(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Our story is called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." It was written by Mark Twain. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.
A friend of mine in the East asked me to visit old Simon Wheeler, to ask about my friends friend, Leonidas W. Smiley.
I did as my friend asked me to do and this story is the result.
I found Simon Wheeler sleeping by the stove in the ruined mining camp of Angels.
I saw that he was fat and had no hair, and had a gentle and simple look upon his peaceful face.
He woke up, and gave me "good-day."
I told him a friend had asked me to find out about a friend named Leonidas W. Smiley, who he heard was at one time living in Angels Camp.
I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel a great responsibility to him.
Simon Wheeler forced me into a corner with his chair and began telling me this long story.
He never smiled, he never frowned.
But all through the endless story there was a feeling of great seriousness and honesty.
This showed me plainly that he thought the heroes of the story were men of great intelligence.
I let him go on in his own way, and never stopped him once. This is the story Simon Wheeler told.
Leonidas W....hm...Le...well, there was a man here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of 1849--or may be it was the spring of 1850.
Anyway, he was the strangest man.
He was always making money on anything that turned up if he could get anybody to try to make money on the other side.
And if he could not do that, he would change sides.
And he was lucky, uncommon lucky. He most always was a winner.
If there was a dog-fight, he would try to win money on it.
If there was a cat-fight, he would take the risk.
If there was a chicken-fight, he would try to win money on it.
Why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would want you to decide which one would fly first so he could win money.
Lots of the boys here have seen that Smiley and can tell you about him.
Why, it did not matter to him. He would try to make money on anything.
He was the most unusual man.
Parson Walker's wife was very sick once, for a long time, and it seemed as if they were not going to save her.
But one morning he come in, and Smiley asked him how was his wife, and he said she was better, thank God.
And Smiley, before he thought, says, "Well, I'll risk my money she will not get well."
And Smiley had a little small dog.
To look at the dog, you would think he was not worth anything but to sit around and look mean and look for a chance to steal something.
But as soon as there was money, he was a different dog.
Another dog might attack and throw him around two or three times.
Then all of a sudden Smiley's dog would grab that other dog by his back leg and hang on till the men said it was over.
Smiley always come out the winner on that dog, at least until he found a dog once that did not have any back legs.
The dog's legs had been cut off in a machine.
Well, the fighting continued long enough, and the money was gone.
Then when Smiley's dog come to make a grab (at) the other dog's back legs, he saw in a minute how there was a problem.
The other dog was going to win and Smiley's dog looked surprised and did not try to win the fight anymore.
He gave Smiley a look that said he was sorry for fighting a dog that did not have any back legs for him to hold, which he needed to win a fight.
Then Smiley's dog walked away, laid down and died.
He was a good dog, and would have made a name for himself if he had lived, for he had intelligence.
It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his and the way it turned out.
Well, this Smiley had rats, and chickens, and cats and all of them kind of things.
You could not get anything for him to risk money on but he would match you.
He caught a frog one day, and took him home, and said he was going to educate the frog.
And so he never done nothing for three months but sit in his back yard and teach that frog to jump.
And you bet you he did teach him, too.
He would give him a little hit from behind.
And the next minute you would see that frog dancing in the air and then come down all on his feet and all right, like a cat.
Smiley got him so the frog was catching flies, and he would catch one of those insects every time.
Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do almost anything.
And I believe him.
Why, I have seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this floor—Dan'l Webster was the name of the frog -- and sing out, "Flies, Dan'l, flies!"
And quicker than you could shut your eyes that frog would jump straight up and catch a fly off the table.
Then he would fall down on the floor again like a ball of dirt and start rubbing the side of his head with his back foot as if he had no idea he had been doing any more than any frog might do.
You never seen a frog so honest and simple as he was, for all he was so skilled.
And when it come to jumping, he could get over more ground in one jump than any animal of his kind that you ever saw.
Smiley was very proud of his frog, and people who had traveled and been everywhere all said he was better than any frog they had ever seen.
