(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Our story this week is called "Papa's Straw Hat". It was written by Fread Gibson. Here is Shep O'Neal to tell the story. Papa was a ranger. He worked with horses. He was proud of the way he dressed. He always wore clean cloth even when he worked. That is very difficult for a ranger who works outside on a horse farm. He often said to me, "Son, you may not be able to buy the best cloth, but always keep those you have clean. That is the important thing." Papa did what he said. His cloths were never dirty like those of most of other rangers I knew. Papa never worked outside without a hat. He always wore the same kind of hat. It was a cowboy hat, a large black hat of heavy wool. He never pushed the hat to one side of his head. He wore it straight. And he did not push the top of his hat down like most cowboys do. He wore his hat full and high. I think he wanted to look taller that he really was.
Papa had two hats. One was his Sunday hat, the other was his everyday hat. When his Sunday hat got old, he wore it every day and then bought a new Sunday hat. He wore his Sunday hat only to church or on holidays or when he visited the city. Most of the time he kept his Sunday hat in a special box. He hid it, so we could not find it. Papa loved his hats and he cared for them in a special way. He never through them down on a chair, someone might sit on them. He even had a special place for his everyday hat. As soon as he came into the house from work, he put his hat on a nail behind of the kitchen door. Mama was very careful of papa's hat. She was proud of the way he looked when he worked or when he wore his Sunday hat and his best cloth. She was not permitted to touch his Sunday hat. Then something happened. Maybe it was the heat of the long summer. Maybe mama read about hats in a magazine or book. But in some way, she got the idea that papa should not wear a heavy wool cowboy hat in the hot weather. She began to believe that papa would lose his hair if he did. Mama began to worry more about papa`s hair than about his hats.
Perhaps it was uncle George who made mama worry about papa's hair. Uncle George had no hair. His head was as smooth as an egg. Papa had thick black hair that shown like silk. It would be terrible if papa lost his hair because he wore a heavy wool cowboy hat. So mama began to worry. She began to watch papa carefully as he worked in the hot fields under his tall heavy hat. She saw how wet his hair was when he came into the house. Mama began to talk about his hats. "Papa," she said one day, "why don't you throw that old wool hat away and get a nice cool straw hat?" "What?" papa said, "me, wear a straw hat? I would never let my horses see me in a straw hat." "Horse?" mama answered, "What have horses to do with a straw hat? Animals don`t care what kind of hat you wear." "Might do." papa said, "My horses recognize me because I always wear the same hat. And they like the cowboy hats best of all." "Anyway," he said, "I`ll not be seen deadly a straw hat." Mama talked and talked, but she could not change papa's mind. They talked about hats all summer long. At last, mama tried to frighten papa to get him to wear a straw hat. "Papa," she said, "just look at most of the ranger we know. All of them wear heavy wool cowboy hats in a summer. And most of them have lost their hair."
Papa laughed at mama. He laughed so hard that tears ran down his face and his stomach hurt. But his laughing did not stop mama. She told him about Jim Barry who lost his hair about two years ago. Papa a little angry answered, "It was not the cowboy hat that made Jim Barry lose his hair. It was his wife always talking about hats and not giving him any peace and quiet." Mama said nothing. She stopped talking about hats. I wondered what was going to happen. Then one day, mama got up earlier than usual. She marched to the kitchen and made breakfast. She had a very serious look on her face. She did not say a word. She made more noise than usual. She put the dishes so hard I thought they would break. Suddenly, she got in the car and drove toward the city. She did not tell us why she was going. Later, she came home with a straw hat. She still looked very serious. There had not been much rain that year. It was a bad year for rangers. We had only a little money. But it was the year for papa to buy a new cowboy hat. Mama knew this. She also thought that if she spent the money for a straw hat, papa would not spend any money to but a cowboy hat. Mama was right. When papa saw the straw hat, his face got red. He said nothing. He pull the straw hat down over his head until it hide his eyes. He looked very funny. I wanted to laugh but I did not. I was afraid to, because papa was so angry. I remembered how quiet he was as he marched out of house. I followed him that day. He was going to train the wild horses again.
I loved to watch him work. He had gotten the horses earlier in the year. But they were still half wild have trained. Papa slowly walked toward the field where the horses were eating grass. He was a good ranger because he was gentle with horse never cruel to them. He had given maize to all the horses. He always caught to them when he first saw them in the morning. He talked softly to them, so they would not be afraid. Sometimes, the horses walked up to him when he caught their names. They knew his cowboy hat with he wore every day. They did not feel safe near any other person. I followed papa as he walked toward the field calling their names. At first, the horses continued to eat. But as papa get closer, the horses looked up at him. Suddenly, they jumped high into the air, raising their front feet. Then they began to ran around wildly. They screamed the way frightened horses do. One horse kept the hay wagon over. All of them ran around in the rounded field and then raced toward the barn where they slept. I never heard such a noise. Papa began to shout "Woo, boys. Steady boys, steady." But there was nothing equal to. He marched toward the horse. Inside the barn, the frightened horses screamed and kept hard against the walls of the barn. Mama came running out of the house. She stood near the door waiting for papa. She held her hands against her heart. "What is it, papa? What is it?" Papa did not answered. She held the door open and he marched into the house. Mama followed him. I went in after them to see what was going to happen. Papa walked straight to the stove in the kitchen. He opened the top of the stove, pulled the straw hat off his head and pushed it deep down into the fire.
