(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Today we tell a traditional American story called a "tall tale." A tall tale is a story about a person who is larger than life. The descriptions in the story are exaggerated – much greater than in real life. Long ago, the people who settled in undeveloped areas in America first told tall tales. After a hard day's work, people gathered to tell each other funny stories. Pecos Bill was a larger than life hero of the American West. No one knows who first told stories about Pecos Bill. Cowboys may have invented the stories. Others say Edward O'Reilly invented the character in stories he wrote for the Century Magazine in the early 1900s. The stories were collected in a book called "The Saga of Pecos Bill," published in 1923. Another writer, James Cloyd Bowman, wrote an award-winning children's book called "Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time." The book won the Newbery Honor in 1938.
Pecos Bill was not a historical person. But he does represent the spirit of early settlers in the American West. His unusual childhood and extraordinary actions tell about people who believed there were no limits to what they could do. Now, here is Barbara Klein with our story. Pecos Bill had one of the strangest childhoods a boy ever had. It all started after his father decided that there was no longer enough room in east Texas for his family. "Pack up, Ma!" he cried. "Neighbors movin' in 50 miles away! It's getting too crowded!" So they loaded up a wagon with all their things. Now some say they had 15 children while others say 18. However many there were, the children were louder than thunder. And as they set off across the wild country of west Texas, their mother and father could hardly hear a thing. Now, as they came to the Pecos River, the wagon hit a big rock. The force threw little Bill out of the wagon and he landed on the sandy ground. Mother did not know Bill was gone until she gathered the children for the midday meal. Mother set off with some of the children to look for Bill, but they could find no sign of him.
Well, some people say Bill was just a baby when his family lost him. Others say he was four years old. But all agree that a group of animals called coyotes found Bill and raised him. Bill did all the things those animals did, like chase lizards and howl at the moon. He became as good a coyote as any. Now, Bill spent 17 years living like a coyote until one day a cowboy rode by on his horse. Some say the cowboy was one of Bill's brothers. Whoever he was, he took one look at Bill and asked, "What are you?" Bill was not used to human language. At first, he could not say anything. The cowboy repeated his question. This time, Bill said, "varmint." That is a word used for any kind of wild animal. "No you aren't," said the cowboy. "Yes, I am," said Bill. "I have fleas." "Lots of people have fleas," said the cowboy. "You don't have a tail." "Yes, I do," said Bill. "Show it to me then," the cowboy said. Bill looked at his backside and realized that he did not have a tail like the other coyotes. "Well, what am I then?" asked Bill. "You're a cowboy! So start acting like one!" the cowboy cried out. Well that was all Bill needed to hear. He said goodbye to his coyote friends and left to join the world of humans.
Now, Pecos Bill was a good cowboy. Still, he hungered for adventure. One day he heard about a rough group of men. There is some debate over what the group was called. But one storyteller calls it the "Hell's Gate Gang." So Bill set out across the rough country to find this gang of men. Well, Bill's horse soon was injured so Bill had to carry it for a hundred miles. Then Bill met a rattlesnake 50 feet long. The snake made a hissing noise and was not about to let Bill pass. But after a tense minute, Bill beat the snake until it surrendered. He felt sorry for the varmint, though, and wrapped it around his arm. After Bill walked another hundred miles, he came across an angry mountain lion. There was a huge battle, but Bill took control of the big cat and put his saddle on it. He rode that mountain lion all the way to the camp of the Hell's Gate Gang. Now, when Bill saw the gang he shouted out, "Who's the boss around here?" A huge cowboy, 9 feet tall, took one look at Bill and said in a shaky voice, "I was the boss. But you are the boss from here on in." With his gang, Pecos Bill was able to create the biggest ranch in the Southwest. Bill and his men had so many cattle that they needed all of New Mexico to hold them. Arizona was the pasture where the cattle ate grass.
Pecos Bill invented the art of being a cowboy. He invented the skill of throwing a special rope called a lasso over a cow's head to catch wandering cattle. Some say he used a rattlesnake for a lasso. Others say he made a lasso so big that it circled the whole Earth. Bill invented the method of using a hot branding iron to permanently put the mark of a ranch on a cow's skin. That helped stop people from stealing cattle. Some say he invented cowboy songs to help calm the cattle and make the cowboy's life easier. But he is also said to have invented tarantulas and scorpions as jokes. Cowboys have had trouble with those poisonous creatures ever since. Now, Pecos Bill could ride anything that ever was. So, as some tell the story, there came a storm bigger than any other. It all happened during the worst drought the West had ever seen. It was so dry that horses and cows started to dry up and blow away in the wind. So when Bill saw the windstorm, he got an idea. The huge tornado kicked across the land like a wild bronco. But Bill jumped on it without a thought. He rode that tornado across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, all the time squeezing the rain out of it to save the land from drought. When the storm was over, Bill fell off the tornado. He landed in California. He left a hole so deep that to this day it is known as Death Valley. Now, Bill had a horse named Widow Maker. He got that name because any man who rode that horse would be thrown off and killed, and his wife would become a widow. No one could ride that horse but Bill.
