(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Our story today is called "The Ambitious Guest. " It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Here is Harry Monroe with our story. One December night, a long, long time ago, a family sat around the fireplace in their home. A golden light from the fire filled the room. The mother and father laughed at something their oldest daughter had just said. The girl was seventeen, much older than her little brother and sister, who were only five and six years old. A very old woman, the family's grandmother, sat knitting in the warmest corner of the room. And a baby, the youngest child, smiled at the fire's light from its tiny bed. This family had found happiness in the worst place in all of New England. They had built their home high up in the White Mountains, where the wind blows violently all year long.
The family lived in an especially cold and dangerous spot. Stones from the top of the mountain above their house would often roll down the mountainside and wake them in the middle of the night. No other family lived near them on the mountain. But this family was never lonely. They enjoyed each other's company, and often had visitors. Their house was built near an important road that connected the White Mountains to the Saint Lawrence River. People traveling through the mountains in wagons always stopped at the family's door for a drink of water and a friendly word. Lonely travelers, crossing the mountains on foot, would step into the house to share a hot meal. Sometimes, the wind became so wild and cold that these strangers would spend the night with the family. The family offered every traveler who stopped at their home a kindness that money could not buy. On that December evening, the wind came rushing down the mountain. It seemed to stop at their house to knock at the door before it roared down into the valley. The family fell silent for a moment. But then they realized that someone really was knocking at their door. The oldest girl opened the door and found a young man standing in the dark.
The old grandmother put a chair near the fireplace for him. The oldest daughter gave him a warm, shy smile. And the baby held up its little arms to him. "This fire is just what I needed," the young man said. "The wind has been blowing in my face for the last two hours."The father took the young man's travel bag. "Are you going to Vermont?" the older man asked. "Yes, to Burlington," the traveler replied. "I wanted to reach the valley tonight. But when I saw the light in your window, I decided to stop. I would like to sit and enjoy your fire and your company for a while."As the young man took his place by the fire, something like heavy footsteps was heard outside. It sounded as if someone was running down the side of the mountain, taking enormous steps. The father looked out one of the windows."That old mountain has thrown another stone at us again. He must have been afraid we would forget him. He sometimes shakes his head and makes us think he will come down on top of us," the father explained to the young man. "But we are old neighbors," he smiled. "And we manage to get along together pretty well.
Besides, I have made a safe hiding place outside to protect us in case a slide brings the mountain down on our heads."As the father spoke, the mother prepared a hot meal for their guest. While he ate, he talked freely to the family, as if it were his own. This young man did not trust people easily. Yet on this evening, something made him share his deepest secret with these simple mountain people.The young man's secret was that he was ambitious. He did not know what he wanted to do with his life, yet. But he did know that he did not want to be forgotten after he had died. He believed that sometime during his life, he would become famous and be admired by thousands of people. "So far," the young man said, "I have done nothing. If I disappeared tomorrow from the face of the earth, no one would know anything about me. No one would ask 'Who was he. Where did he go?' But I cannot die until I have reached my destiny. Then let death come! I will have built my monument!"The young man's powerful emotions touched the family. They smiled. "You laugh at me," the young man said, taking the oldest daughter's hand. "You think my ambition is silly." She was very shy, and her face became pink with embarrassment. "It is better to sit here by the fire," she whispered, "and be happy, even if nobody thinks of us."Her father stared into the fire. "I think there is something natural in what the young man says. And his words have made me think about our own lives here.
"It would have been nice if we had had a little farm down in the valley. Some place where we could see our mountains without being afraid they would fall on our heads. I would have been respected by all our neighbors. And, when I had grown old, I would die happy in my bed. You would put a stone over my grave so everyone would know I lived an honest life.""You see!" the young man cried out. "It is in our nature to want a monument. Some want only a stone on their grave. Others want to be a part of everyone's memory. But we all want to be remembered after we die!" The young man threw some more wood on the fire to chase away the darkness. The firelight fell on the little group around the fireplace: the father's strong arms and the mother's gentle smile. It touched the young man's proud face, and the daughter's shy one. It warmed the old grandmother, still knitting in the corner. She looked up from her knitting and, with her fingers still moving the needles, she said, "Old people have their secrets, just as young people do."The old woman said she had made her funeral clothes some years earlier. They were the finest clothes she had made since her wedding dress. She said her secret was a fear that she would not be buried in her best clothes. The young man stared into the fire.
