(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
There is a colorful Caribbean Art Gallery and gift boutique located downtown in Naples, Florida. The store is small and offers a large collection of beautiful Haitian paintings and other art that you cannot find anywhere else.
The store is named ‘The Lady From Haiti.' Behind its funky name is a story of love.
Melody Bales owns the store. Bales took an interest in the Caribbean early in life, partly because of its art.
"It was the paintings originally that attracted me to Haiti. I had seen one in a studio in a gallery on St. John's Island, one of the American Virgin Islands. And I speak French. I was fascinated by the sound of the language and my parents had gotten me a book when I was a young kid called ‘The Slave Who Freed Haiti.' And it was the story of Toussaint Louverture, the slave that led the revolt against Napoleon.
So I think the fact that that was somehow embedded in my consciousness and the sound of the French language and my love for the Caribbean. So that made me want to go to and live in Haiti."
So, that is what she did. In the mid 1980s, Melody Bales moved to Haiti where she taught second grade students.
"I landed there and I was in shock that I couldn't use my French too much because the official language is French, but the people speak Creole. But I adjusted really well to my class. It was a second grade class.
I had wonderful children from diplomats from all over the world because Port au Prince is a capital city and I had the children of American businessmen before the embargo had ruined their businesses and the Haitian elite sent their children to our school. It was an American curriculum and that's what they wanted."
Bales also taught swimming after school and in the summertime. She fell in love with Haiti, especially its people.
"I think the people of Haiti are wonderful. They're very, very sweet. They're humble, they're accepting of their plight, a lot of times. They work very hard if they get a chance.
"They're modest they're kind, they're sharing, all the different things that people that aren't in a big rush to get somewhere fast and achieve and to grab more and more for themselves. A lot of the things that we don't experience so much in our country anymore are still present in Haiti."
Bales says she wishes that Americans knew more about the Caribbean island's rich culture as well.
"I would love people in this country to understand that Haiti has so much more to offer, even though it's not an educated society, for the most part. They have so much more to offer creatively, musically, artistically. The poetry, the literature, they come from a rich background..."
Bales stayed in Haiti for six years, much longer than expected. She says each time she planned to return to the U.S., something held her back. And, then came the chance of a lifetime: a Haitian baby girl in need of a mother.
"I had wanted to have a child...I had done an unsuccessful in vitro and then I told a doctor friend of mine, a Haitian doctor friend of mine, that it didn't work. And he said, ‘So, are you ready for a Haitian baby?' I said, 'I just want a baby.'"
Soon, Bales was connected with a pregnant woman who could not afford to care for the coming baby. But, there was little time left to act.
"I met this mother, she was going to have the baby within two weeks. So, in that period of time I took her to the doctor, another friend of my doctor friends, and had a sonogram...and I was thrilled to see that it was a healthy developed girl."
Melody Bales says it was a match made in heaven. She named her daughter Rachel.
"I tell my daughter Rachel I've known her longer than she's known me. I saw her first."
Bales returned to the United States with her daughter Rachel to begin their lives together.
Rachel was the inspiration for "The Lady from Haiti" store. Bales says she wanted her daughter to grow up surrounded by the Haitian native culture with its beautiful colors, creativity and spirit.
"The art in Haiti is one of the strongest features about the Haitian culture. There are basically five schools. Different schools of art in Haiti. The ones that a lot of people think of are the market scenes or the peaceable kingdom scene, the jungle animals. And those are very charming.
"And then there's a school of the voodoo art, which is --- it's pretty strong...Voodoo is a pantheistic religion that came from Africa and the Haitian people brought a lot of those beliefs with them."
Another popular Haitian art form found at "The Lady from Haiti" is made from recycled material.
"It's called fer découpé which means cut metal, and it's literally 55 gallon drums that have been cut with a cold chisel and a ball peen hammer."
Bales explains that a design is drawn on the metal before the artist begins to make the cuts.
"And they're fashioned into the most beautiful creations, sometimes they're exotic animals or religious icons or country scenes. But each time I see one, it's just... it's really satisfying because I realize it's hard work, sweat, a wonderful imagination and I love them because they have so much detail."
Bales also loves the papier mache art made in Haiti.
"I think the Papier Mache is cute just because it's so whimsical. It's made from recycled cement bags. They use a heavy- duty craft paper in Haiti, which is so heavy that it actually cracks when you fold it. And they use a ground up root, I believe it's called manioc, as the paste and they make really charming little animals."
Melody Bales is grateful for the wonderful things Haiti has given her, especially daughter Rachel. "The Lady From Haiti" gallery will continue to give back to the island as it shares Haitian art, color and spirit with the rest of the world.
重点解析
1.because of由于
There were fewer temporary engineers to plug in in that city because of low pay.
由于报酬低，该城市雇用得到的临时工程师就更少了。
2.fall in love with爱上
Young foreigners often fall in love with the country and want to stay there or bring positive experiences home with them.
年轻外国人经常会爱上这个国家，想留下来，或带着良好印象回国。
3.hold back退缩；阻止
Our kids don’t hold back because they are afraid to fail. They are only afraid of failing us.
我们的孩子不会因为害怕失败而有所退缩，他们只是害怕让我们失望。
4.be grateful for对……心存感激
Be grateful for your Home, your work and most importantly your family and friends.
感谢你的家庭，你的工作和你最重要的家人和朋友。
5.in need of需要
If you keep cutting yourself off from opening up to others, you risk not sharing your skills, talents, and abilities with others in need of help.