And Widow Maker, in the end, caused the biggest problem for Pecos Bill. You see, one day Bill saw a woman. Not just any woman, but a wild, red-haired woman, riding a giant catfish down the Rio Grande River. Her name was Slue-foot Sue. And Bill fell in love with her at first sight. Well, Bill would not rest until he had asked for her hand in marriage. And Slue-foot Sue accepted. On their wedding day, Pecos Bill dressed in his best buckskin suit. And Sue wore a beautiful white dress with a huge steel-spring bustle in the back. It was the kind of big dress that many women wore in those days — the bigger the better. Now, after the marriage ceremony Slue-foot Sue got a really bad idea. She decided that she wanted to ride Widow Maker. Bill begged her not to try. But she had her mind made up. Well, the second she jumped on the horse's back he began to kick and buck like nothing anyone had ever seen. He sent Sue flying so high that she sailed clear over the new moon. She fell back to Earth, but the steel-spring bustle just bounced her back up as high as before. Now, there are many different stories about what happened next. One story says Bill saw that Sue was in trouble. She would keep bouncing forever if nothing was done. So he took his rope out -- though some say it was a huge rattlesnake -- and lassoed Sue to catch her and bring her down to Earth. Only, she just bounced him back up with her. Somehow the two came to rest on the moon. And that's where they stayed. Some people say they raised a family up there. Their children were as loud and wild as Bill and Sue were in their younger days. People say the sound of thunder that sometimes carries over the dry land around the Pecos River is nothing more than Pecos Bill's family laughing up a storm.
重点解析
1.long ago 很久以前；早已
He moved out long ago.
他早就搬走了。
2.pack up 收拾；打包
Let's pack up and get ready to start at once.
我们收拾好行李，准备马上出发。
3.cry out 大声呼喊；喊叫
Let alone scream or cry out.
更别说尖叫或是呼喊了。
4.dry up 干涸；枯竭
Dry up my tears with you gentle winds.
用你轻柔的风吹干我的泪水吧。
参考译文
《怪诞故事》。今天我们讲一个传统的美国故事，叫做《怪诞故事》。怪诞故事讲的是一个比生命更伟大的人的故事。故事中的描述被夸大了，比现实生活中的要伟大得多。很久以前，定居在美国不发达地区的人们最早讲述怪诞故事。经过一天的艰苦劳作，人们聚在一起互相讲有趣的故事。佩科斯·比尔是美国西部一位杰出的英雄，没人知道是谁先讲述的有关佩科斯·比尔的故事。牛仔们可能虚构了这些故事。还有人说，爱德华·奥雷利在20世纪初为《世纪》杂志撰写的故事中创造了这个角色，这些故事被收录在1923年出版的一本名为《佩科斯·比尔的传奇》的书中。另一位作家詹姆斯·克罗伊·德鲍曼撰写了一本获奖的儿童读物，名叫《佩科斯·比尔：有史以来最伟大的牛仔》。这本书在1938年获得纽伯里奖。