"Old and young," he said. "We dream of graves and monuments. I wonder how sailors feel when their ship is sinking, and they know they will be buried in the wide and nameless grave that is the ocean?"A sound, rising like the roar of the ocean, shook the house. Young and old exchanged one wild look. Then the same words burst from all their lips. "The slide! The slide!" They rushed away from the house, into the darkness, to the secret spot the father had built to protect them from the mountain slide. The whole side of the mountain came rushing toward the house like a waterfall of destruction. But just before it reached the little house, the wave of earth divided in two and went around the family's home. Everyone and everything in the path of the terrible slide was destroyed, except the little house. The next morning, smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the house on the mountain. Inside, the fire was still burning. The chairs were still drawn up in a half circle around the fireplace. It looked as if the family had just gone out for a walk.
重点解析
1.traveling through 穿越
Police caught a Chinese man in late April traveling through the airport with more than 200 pounds of ivory.
在四月末，警察抓获了一名中国男性，他打算带着200多磅的象牙通过机场。
2.all year long 全年
Mating occurs all year long with the gestation period of approximately 2 years.
非洲象常年均可交配，母象的怀孕期大约2年。
3.rushing toward 奔向
All of this means that Japan is rushing toward a demographic hara-kiri.
这意味着日本在人口政策上正奔向死亡之路。
4.bury in 埋藏
What did the dog bury in the backyard?
小狗在后院里埋了什么东西？
5.heavy footsteps 沉重的脚步
The sound of heavy footsteps awoke the watchdog.
沉重的脚步声惊醒了看家豿。
参考译文
