science. Her comments were humorous and inspirational.
6. “‘Have you ever thought about losing some weight?” I finally dared to ask after a while. “No. I’ve worked hard to get this way. Why would I want to give it up?” “You aren’t worried about cardiovascular diseases that come with being overweight?”
7. “Not at all. You only get the diseases if you’re worried about your weight all the time, but there is more in life than worrying about your weight. You always see advertisements from slimming centres that say: ‘Liberate yourself from your extra baggage so that you are free to be yourself.’ It’s rubbish! You’re liberated only if you’re comfortable with who you are as a person and what you do. Why would I want to waste my time on slimming regimes when I have so many other important things to do and so many people to be friends with?”

8. “Folks often see me as a fat lady with big bosoms, big thighs and a big bottom. They see me as a slob. They think I’m lazy and have no willpower. They’re wrong. I eat healthily and walk regularly, and I’m actually a slim person on the inside. I’m just so full of energy that people won’t be able to keep up with me if I wasn’t this size.

9. Our enthralling conversations had turned my flight into something thoroughly enjoyable. At the arrival lounge of Indonesia Capital Airport, we said goodbye. I watched her walking towards a big group of adoring adults and kids. Cheers sounded. Then, she turned around and winked at me. I was stunned, as the realisation set in: Laura was the most beautiful woman I had ever met in my life.