(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Our story today is called "Feathertop." It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story. The long cold winter was gone at last. At first the cold nights went away slowly. Then suddenly, the warm days of spring started to come. There was new life again in the earth. Things started to grow and come up. For the first time, green corn plants began to show. They pushed through the soil and could now be seen above the ground. After the long winter months, the crows, the big black birds, were hungry. And when they saw the little green plants, they flew down to eat them. Old Mother Rigby tried to make the noisy and hungry birds go away. They made her very angry. She did not want the black birds to eat her corn. But the birds would not go away. So, early one morning, just as the sun started to rise, Mother Rigby jumped out of bed. She had a plan to stop those black birds from eating her corn.
Mother Rigby could do anything. She was a witch, a woman with strange powers. She could make water run uphill, or change a beautiful woman into a white horse. Many nights when the moon was full and bright, she could be seen flying over the tops of the houses in the village, sitting on a long wooden stick. It was a broomstick, and it helped her to do all sorts of strange tricks. Mother Rigby ate a quick breakfast and then started to work on her broomstick. She was planning to make something that would look like a man. It would fill the birds with fear, and scare them from eating her corn, the way most farmers protect themselves from those black, pesky birds. Mother Rigby worked quickly. She held her magic broomstick straight, and then tied another piece of wood across it. And already, it began to look like a man with arms. Then she made the head. She put a pumpkin, a vegetable the size of a football, on top of the broomstick. She made two small holes in the pumpkin for eyes, and made another cut lower down that looked just like a mouth. At last, there he was. He seemed ready to go to work for Mother Rigby and stop those old birds from eating her corn. But, Mother Rigby was not happy with what she made. She wanted to make her scarecrow look better and better, for she was a good worker. She made a purple coat and put it around her scarecrow, and dressed it in white silk stockings. She covered him with false hair and an old hat. And in that hat, she stuck the feather of a bird.
She examined him closely, and decided she liked him much better now, dressed up in a beautiful coat, with a fine feather on top of his hat. And, she named him Feathertop. She looked at Feathertop and laughed with happiness. He is a beauty, she thought. "Now what?" she thought, feeling troubled again. She felt that Feathertop looked too good to be a scarecrow. "He can do something better," she thought, "than just stand near the corn all summer and scare the crows." And she decided on another plan for Feathertop. She took the pipe of tobacco she was smoking and put it into the mouth of Feathertop. "Puff, darling, puff," she said to Feathertop. "Puff away, my fine fellow. It is your life." Smoke started to rise from Feathertop's mouth. At first, it was just a little smoke, but Feathertop worked hard, blowing and puffing. And, more and more smoke came out of him. "Puff away, my pet," Mother Rigby said, with happiness. "Puff away, my pretty one. Puff for your life, I tell you." Mother Rigby then ordered Feathertop to walk. "Go forward," she said. "You have a world before you."
Feathertop put one hand out in front of him, trying to find something for support. At the same time he pushed one foot forward with great difficulty. But Mother Rigby shouted and ordered him on, and soon he began to go forward. Then she said, "you look like a man, and you walk like a man. Now I order you to talk like a man." Feathertop gasped, struggled, and at last said in a small whisper, "Mother, I want to speak, but I have no brain. What can I say?" "Ah, you can speak," Mother Rigby answered. "What shall you say? Have no fear. When you go out into the world, you will say a thousand things, and say them a thousand times...and saying them a thousand times again and again, you still will be saying nothing. So just talk, babble like a bird. Certainly you have enough of a brain for that." Mother Rigby gave Feathertop much money and said "Now you are as good as any of them and can hold your head high with importance." But she told Feathertop that he must never lose his pipe and must never let it stop smoking. She warned him that if his pipe ever stopped smoking, he would fall down and become just a bundle of sticks again. "Have no fear, Mother," Feathertop said in a big voice and blew a big cloud of smoke out of his mouth.