我们今天的故事叫做《有抱负的来客》，作者纳撒尼尔·霍桑。哈里·门罗为您讲述。很久很久以前，九月的一个夜晚，有家人围坐炉火边，炉火熊熊，把屋子照得又明又亮。大女儿方才说了句什么小笑话，使大家笑得很开心。大女儿17岁，弟弟妹妹只有五六岁。上年纪的老祖母坐在最暖和的地方织毛线年龄最小的孩子，对着婴儿床上的火光咯咯笑。他们在全新英格兰最荒凉的地方自得其乐。一家人住在白山的大峡谷里，这里终年狂风呼啸。一家人住在这又冷又险的地方头顶危耸高山，陡峭险峻，山岩时常顺坡轰隆隆滚落，深更半夜吓他们一大跳。这家人虽住得偏僻，却天天与世界有交往。他们喜欢彼此作伴，而且经常有客人来访。他们的房子建在一条大动脉附近，一头联通白山山脉，另一头联通圣劳伦斯河岸。乘着驿车穿山越岭的人总会在这家门前停下讨杯水喝，与他们讲上几句话。徒步旅行者也会在这里驻足，走进屋子，和他们一起吃着热乎乎的饭。有时，风变得如此狂野和寒冷，这些陌生人会与这家人一起过夜。这家人对每一位停留在此的旅客给予无价的家庭温暖。腊月的夜晚，寒风翻山越岭，好像停在了他家门前，把门摇得哗啦响，然后才刮进山谷。全家人沉默了一会儿，但后来他们意识到真的有人在敲门。
大女孩打开门，发现一个年轻人伫立在黑暗中。老祖母在壁炉旁为他放了一把椅子，大女儿给了他一个热情而又腼腆的微笑。婴儿朝他举起了小胳膊。“啊，这炉火来得正好！”他嚷道。“这风一路对着我脸猛吹了两个小时，我可冻僵了。”“那你是要去佛蒙特喽？”一家之主问，一面帮小伙子从肩上摘下一只轻巧的背包。“对，去伯林顿。”小伙子回答道。“今晚本打算到达山谷的，一见这炉好火，我就打算停下来跟你们坐在一块儿，享受这美好的时光！”年轻人刚把椅子拉到炉火边，就听到外面传来沉重的脚步声，听起来好像有人从山那边跑下来，大步疾行，父亲从一扇窗户往外看。“山老爷又朝咱们扔石头啦，怕咱们忘了他老人家。他有时候会点头吓唬我们，说要下来。”父亲向年轻人解释道。“可我们是老邻居啦，”他笑道。“总的来说相处不错。再说，就算他真要下来，附近就有可靠的地方好藏身。”父亲在说话，母亲在为客人准备饭菜。他一边吃，一边和家里人畅谈，好像这是自己家一样年轻人警惕心比较高。这天夜里，这位温文尔雅富于教养的年青人向这些纯朴的山里人敞开了心扉，这位年轻人骨子里有一种崇高而抽象的抱负生前他不知道想过怎样的生活，死后却不愿被人遗忘。他相信在他生命中的某个时刻，他会成名，受到成千上万人的尊敬。
“迄今为止”，“我还一事无成，要是明天我会从地球上消失，没有人会比你们对我知道得更多。没有一个人会问‘他是谁？这流浪汉要去哪里？’可是不完成我的使命我就不能死，等到那时候，就让死神降临吧！我已为自己竖起了一块纪念碑！”年轻人强烈的情绪感动了这个家庭，他们笑了。“你在笑话我，”他握住大女儿的手说。“你觉得我的抱负毫无意义。”姑娘羞红了脸“还是坐在这炉火旁边好得多”，“又舒服又安逸，虽说没谁会想到我们。”父亲注视着炉火。小伙子的话道出了人的一些天性，他的话让我想起了我们在这里的生活。“但愿咱们在这山谷里有座好农场，我们可以看到我们的大山，而不用害怕石头掉下来砸到脑袋。我会跟邻居和睦相处等我老啦，我会躺在床上心满意足地死去。你会在石板墓碑上刻上我的姓名年龄，让人知道我活得诚实。”“怎么样，”陌生人大声道，“咱们生来就渴望一座纪念碑吧？有些人只想在他们的坟墓上留下一块石头，其他人想在人们心中普遍留下一个光荣的记忆。但我们都想在死后被人记住！”年轻人又往火里扔了些木柴来驱散黑暗。
火光在他们身边亲切地徘徊，爱抚着他们每一个人：这儿是父亲强壮结实的身躯，母亲温柔细腻的神态，风度翩翩的小伙子，含苞欲放的大姑娘。和善慈祥的老祖母，依然坐在最暖和的地方织毛线。老人从活计上抬起头，手指不停地忙着“老年人也有他们的想法，跟你们年轻人一样。”她说道。她告诉大家几年前她就给自己准备了寿衣。这是她结婚以来做的最漂亮的衣服。她说她害怕自己死的时候没有穿上最漂亮的衣服。年轻人注视着炉火。“老老少少，”他说。“咱们都梦到坟墓和纪念碑，真不知轮船沉没的时候，水手们怎么想？他们知道自己将会葬身大海——那座宽广无边无名无姓的坟墓。”这声音越来越大，越来越响，像大海的怒吼，屋子颤动起来，年轻人和老人面面相觑，惊恐交加。接着，又不约而同发出尖叫。“山崩！山崩！”受害者们冲出茅舍，消失在黑暗中，奔向父亲为保护他们不受山体滑坡伤害而建造的秘密地点，大山整片滑坡，瀑布般毁灭破坏。快到茅舍的地方，石流却兵分两路，吞噬了所经之处的一切一切，除了茅舍。第二天早晨，但见一缕轻烟打山边小屋的烟囱悄然升起。屋内，炉火仍在悠悠燃烧，四周摆着那圈椅子，看起来好像一家人刚出去散步。有的人猜想，那个可怕的夜晚，这一家曾接待了一位陌生人他的姓名与为人无从知晓他的名字以及生活道路是一个永远解不开的谜，他的遗体再也找不到了。