如果你始终拒绝向他人敞开心怀，在需要帮助时就可能出现不与他人分享你的技能、才智和能力的问题。
6.be ready for准备好
You will never be ready for what you want to do.
你将永远不会为你还没做的事就准备好。
参考译文
在佛罗里达州那不勒斯的市中心，有一个丰富多彩的加勒比艺术画廊和礼品精品店。这家店很小，它里面有大量美丽的海地绘画和其他艺术作品，这些作品你在其他任何地方都找不到。
这家店的名字叫“海地小姐”。在这个时髦的名字的背后是一个关于爱的故事。
梅洛迪·贝尔斯是这家商店的主人。贝尔斯早年就对加勒比海产生了兴趣，部分原因是它的艺术。
“最初吸引我来海地的东西是那些画。我曾在美属维尔京群岛之一的圣约翰岛的一间画廊的画室里见过一幅。我会说法语。我被这种语言的发音迷住了，小时候父母给我买了一本书，名叫《解放海地的奴隶》。这本书讲的是杜桑·卢维杜尔的故事，这个奴隶领导了反对拿破仑的斗争。
所以我认为我对法语的发音和加勒比海的热爱是植根于我的意识当中的。这让我想去海地生活。”
她也这么做了。80年代中期，梅洛迪·贝尔斯搬到了海地，在那里教二年级的学生。
我到这里的时候，令我很震惊的是，我不能太多地用法语交流，因为这里的官方语言是法语，但人们说克里奥尔语。但是我很好地适应了我的教学工作。那是一个二年级的班。
因为太子港是一个首都，所以这个班里有来自世界各地的外交官的孩子，有一些美国商人的孩子，那时他们的生意还没有被禁运毁掉，海地的精英也把他们的孩子送到我们学校。这是教授的是美国的课程，那就是他们想要的。”
夏天的时候，贝尔斯还在放学后教游泳。她爱上了海地，尤其是海地的人民。
“我认为海地人们非常棒。它们非常非常友好。很多时候，他们都很谦逊，接受自己的处境。如果有机会的话，他们会非常努力地工作。
“他们谦虚，善良，他们会分享所有不同的东西，而且他们并不急于快速到达某个地方，不急于取得成就，不急于为自己攫取越来越多的东西。”海地现在仍然有很多我们在本国没有经历过的事情。
贝尔斯说，她希望美国人也更多地了解这个加勒比海岛国丰富的文化。“我希望这个国家的人民能够理解，尽管海地在很大程度上不是一个受过教育的社会，但是它可以提供很多的东西。”他们在创造力、音乐和艺术方面有更多的东西可以提供。还有诗歌，文学，他们有一个丰富的背景…
贝尔斯在海地呆了六年，比预期的时间长得多。她说，每次她计划回到美国时，这里就会有什么东西阻止她。然后，一个千载难逢的机会出现了：一个海地女婴需要妈妈。
“我本来想要个孩子……”我做的体外试管实验没有成功，然后我告诉我的一个海地的医生朋友，它不起作用。他说，“那么，你准备好要一个海地婴儿了吗?”我说，“我只想要个孩子。”
很快，贝尔斯联系上了一位无法负担即将到来的婴儿的孕妇。但是，几乎没有时间采取行动了。
“我遇到的这位母亲，她两周内就要生孩子了。所以，在那段时间里，我带她去看医生，我另一个医生朋友的朋友，我们做了超声波检查…我很高兴看到这是一个健康发育的女孩。
梅洛迪·贝尔斯说这是天作之合。她给女儿取名瑞秋。
“我告诉我女儿瑞秋，我认识她的时间比她认识我的时间还长。我是第一个见到她的。”
贝尔斯带着女儿瑞秋回到美国，开始了他们的共同生活。
瑞秋是“海地小姐”商店的灵感来源。贝尔斯说，她希望她的女儿能在海地本土文化的环绕中成长，海地本土文化有着美丽的色彩、创造力和精神。
“海地的艺术是海地文化最明显的特征之一。海地的艺术基本上分五种流派。很多人想到的是市场场景，或者平静的王国场景，丛林动物。这些都很迷人。
“然后还有一种流派是伏都教艺术，它非常有生命力，伏都教是一种来自非洲的泛神论宗教，海地人民有很多这样的信仰。
“海地小姐”店铺中还有另外一种流行的海地艺术形式，作品是由可回收材料创造出来的。
“它叫做“ferdécoupé”，意思是切割金属，它实际上是用冷凿和球头锤切割而成的55加仑的鼓。”
贝尔斯解释说，艺术家是先在金属上作画，然后在去切割它。
“它们被塑造成最美丽的作品，有时候它们会被创作成奇异的动物、宗教偶像或乡村风景。我每次看到这样一件作品，我都会非常满足，因为我能体会到这是一项艰苦的工作，它又充满着极佳的想象力。而且我还因为作品的超多细节而爱上它们。”
贝尔斯也喜欢海地制造的纸制工艺品。
“我觉得这个纸工艺品很可爱，只是因为它太异想天开了。”它是由回收的水泥袋制成的。在海地，他们使用的是一种很重的手工纸，这种纸非常重，当你折叠它的时候，它会破裂。他们用一种我觉得是木薯的被磨碎的根作为糊状物，来制作出非常可爱的小动物。
梅洛迪·贝尔斯非常感激海地给她带来的美好，尤其是她的女儿瑞秋。“海地小姐”画廊将继续回馈这座岛屿，因为它向世界其他地方分享海地的艺术、色彩和精神。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