"On your way," Mother Rigby said, pushing Feathertop out the door. "The world is yours. And if anybody asks you for your name, just say Feathertop. For you have a feather in your hat and a handful of feathers in your empty head." Feathertop found the streets in town, and many people started to look at him. They looked at his beautiful purple coat and his white silk stockings, and at the pipe he carried in his left hand, which he put back into his mouth every five steps he walked. They thought he was a visitor of great importance. "What a fine, noble face" one man said. "He surely is somebody," said another. "A great leader of men." As Feathertop walked along one of the quieter streets near the edge of town, he saw a very pretty girl standing in front of a small red brick house. A little boy was standing next to her. The pretty girl smiled at Feathertop, and love entered her heart. It made her whole face bright with sunlight. Feathertop looked at her and had a feeling he never knew before. Suddenly, everything seemed a little different to him. The air was filled with a strange excitement. The sunlight glowed along the road, and people seemed to dance as they moved through the streets. Feathertop could not stop himself, and walked toward the pretty smiling young girl. As he got closer, the little boy at her side pointed his finger at Feathertop and said, "Look, Polly! The man has no face. It is a pumpkin."
Feathertop moved no closer, but turned around and hurried through the streets of the town toward his home. When Mother Rigby opened the door, she saw Feathertop shaking with emotion. He was puffing on his pipe with great difficulty and making sounds like the clatter of sticks, or the rattling of bones. "What's wrong?" Mother Rigby asked. "I am nothing, Mother. I am not a man. I am just a puff of smoke. I want to be something more than just a puff of smoke." And Feathertop took his pipe, and with all his strength smashed it against the floor. He fell down and became a bundle of sticks as his pumpkin face rolled toward the wall. "Poor Feathertop," Mother Rigby said, looking at the heap on the floor. "He was too good to be a scarecrow. And he was too good to be a man. But he will be happier, standing near the corn all summer and protecting it from the birds. So I will make him a scarecrow again."
