(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
The Fall of the House of Usher-Part Three. I was visiting an old friend of mine, Roderick Usher, in his old stone house, his palace, where a feeling of death hung on the air. I saw how fear was pressing on his heart and mind. Now his only sister, the lady Madeline, had died and we had put her body in its resting place, in a room inside the cold walls of the palace, a damp, dark vault, a fearful place. As we looked down upon her face, I saw that there was a strong likeness between the two. "Indeed," said Usher, "we were born on the same day, and the tie between us has always been strong." We did not long look down at her, for fear and wonder filled our hearts. There was still a little color in her face and there seemed to be a smile on her lips. We closed the heavy iron door and returned to the rooms above, which were hardly less gloomy than the vault. And now a change came in the sickness of my friend's mind. He went from room to room with a hurried step. His face was, if possible, whiter and more ghastly than before, and the light in his eyes had gone. The trembling in his voice seemed to show the greatest fear. At times he sat looking at nothing for hours, as if listening to some sound I could not hear. I felt his condition, slowly but certainly, gaining power over me; I felt that his wild ideas were becoming fixed in my own mind.
As I was going to bed late in the night of the seventh or eighth day after we placed the lady Madeline within the vault, I experienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep did not come — while the hours passed. My mind fought against the nervousness. I tried to believe that much, if not all, of what I felt was due to the gloomy room, to the dark wall coverings, which in a rising wind moved on the walls. But my efforts were useless. A trembling I could not stop filled my body, and fear without reason caught my heart. I sat up, looking into the darkness of my room, listening — I do not know why — to certain low sounds which came when the storm was quiet. A feeling of horror lay upon me like a heavy weight. I put on my clothes and began walking nervously around the room. I had been walking for a very short time when I heard a light step coming toward my door. I knew it was Usher. In a moment I saw him at my door, as usual very white, but there was a wild laugh in his eyes. Even so, I was glad to have his company. "And have you not seen it?" he said. He hurried to one of the windows and opened it to the storm.
The force of the entering wind nearly lifted us from our feet. It was, indeed, a stormy but beautiful night, and wildly strange. The heavy, low-hanging clouds which seemed to press down upon the house, flew from all directions against each other, always returning and never passing away in the distance. With their great thickness they cut off all light from the moon and the stars. But we could see them because they were lighted from below by the air itself, which we could see, rising from the dark lake and from the stones of the house itself. "You must not — you shall not look out at this!" I said to Usher, as I led him from the window to a seat. "This appearance which surprises you so has been seen in other places, too. Perhaps the lake is the cause. Let us close this window; the air is cold. Here is one of the stories you like best. I will read and you shall listen and thus we will live through this fearful night together." The old book which I had picked up was one written by a fool for fools to read, and it was not, in truth, one that Usher liked. It was, however, the only one within easy reach. He seemed to listen quietly. Then I came to a part of the story in which a man, a strong man full of wine, begins to break down a door, and the sound of the dry wood as it breaks can be heard through all the forest around him.
Here I stopped, for it seemed to me that from some very distant part of the house sounds came to my ears like those of which I had been reading. It must have been this likeness that had made me notice them, for the sounds themselves, with the storm still increasing, were nothing to stop or interest me. I continued the story, and read how the man, now entering through the broken door, discovers a strange and terrible animal of the kind so often found in these old stories. He strikes it and it falls, with such a cry that he has to close his ears with his hands. Here again I stopped. There could be no doubt. This time I did hear a distant sound, very much like the cry of the animal in the story. I tried to control myself so that my friend would see nothing of what I felt. I was not certain that he had heard the sound, although he had clearly changed in some way. He had slowly moved his chair so that I could not see him well. I did see that his lips were moving as if he were speaking to himself. His head had dropped forward, but I knew he was not asleep, for his eyes were open and he was moving his body from side to side. I began reading again, and quickly came to a part of the story where a heavy piece of iron falls on a stone floor with a ringing sound. These words had just passed my lips when I heard clearly, but from far away, a loud ringing sound — as if something of iron had indeed fallen heavily upon a stone floor, or as if an iron door had closed.
