(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 nineteen hundreds. The stories were collected in a book called "The Saga of Pecos Bill" published in nineteen twenty-three. 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 nineteen thirty-eight.
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 fifty miles away! It's getting' too crowded!" So they loaded up a wagon with all their things. Now some say they had fifteen children while others say eighteen. 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 seventeen 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 fifty 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, nine 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 从前；老早
I told them that long ago.
我早已告诉他们了。
2.no longer 不再；再也
She no longer feared that they should misunderstand her.
她不再害怕他们会误解她了。
3.in the end 最终；结果到头来
In the end you have to readjust your expectations.
最后，你需要调整你的预期。
4.at first sight 乍一看；初看起来
At first sight it looked less like a capital city than a mining camp.
乍看上去，它不像是首府，更像是矿工村。
参考译文
今天我们讲一个传统的美国故事，叫做《荒诞故事》。荒诞故事是关于一个超越生命的人的故事。故事中的描述被夸大了，比现实生活要更伟大。很久以前，定居在美国不发达地区的人们，第一次讲起了荒诞故事。经过一天的艰苦工作，人们聚在一起互相讲述有趣的故事。佩科斯·比尔是美国西部一位超越生命的英雄，没人知道是谁先讲述的关于佩科斯·比尔的故事。可能是牛仔们杜撰出这些故事，还有人说爱德华·奥雷利在19世纪初为《世纪》杂志撰写的故事中创造出这个角色。这些故事被收集在一本出版于1923年的名为《佩科斯法案的传奇》的书中。另一位作家，詹姆斯·克洛伊德·鲍曼，写了一本获奖的儿童书，叫做《佩科斯·比尔：最伟大的牛仔》。这本书在1938年赢得纽伯瑞文学奖。
佩科斯·比尔不是一个历史人物，但他确实代表了美国西部早期移民的精神，他不同寻常的童年和非凡的行为告诉我们，人们相信自己的能力无限。现在，由芭芭拉·克莱因给我们讲述这个故事。佩科斯·比尔的童年生活光怪陆离。他父亲认为，这是从东德克萨斯州已经没有足够的空间供他的家人居住之后开始的。“收拾行李，妈妈！”他大喊着。“五十英里外的邻居都搬走了！越来越拥挤了！”所以他们把所有东西都装上了马车。现在，有人说他们有十五个孩子，还有人说十八个。不管有几个孩子，但他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了。现在，当他们来到佩科斯河时，马车撞到了一块大石头。那力度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发现比尔不在了。母亲带着几个孩子出发去找比尔，但他们找不到一丝踪迹。嗯，有人说比尔的家人失去他时，他还只是个婴儿。其他人说他四岁大。但大家一致认为，一群叫土狼的动物发现了比尔，把他养大。比尔做着那些动物做的所有事，比如追逐蜥蜴、对着月亮嚎叫。他成了一只优秀的土狼。
现在，比尔像土狼一样生活了十七年。直到一天，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？”比尔不习惯人类语言。一开始，他什么也说不出来。牛仔又问了一遍，这次，比尔说，“害兽。”这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，我有尾巴，”比尔说。“给我看看你的尾巴，”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。“那我是什么呢？”比尔问。“你是个牛仔！所以，开始像人一样做事吧！”牛仔叫道。比尔只需要听到这些，他向土狼朋友告别，加入到人类的世界。现在，佩科斯·比尔是个很好的牛仔。尽管如此，他还是渴望冒险。一天，他听说有一群粗野的人。对于这群人的名字，存在着一些争论，但一个说书人称他们为“地狱之门帮”于是比尔出发横穿崎岖的乡间去寻找这帮人。比尔的马很快就受伤了，所以他不得不搬着它走了一百英里。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。但在紧张的片刻过后，比尔打了那条蛇，一直把它打到投降才停手。不过，他为那条蛇感到难过，于是把它裹在胳膊上。
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，但比尔控制了山狮，还把马鞍放在它身上。他骑着那只山狮一路来到了地狱门帮的营地。现在，比尔看到了那帮人，他大声喊道：“谁是这儿的头？”一个身高九英尺的大个子牛仔看了比尔一眼，用颤抖的声音说：“我是头，但你是这里的老大了。”有了他的帮派，佩科斯·比尔得以在西南部建立最大的牧场。比尔和他的手下有很多牛，需要用整个新墨西哥州来圈养，亚利桑那州是牛群吃草的牧场。佩科斯·比尔发明了牛仔的技艺，他想出用一种叫做套索的特殊绳子，套住牛头来捉获流浪牛的技术。有人说他用响尾蛇做套索，还有人说他做了一个大套索，可以绕住整个地球。比尔发明了一种方法，用热烙铁在牛的皮肤上永久地烙上牧场印记。这样做可以防止有人偷牛。有人说，他发明了牛仔歌曲，帮助牛平静下来，还能使牛仔的生活更轻松。但据说他还把狼蛛和蝎子说成笑话。从那以后，牛仔们就一直和那些有毒的动物为伍。
现在，佩科斯·比尔可以骑任何东西。所以，正如一些人所说，有一场巨大的风暴就要来临。这一切都发生在西部有史以来最严重的干旱时期。天气很干燥，牛、马开始枯竭，被风吹得到处跑。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跳了上去。他骑着龙卷风横穿得克萨斯州、新墨西哥州和亚利桑那州，一直把雨水从龙卷风中挤出，缓解土地的干旱。暴风雨过后，比尔从龙卷风中掉落下来。他降落在加利福尼亚，留下了一个深不可测的洞。直到今天，这个洞仍被称为死亡谷。现在，比尔有一匹马叫寡妇制造机，之所以给它取这个名字，是因为任何骑那匹马的人都会被扔下马而摔死，那个人的妻子也会成为寡妇。除了比尔，没人能骑那匹马。最后，寡妇制造机给佩科斯·比尔带来了最大的麻烦。有一天，比尔看见一个女人。不仅仅是任何女人，还是一个狂野的红发女人，她骑着一条巨大的鲶鱼沿着格兰德河而下。她的名字叫“荡妇”苏，比尔对她一见钟情。比尔不向她求婚，就无法休息。后来苏接受他的求婚。
在他们结婚的那天，佩科斯·比尔穿着他最好的鹿皮套装，苏穿了一件漂亮的白色连衣裙，后面有一条巨大的钢制弹簧裙撑。当时很多女人都穿那种大裙子——越大越好。现在，在结婚典礼之后，苏想出一个非常糟糕的主意。她决定要骑骑寡妇制造机。比尔求她别去试，但她已经下定决心。她一跳到马背上，那匹马就开始四蹄跳起，任何人都未曾见过这种架势。它把苏甩得很高，都越过了新月。她掉到地上，但弹簧裙撑把她又弹起到刚才的高度。现在，关于接下来发生的事情有很多不同的说法。有个故事说，比尔看到苏碰到了麻烦。如果什么都不做的话，她会一直这样弹下去。于是，他拿出绳子——不过有人说，那是条巨大的响尾蛇——用套索把苏抓住，把她带回到地面上。只是，她把他也一起带着弹上了天。不知怎么的，他们两个来到了月球上，他们就住在了那儿。有人说他们在那里抚养了一家人，他们的孩子像比尔和苏年轻时一样吵闹又疯狂。人们说，雷声有时会带过佩科斯河周围的旱地，只有佩科斯·比尔一家人在风暴中狂笑。