重点解析
1.at last 最后;终于
I am clear about the usage of this word at last.
这个词的用法我算是弄明白了
。2.look at 看着;注视
Can I have a look at that?
我能不能看一眼那个?
3.in front of 在......前面;在......面前
We dried our clothes in front of the fire.
我们在火前烘干了衣服
。4.a bundle of 一包;一捆
He confessed to having been a bundle of nerves.
他承认自己一直神经极度紧张
参考译文
《羽毛冠》
里格比大妈吃了一顿早饭,然后开始摆弄起扫帚 。她打算用扫帚做一个看起来像一个男人的东西 。这会让那些鸟充满恐惧,还能吓唬鸟儿不敢吃她的玉米,就像大多数农民保护自己不受那些讨厌的黑鸟的伤害一样 。里格比大妈弄得很快,她笔直地握着这把施了魔法的扫帚,然后在上面又系了一块木头 。它已经开始看起来像一个有胳膊的人了 。然后,她开始做头 。她在扫帚柄上放了一个南瓜,一种足球大小的蔬菜 。她在南瓜上钻了两个小洞当作眼睛,又在下面切了一个看起来像嘴巴的小洞 。最后,终于做好了 。他似乎准备好为里格比大妈工作了,去阻止那些老鸟来吃她的玉米 。但是,里格比大妈对她做的这个人并不满意 。她想让稻草人看起来更好,因为她是个好工人 。她做了一件紫色的外套,把它裹在稻草人身上,穿上白色的丝袜 。她还给他带上假发和一顶旧帽子 。在那顶帽子上,她插上了一根鸟的羽毛 。
她仔细地打量了他一番,觉得现在更喜欢他了 。他穿着一件漂亮的外套,帽子上插着一根纤细的羽毛 。她给他取名为羽毛冠 。她看着羽毛冠,高兴得大笑起来 。她想,他真漂亮 。“现在怎么办?”她想,心理又感到不安 。她觉得羽毛冠看上去太好了,不适合当稻草人 。“他能做更好的差事,”她想,“而不是整个夏天都站在玉米旁边吓唬乌鸦 。”于是,她又为羽毛冠订了另一个计划 。她拿起她正在抽的烟斗,把它放进羽毛冠的嘴里 。“抽吧,亲爱的,抽吧,”她对羽毛冠说 。抽吧,我的好朋友 。这是你的生活 。”烟开始从羽毛冠嘴里冒出来 。起初,只是一小点烟,但羽毛冠使劲地抽着,吐出来后又接着吸 。越来越多的烟从他身上冒出来 。“一直抽吧,我的宠物,”里格比大妈高兴地说 。“抽吧,我的可人 。我告诉你,为了你的生活而抽吧 。”里格比大妈叫羽毛冠去散步 。“往前走,”她说 。你面前有一个世界在等着你 。”
羽毛冠把一只手伸到他面前,想找点东西支撑住自己 。与此同时,他艰难地向前迈了一步 。但里格比大妈叫喊着,命令他继续前进,很快他就开始前进 。然后,她说:“你看起来像个男人,走路像个男人 。现在我命令你像个男人一样说话 。”羽毛冠喘着气,挣扎着,最后小声说:“妈妈,我想说话,但我没有大脑 。我能说什么呢?”“啊,你可以说话,”里格比大妈回答 。“你要说什么?不用害怕 。当你走到外面的世界中去时,你会有千言万语想说,说千百遍......再说千百遍,还是什么也没说 。所以说吧,像鸟一样叽喳话语吧 。当然,你有足够的头脑去做这件事 。”里格比大妈给了羽毛冠一大笔钱,说:“现在你和它们一样好了,你可以高傲地仰起头 。”但她告诉羽毛冠,他决不能丢掉烟斗,决不能让烟斗停止冒烟 。她警告他,如果烟斗停止冒烟,他会摔倒,再次变成一捆棍子 。“别害怕,妈妈,” 羽毛冠用大嗓门说,从嘴里吹出一大团烟 。
“走吧,”里格比大妈说,把羽毛冠推出门外 。世界是你的,如果有人问你的名字,你就说自己叫羽毛冠 。因为你帽子上有一根羽毛,空空的脑袋里也有一把羽毛 。”羽毛冠在城里找到了街道,许多人开始看着他 。他们看了看他那漂亮的紫色外套和白色丝袜,还有他左手拿的烟斗,每走五步他就把烟斗放进嘴里 。他们认为他是位非常重要的访客 。一个人说道:“多么漂亮、高贵的脸庞啊 。”另一个人说:“他肯定是个大人物,一位伟大的领袖 。”羽毛冠沿着靠近城镇边缘的一条很安静的街道走着,他看见一个非常漂亮的女孩站在一座红砖小屋前 。一个小男孩站在她身旁 。美丽的女孩对着羽毛冠微笑,爱意飘进她的心房 。阳光照得她整长脸都泛着光晕 。羽毛冠看着她,体会到一种前所未有的感觉 。突然间,他觉得一切都不一样了 。空气中充满了奇怪的兴奋感 。阳光在路上闪闪发光,人们在街上走动时似乎都在起舞 。羽毛冠禁不住朝着那个微笑着的年轻漂亮姑娘走去 。当他走近时,站在她身旁的小男孩用手指着羽毛冠说:“看,波莉!这个人没有脸,它的脸是一个南瓜 。”
羽毛冠没有再靠近他,而是转过身,匆匆穿过镇上的街道,向他的家走去 。里格比大妈开门时,她看见羽毛冠激动得直发抖 。他艰难地抽着烟斗,发出的声音像棍子的咔嗒声,又或是骨头的嘎吱声 。“怎么了?”里格比大妈问 。“我什么都不是,妈妈 。我不是一个人 。我只是一股烟,我想做的不只是一股烟而已 。”羽毛冠拿起烟斗,用尽全力把烟斗砸在地上 。当他的南瓜脸朝着墙滚去时,他倒下变成了一捆棍子 。“可怜的羽毛冠,”里格比大妈看着地板上的一堆东西说道 。“他太好了,没法当稻草人 。他好到都无法做人了 。他整个夏天都站在玉米旁边,不让鸟来吃玉米将会更快乐 。所以,我会让他再次当个稻草人 。”