佩科斯·比尔不是一个历史性人物，但是他确实代表了美国西部早期移民的精神。他不寻常的童年和非凡的行为告诉我们，人们相信自己的能力是无限的。现在，由芭芭拉·克莱因为我们讲述这个故事。佩科斯·比尔拥有一个男孩能有的最奇怪的童年。这一切都是在他父亲认为德克萨斯州东部已经没有足够的空间，可以供他的家人居住之后开始的。 “收拾行李，妈妈！”他喊道。“50英里外的邻居搬家了！太拥挤了！”所以，他们把所有的东西都装上马车。现在，有人说他们有15个孩子，还有人说是18个。不管是多少，孩子们的声音都比雷声大。当他们出发穿越荒芜的德克萨斯州西部时，他们的父母几乎什么也听不到。现在，他们来到佩科斯河时，马车撞到了一块大石头。那力道把小比尔扔出了马车，他落在沙地上。母亲直到把孩子们聚在一起吃午饭时，才知道比尔不再了。母亲带着几个孩子出发去寻找比尔，但他们找不到他的踪迹。
嗯，有人说比尔的家人失去他时，他还只是个婴儿。其他人说，那时他四岁了。但大家都同意，一群叫土狼的动物发现了比尔，把他养大。比尔做了那些动物做的所有事情，比如追逐蜥蜴、对着月亮嚎叫。他变成一只很好的土狼。现在，比尔像狼一样生活了17年，直到有一天一个牛仔骑着马经过。有人说，那个牛仔是比尔的一个兄弟。不管他是谁，他看了比尔一眼，问道：“你是什么？”比尔不习惯人类的语言，一开始，他什么也说不出来。牛仔重复了他的问题。这次，比尔说，“瓦明特。”那是一个用来形容野生动物的词。“不，你不是，”牛仔说。“是的，我是，”比尔说。“我有跳蚤。”“很多人都有跳蚤，”牛仔说。“你没有尾巴。”“是的，我有，”比尔说。“那就给我看看，”牛仔说。比尔看了看他的后背，意识到他没有其他土狼那样的尾巴。“那么，我是什么呢？”比尔问。“你是个牛仔！所以，开始像人一样行事吧！”牛仔叫道。比尔需要听到的就是这些。他向土狼朋友告别，加入了人类的世界。
现在，佩科斯·比尔是很棒的牛仔。尽管如此，他还是渴望冒险。一天，他听说有一群粗野的人。关于这群人的名字存在着一些争论。但是，有个讲故事的人称其为“地狱门之帮”。于是，比尔出发穿越崎岖的乡间去寻找这帮人。比尔的马不久受伤了，所以他不得不带着马行进了一百英里。然后，比尔遇到了一条50英尺长的响尾蛇。蛇发出嘶嘶声，不想让比尔通过。但在紧张的一分钟后，比尔暴打那条蛇，直到它屈服。不过，他为这个瓦明特感到难过，把它卷在了胳膊上。比尔又走了一百英里后，遇到了一只愤怒的山狮。这是一场大战，但比尔控制住了那只大猫，并把马鞍放到它身上。他骑着这只山狮一路来到地狱门之帮的营地。现在，当比尔看到那帮人时，他大声喊道：“谁是这的头？”一个9英尺高的大个子牛仔看了比尔一眼，用颤抖的声音说：“我是头，但现在你是这里的头。”有了自己的帮派，佩科斯·比尔得以在西南部建立最大的牧场。比尔和他的手下拥有很多牛，他们需要用整个新墨西哥州的地方来饲养这些牛，亚利桑那州是牛吃草的牧场。
佩科斯·比尔发明了牛仔技艺，创造出用一种叫做套索的特殊绳子套住牛头来捕抓流浪牛的技术。有人说他用响尾蛇做套索，其他人则说他做了一个大套索，能够绕着地球转一圈。比尔发明了一种方法，用热烙铁把牧场的印记永久地烙在牛的皮肤上。这有助于阻止人们偷牛。有人说，他开创了牛仔歌曲，帮助让牛平静下来，使牛仔的生活更容易。但据说，他还编出狼蛛和蝎子的笑话。从那以后，牛仔们就一直对这些有毒的生物感到困扰。现在，佩科斯·比尔可以骑乘任何东西。因此，正如一些人所说，有一场大风暴来临了。这一切都发生在西部有史以来最严重的干旱时期，天气太干燥了，马匹和奶牛变得干瘪，被大风吹走了。所以，当比尔看到暴风雨时，他有了一个主意。巨大的龙卷风像野马一样席卷大地，但是比尔不假思索地一跃而上。他骑着龙卷风横穿得克萨斯州、新墨西哥州和亚利桑那州，一直从里面把雨水挤出来，使得土地免遭干旱之灾。暴风雨过后，比尔从龙卷风中掉下来，降落在加利福尼亚州。他留下了一个深不可测的洞，到现在还能看到，这个洞仍称为死亡谷。现在，比尔有一匹叫做寡妇枪的马。之所以叫这个名字，是因为任何骑这匹马的人都会坠马而死，妻子也会成为寡妇。除了比尔，没人能骑它。
最后，寡妇枪给佩科斯·比尔招惹出最严重的麻烦。有一天比尔看见一个女人，这不是普通的女人，而是一位狂野的红发女子，她骑着一条巨大的鲶鱼沿着格兰德河顺流而下。她的名字叫“荡妇苏”，比尔对她一见钟情。比尔不向她求婚就无法安宁，苏接受了。在他们结婚当天，佩科斯·比尔穿上他最好的鹿皮套装。苏穿了一件漂亮的白色连衣裙，背后有一个巨大的钢簧裙撑。当时很多女人都会穿这种大裙子，越大越好。现在，结婚典礼结束后，“荡妇苏”想出一个非常糟糕的主意。她决定要骑寡妇枪，比尔求她不要尝试。但是，她已经下定决心了。她一跃跳到马背上，它就开始猛烈的跳动，没人见过这种架势。它带着苏飞上高空，跃过新月。她摔倒在地上，但是，钢簧裙撑把她又弹得和之前一样高。现在，接下来发生的事情有很多不同版本的故事。有个故事说，比尔看到苏遇到麻烦。如果什么都不做，她会一直弹下去。于是，他拿出绳子，不过有人说那是条巨大的响尾蛇，然后用套索套住苏，把她拉回到地面。不过，她又带着他一起跳了起来。不知怎么的，他们两个来到了月球上，他们就住在了那里。有人说，他们在那儿养育了一大家子人。他们的孩子像比尔和苏年轻时一样吵闹又狂野。人们说，有时传遍佩科斯河周围干旱地区的雷声，无非是佩科斯·比尔的家人在嘲笑暴风雨而已。