Well, one day a stranger came in and says to Smiley, "What might be that you have got in the box?"
And Smiley says, "It's only just a frog."
And the man took it, and looked at it careful,
and turned it round this way and that, and says, "Hm, so it is. Well, what is he good for?"
"Well," Smiley says, easy and careless, "he can out jump any frog in Calaveras county."
The man took the box again, and took another long look, and gave it back to Smiley, and says,
"I don't see anything about that frog that is any better than any other frog."
"Maybe you don't," Smiley says.
"Maybe you understand frogs and maybe you don't.
Anyways, I will risk forty dollars and bet you that he can jump farther than any frog in Calaveras County."
And the man studied a minute.
"Well, I'm only a stranger here, and I do not have a frog.
But if I had a frog, I would risk my money on it.
And then Smiley says, "That's all right. If you will hold my box a minute, I will go and get you a frog."
And so the man took the box, and put up his forty dollars and sat down to wait.
He sat there a long time thinking and thinking.
Then he got the frog out of the box.
He filled its mouth full of bullets used to kill small birds. Then he put the frog on the floor.
Now Smiley had caught another frog and gave it to the man and said, "Now sit him next to Dan'l and I will give the word."
Then Smiley says, "One-two-three-go!" and Smiley and the other man touched the frogs.
The new frog jumped. Dan'l just lifted up his body but could not move at all.
He was planted like a building.
Smiley was very surprised and angry too. But he did not know what the problem was.
The other man took the money and started away.
And when he was going out the door, he looked back and said "Well, I don't see anything about that frog that is any better than any other frog."
Smiley stood looking down at Dan'l a long time, and at last says,
"I wonder what in the nation happened to that frog. I wonder if there is something wrong with him."
And he picked up Dan'l and turned him upside down and out came a whole lot of bullets.
And Smiley was the angriest man. He set the frog down and took out after that man but he never caught him.
Now Simon Wheeler heard his name called and got up to see what was wanted.
He told me to wait but I did not think that more stories about Jim Smiley would give me any more information about Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started to walk away.
At the door I met Mr. Wheeler returning, and he started talking again.
"Well, this here Smiley had a yellow cow with one eye and no tail..."
However, lacking both time and interest, I did not wait to hear about the cow. I just left.
You have heard the American story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
Your storyteller was Shep O'Neal. The producer was Lawan Davis.
This story was written by Mark Twain and adapted into Special English by Karen Leggett.
重点解析
1.at one time 一度，从前
At one time, marriages were always sanctified by the church, but this is not the case now.
以前有一个时期，人们总是在教堂里举行神圣的婚礼，但现在不再如此了。
2.turn up 出现；翻起
No matter how often they turn up, their welcome never wears out.
不管他们多久露面一次，都永远那么受欢迎。
3.all of a sudden 突然地；突如其来地
All of a sudden she seemed to want to make peace and patch up our quarrel.
突然她似乎想要和好，结束我们之间的争吵。
4.turn out 关掉；结果是
If I had known my life was going to turn out like this, I would have let them kill me.
如果我早知道自己的人生结局会是如此，我当时宁愿让他们杀了我。
5.do nothing but do 只做了；什么也没做除了...
He did nothing but watch TV all the day.
他整天什么也不做除了看电视。
6.lift up 举起；提起
It is all part of the process of Ascension that will see you lift up into the higherdimensions.