I lost control of myself completely, and jumped up from my chair. Usher still sat, moving a little from side to side. His eyes were turned to the floor. I rushed to his chair. As I placed my hand on his shoulder, I felt that his whole body was trembling; a sickly smile touched his lips; he spoke in a low, quick, and nervous voice as if he did not know I was there. "Yes!" he said. "I heard it! Many minutes, many hours, many days have I heard it — but I did not dare to speak! We have put her living in the vault! Did I not say that my senses were too strong? I heard her first movements many days ago — yet I did not dare to speak! And now, that story — but the sounds were hers! Oh, where shall I run?! She is coming — coming to ask why I put her there too soon. I hear her footsteps on the stairs. I hear the heavy beating of her heart." Here he jumped up and cried as if he were giving up his soul: "I tell you, she now stands at the door!!" The great door to which he was pointing now slowly opened. It was the work of the rushing wind, perhaps — but no — outside that door a shape did stand, the tall figure, in its grave-clothes, of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her white dress, and the signs of her terrible efforts to escape were upon every part of her thin form. For a moment she remained trembling at the door; then, with a low cry, she fell heavily in upon her brother; in her pain, as she died at last, she carried him down with her, down to the floor. He too was dead, killed by his own fear.
I rushed from the room; I rushed from the house. I ran. The storm was around me in all its strength as I crossed the bridge. Suddenly a wild light moved along the ground at my feet, and I turned to see where it could have come from, for only the great house and its darkness were behind me. The light was that of the full moon, of a bloodred moon, which was now shining through that break in the front wall, that crack which I thought I had seen when I first saw the palace. Then only a little crack, it now widened as I watched. A strong wind came rushing over me — the whole face of the moon appeared. I saw the great walls falling apart. There was a long and stormy shouting sound — and the deep black lake closed darkly over all that remained of the House of Usher.
重点解析
1.press on 压迫;坚决推进