这是所有提升过程的一部分，我们将看到你们会上升到更高维空间。
参考译文
我们今天的故事叫做《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》。作者马克·吐温。演播者谢普·奥尼尔。
一个朋友从东部来了信，我依照他的命令去拜访了西蒙·威勒，打听我朋友的朋友列昂尼达斯·W·斯迈雷的下落。
这件受人之托的事究竟结果如何，我来做个交代。
我见到西蒙·威勒的时候，他正在破破烂烂的矿山屯子安吉尔那座歪歪斜斜的酒馆里，靠着吧台旁边的炉子打盹。
我注意到他是个胖子，秃脑门，一脸安详，透着和气、朴实。
他站起身来问了声好。
我告诉他，朋友托我来打听一位叫列昂尼达斯·W·斯迈雷--听说这位年轻的福音传教士曾在安吉尔屯子里住过。
我又加了一句，要是威勒先生能告诉我这位列昂尼达斯·W·斯迈雷神父的消息，我将感激不尽。
西蒙·威勒把我逼到墙角，拿自己的椅子封住我的去路，然后讲了这个枯燥无味的事情。
他脸上不露一丝笑意，眉头一皱不皱。
但是他收不住的话头里透着认认真真、诚心诚意的情绪。
他认为故事里的主人公智谋超群。
我听凭他按照自己的路子讲下去，一直没有打断。这是西蒙·威勒讲的故事。
列昂尼达斯神父，嗯，列神父，嗯，这里从前倒是有过一个叫吉姆·斯迈雷的，那是1849年冬天--也许是1850年春天。
别的不说，要比谁最古怪，他算得上天下第一。
他总是在任何事上想法设法赚钱。
如果别人不愿意跟他赌，他就会想办法。
虽说这样，他照样有好运气，那可不是一般的好。十有八九总是他赢。
如果斗的是狗，他会设法赢钱。
如果斗的是猫，他就会冒险。
如果斗的是鸡，他会设法赢钱。
就算有两只鸟落在篱笆上，他也要跟你赌哪一只先飞，为的就是赢钱。
这儿的小伙子好多都见过斯迈雷，都能给你讲讲这个人。
他根本不在乎。他只想赚钱。
他是最不寻常的人。
沃尔克牧师的太太病得不轻，有好几天的工夫，眼看着她就没救了。
可一天早晨牧师进来了，斯迈雷站起来问他太太怎么样，他说，她好多了，全凭主的大恩大德。
斯迈雷来了一句:“这样吧，我押钱，赌她缓不过来。”
他还有一只小斗狗。
光看外表你准以为它一钱不值，就配在那儿拴着，一副贼溜溜的样子，老想偷点什么。
可是，一旦在它身上下了注，狗狗就变了。
别的狗可能会攻击它，接二连三地扔它。
突然，斯迈雷的狗狗抓住另一只狗的后腿，紧紧地抓着不放，直到人们说一切都结束了。
斯迈雷老是靠这条狗赢钱，直到在一条没后腿的狗身上碰了钉子。
因为那狗的后腿让机器给锯掉了。
战斗持续了很长时间，钱也没了。
然后，当斯迈雷的狗过来抓另一只狗的后腿时，他马上意识到有问题。
另一只狗要赢了，斯迈雷的狗看起来很惊讶，再也没有试图赢得这场比赛。
它朝斯迈雷瞧了一眼，好像是说它伤透了心，一条没有后腿的狗来让它咬，它斗狗本来靠的就是咬后腿。
后来，他一瘸一拐地溜达到旁边，倒在地上就死了。
那可是条好狗，那个安得鲁·杰克逊要是活着，准出了名了，胚子好，又聪明。
一想起它最后斗的那一场，一想起它的下场来，我鼻子就发酸。
唉，这个斯迈雷呀，他还养过耗子、鸡、猫，都是这一类的玩艺儿。
不论你拿什么去找他赌，他都能跟你兵对兵，将对将。
有一天，他逮着一只蛤蟆带回家去，说是要好好训一训。
足足有三个月，他什么事都不干，光呆在后院里头教那只蛤蟆蹦高。
果不其然，他把蛤蟆训出来了。
他会从背后轻轻打他一下。
下一分钟你就会看到那只青蛙在空中跳舞，然后就像一只猫一样用脚跳下来。
斯迈雷让蛤蟆抓苍蝇，蛤蟆回回都能逮得着。
斯迈雷说蛤蟆特爱学习，学什么会什么。这话我信。
嘿，我就瞧见过他把丹尼尔·韦伯斯特放在这儿的地板上--那蛤蟆叫丹尼尔·韦伯斯特--大喊一声:“苍蝇，丹尼尔，苍蝇!”
快得让你来不及眨眼，蛤蟆就噌曾地照直跳起来，把那边柜台上的一只苍蝇吞下去了。
然后像一摊泥“扑嗒”落在地上，拿后腿抓耳挠腮，没事人似的，好像觉得自个儿比别的蛤蟆也强不到哪儿去。
别看它有能耐，你还真找不着比它更朴实，更爽快的蛤蟆了。
只要是从平地上往上跳，它比你见过的所有蛤蟆都跳得高。
斯迈雷把他的蛤蟆看成宝贝，那些见多识广的老江湖都说，从来也没见过这么棒的蛤蟆。
有一天，一个外乡人到屯子里来，正碰上斯迈雷提着蛤蟆笼子，就问：“你那笼子里头装的是什么呀?”
斯迈雷说：“它是一只蛤蟆。”
外乡人拿过笼子，细细地瞅，
转过来转过去，说：“嗯，原来是个蛤蟆。它有什么特别的呀？”
“噢，”斯迈雷不紧不慢地说，“它比这卡拉维拉斯县里的哪一只蛤蟆蹦得都高。”
外乡人拿过笼子，又仔仔细细地看了好半天，才还给斯迈雷，他说，
“我也没瞧出来这蛤蟆比别的蛤蟆能好到哪儿去。”
“你也许瞧不出来，”斯迈雷说。
“对蛤蟆，你兴许是内行，也兴许是外行。
我赌四十块钱，敢说这蛤蟆比卡拉维拉斯县随便哪一只蛤蟆都蹦得高。”
外乡人琢磨了一会儿。
“呃，这儿我人生地不熟的，也没带着蛤蟆。”
要是我有一只蛤蟆，准跟你赌。
这时候斯迈雷说话了：“好办，好办。只要你替我把这笼子拿一小会儿，我就去给你逮一只来。”
就这样，外乡人拿着笼子，把他的四十块钱和斯迈雷的四十块钱放在一起，坐下等着了。
外乡人坐在那儿想来想去，想了好一会儿。
然后从笼子里头把蛤蟆拿出来。
他把用来杀死小鸟的子弹塞满了它的嘴巴。然后他把蛤蟆放在地板上。
斯迈雷逮住个蛤蟆，他把蛤蟆交给外乡人说，“现在让他坐在丹尼尔的旁边，我喊个号。”
然后他就喊：“一、二、三，蹦！”他和外乡人从后边点那两只蛤蟆。
新来的蛤蟆蹦得特有劲。可是丹尼尔只是抬了抬身子，却一动也不能动。
它动不了，跟生了根一样。
斯迈雷又纳闷，又上火。当然啦，说什么他也想不通这到底是怎么一档子事。
外乡人拿起钱就走。
当他要出门时，他回头说：“我也没瞧出来这蛤蟆比别的蛤蟆好到哪儿去嘛。”
斯迈雷，他站在那儿低着头把丹尼尔端详了好一会儿，最后说：
“真闹不明白这蛤蟆怎么栽了。闹不明白它犯了什么毛病。”
他揪着丹尼尔的皮，把蛤蟆掂起来，倒出来了一大堆子弹。
斯迈雷气得发疯。放下蛤蟆就去追外乡人，可再也追不上了。
这时候，西蒙·威勒听见有人喊他的名字，就站起来去看找他有什么事。
他让我等一等，但是我想，再往下听吉姆·斯迈雷的故事，也打听不到列昂尼达斯·W·斯迈雷神父消息，于是我拔腿就走。
在门口，我碰上了威勒回来了，他拽着我又打开了话匣子。
“哎，这个斯迈雷有一头独眼龙母黄牛，尾巴没了……”
可我既没功夫，也没这个嗜好；还没等他开讲那头母牛，我就走了。
今天的美国故事《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》。
演播者谢普·奥尼尔。拉万·戴维斯制作。
作者马克·吐温，由凯伦·莱格特特别节目收录。