The pattern is that of an economic upturn beginning to press on primary producing capacity, and in the UK on the labour market too.
当前的总体局势是,新一轮经济复苏正对初级产品的产能形成压力,在英国还对劳动力市场形成压力
。2.due to 由于;因为
Mistakes due to carelessness may have serious consequences.
由粗心大意造成的错误有可能带来严重的后果
3.pick up 拾起;拿起
How dare you pick up the phone and listen in on my conversations!
你竟敢拿起电话偷听我的谈话!
4.break down 损坏;瓦解
Their car broke down.
他们的车子出故障了
。参考译文
厄舍古屋的倒塌——第三部分
马德琳小姐的遗体停放在地窖中的第七天或第八天深夜,这样的感觉尤其深刻 。时间一小时一小时地流逝,我依旧辗转难眠 。我紧张得不能自拔,我极力使自己相信,这如果不全是因为阴郁的房间,暗色的黑幔,那多半也是源于此 。一阵狂风撩得黑幔在墙壁上瑟瑟飘摇 。怎么排解都无济于事,抑制不住的颤抖传遍全身,莫名的恐惧压上心头 。我起身,凝视着黑洞洞的房间,侧耳倾听起来 。我不知道为何去倾听,我听到了低沉的声音,当暴风雨停歇时,便随之而起 。一种恐惧感铺天盖地地压来 。我穿上衣服,紧张地在房间里走来走去 。我走了一小会,就听到一阵轻微的脚步声走向我的房门 。我知道那是厄舍 。转瞬间,我看到他站在门口,面色依旧苍白,不过眼睛里流溢出狂喜 。尽管如此,我还是很高兴他来陪我 。“你没看到么?”他说着,快速走到一扇窗子前,然后把它打开,窗外雨狂风急 。
一股狂风猛烈袭来,几乎把我们掀翻 。虽说有暴风雨,但那个夜晚绝对是美丽,奇特诡异 。乌云密布,且越积越厚,低垂着,仿佛要压向府邸 。云朵从四面八方驶来,彼此冲撞,却没有飘向远方 。浓密的乌云,遮蔽住月亮和星星的光芒 。但我们能够看到它们,因为乌云下面的光照亮了它们,那光从昏暗的湖面和石屋上闪烁升起 。“你不要看——你不该看这个!”我一边对厄舍说,一边把他从窗口拉到座位上 。“这种蛊惑人的景象不过是寻常的现象,也许是湖水所致 。关上窗子吧,空气寒凉 。这有一部你喜欢的传奇故事,我念你听,一起度过这可怕的夜晚吧 。”我拿起的这部古书,是一个傻瓜写给其它傻瓜消遣的 。事实上,它并不是厄舍爱读的书 。不过,这是手头仅有的一本书 。他静静地听着 。接着,我念到了故事的这个部分,一个勇猛刚强的男人,刚刚灌过几杯,趁着酒力开始砸一扇门 。干燥空洞的门板碎裂声,在整个森林里回荡着 。
念到这里,我停住了 。因为我仿佛听到,从府邸的一角远远传来的回声,与我念到的故事中那劈啪的破裂声几乎一模一样 。正是这种巧合,吸引了我的注意力 。伴着仍在加剧的风暴声,这个声音不算什么,既不会搅扰我,也不能勾起我的兴趣 。我接着念道:这个男人跨过破裂的门走进屋中,他发现了一种奇怪而可怕的动物,这种动物经常在古老的故事中出现 。他击打着这只动物,动物应声落地,它发出一声撕心裂肺的叫声,男人不得不用双手掩住耳朵 。念到这,我又停了下来 。毫无疑问,就在这一刻,我确实听到远处传来一个声音,像极了故事中动物的叫声 。我还是保持着镇静,以免我那神经敏感的伙伴看出异样而受刺激 。尽管他的举止确实有了明显的变化,但我不敢确定他是否已经听到这些声音 。他把椅子慢慢转开了,我无法看清他 。我确实看到他的嘴唇瑟瑟发抖,好似在自言自语 。他的头垂了下来,但我知道他没有睡着,因为他的眼睛睁得很大,身体一直在左右摇摆 。我重新开始读故事,很快故事进展到这个部分:一块沉重的铁块掉在石板地上,发出巨大的回响 。我的嘴巴一吐出这些音节,就清晰地听到从远处传来一声巨响——好像有铁器重重地落在石板地上,又好像有一扇铁门关上了 。
我吓得魂飞魄散,从椅子上一跃而起 。厄舍依然坐着,一下一下地摇来晃去,双眼盯着地面 。我冲到他的椅子边,当我把手搭到他肩上时,他浑身上下猛地战栗起来,嘴唇上颤动着一丝惨淡的微笑 。他结结巴巴地咕哝着,声音急促而低沉,似乎没有意识到我站在那 。“是的!”他说,“我听到了!几分钟前、几小时前、几天前我就听到了 。可我不敢说!我们把她活埋了!我不是说过我感觉敏锐么?我好几天前就听到她最早的动静了,可我不敢说!可现在,那个故事——但是那声音是她啊!噢,该往哪里逃呢?她来了——来问我们为什么那么早就把她放在那 。我听到她上楼的脚步声了,我听到她沉重的心跳声了 。”他猛地跳起来,失魂落魄地厉声喊道:“我告诉过你,她现在就站在门外!”他指着的那扇大门缓慢地打开了,这或许是一阵疾风刮开的,殊不知,门外当真站着厄舍府高个子的玛德琳小姐 。她身上裹着寿衣,那白色的袍子上溅满血迹 。瘦弱不堪的身体上到处都是苦苦挣扎的痕迹 。她在门槛那里颤抖了一阵,然后,低低地呻吟着,重重地朝哥哥身上倒去 。这死前猛烈而痛苦的一击,把她哥哥扑倒在地,成为一具死尸 。他被吓死了 。
我逃出那个房间,逃出厄舍府 。我狂奔着,跨过那座小桥,风雨依然肆虐 。突然,路上射来一道奇异的光线,我回转头,想看看这道奇光究竟来自何方,因为身后除了那座府邸和它的暗影,别无他物 。原来是一轮血红的满月,它的光芒透过府邸正面墙壁上的裂缝闪耀着,我第一次见到这座宫殿时就看到过那条裂缝 。那时很小的一条裂缝,在我举目凝望之际,迅速变宽 。耳畔,旋风在怒吼着,而那血红的满月,骤然逼至眼前 。我看到高墙崩裂,我听到惊天动地的巨响经久不息,那幽深阴暗的山湖,淹没了砖残瓦碎的厄舍府 。