At last, he turned to mama and looked at her in a way that even frightened me. I never heard papa so angry. He shouted and shouted all sorts of new words. At last, his anger was gone. Then he said in a soft but firm voice. "Now listen to me, mama. Understand this I will never wear a straw hat or any other kind of hat my horses do not like." Then he put on his Sunday cowboy hat and walked out of the house. It was almost middle night when the noise died away and the animals became quiet. The next day, papa fixed all the broken wood in the walls of the barn. I never heard mama talk anymore about hats. Perhaps, that is why when papa died many years later, there was a round spot on the top of his head where there was no hair.
重点解析
1.be proud of 为……自豪；骄傲
That's a beautiful piece of work. You should be proud of it.
那件作品非常漂亮，你应当为之自豪。
2.care for 照料；关怀
They hired a nurse to care for her.
他们雇了个护士来照顾她。
3.begin to 开始；启动
You can't begin to imagine how much that saddens me.
你都无从想象这让我有多悲伤。
4.die away 减弱；渐渐消失
The firing finally began to die away in the late afternoon.
到了临近傍晚时枪炮声终于渐渐停息。
参考译文
本周我们要讲述的故事叫《父亲的草帽》，作者弗雷德·吉布森，讲述人夏普·奥尼尔。父亲是个护林员，他和马一起工作。他为自己的穿着感到骄傲，他工作时也总是穿着干净的衣服。对于一个在马场工作的护林员来说，这是很难办到的。他经常对我说：“儿子，你也许买不到最好的布料，但总要让衣服干净。这很最重要。”父亲就是这么做的，他的衣服从没像我认识的其他护林员那样邋遢过。父亲在外面工作时，总是戴着帽子。他老戴着同样的帽子。那是一顶牛仔帽，一顶黑色的厚毛大帽子。他从不把帽子推到头的一侧，而是直立戴着。他也没有像大多数牛仔那样把帽子顶按下去。他把帽子戴得高高的、鼓鼓的。我想，他想让自己看起来更高。
父亲有两顶帽子，一顶是周日帽，另一顶是日常帽。当周日帽旧了，他就每天都戴着它，然后买了一顶新的周日帽。他只戴着周日帽去教堂，或去度假，或去城里。大多数时候，他把周日帽放在一个专门的盒子里。他把它藏起来，所以我们找不到它。父亲喜欢他的帽子，他用特殊的方式来护理它们。他从不把它们放在椅子上，因为可能有人会坐在上面。他甚至有一个特别的地方放日常戴的帽子。他下班后一进屋，就把帽子挂到厨房门后的钉子上。母亲小心翼翼地照看着父亲的帽子，她为他工作时的样子感到骄傲，也为他戴着周日帽和穿着的最好的衣服感到骄傲。父亲不准她碰那顶周日帽。然后，发生了一些事。也许是漫长夏天的炎热，也许母亲在杂志或书上读到了帽子。但在某种程度上，她认为父亲不应该在炎热的天气里戴一顶厚羊毛牛仔帽。她开始认为，如果父亲这样做，头发就会掉落。母亲开始担心父亲的头发，而不是帽子。
也许是乔治叔叔让母亲担心起父亲的头发。乔治叔叔没有头发，他的头像鸡蛋一样光滑。父亲有一头浓密的黑发，像丝绸一样。如果父亲因为戴着一顶厚厚的羊毛牛仔帽而掉头发，那就太可怕了。所以，母亲开始担心。她开始仔细地看着父亲戴着那顶又高又重的帽子，在炎热的田野里干活。她看到他进屋时头发都湿了。母亲开始谈论他的帽子。“爸爸，”有一天她说，“你为什么不把那顶旧羊毛帽子扔掉，买一顶漂亮又凉快的草帽呢？”“什么？”父亲说，“我，戴草帽？我决不会让我的马看到我戴着草帽。”“马？”母亲回答说：“草帽和马有什么关系？动物不在乎你戴什么样的帽子。”“也许会，”父亲说，“我的马认识我，因为我总是戴同一顶帽子，它们最喜欢牛仔帽。不管怎样，”他说，“我绝不会戴草帽。”母亲说了又说，但却不能改变父亲的想法。他们整个夏天都在谈论帽子。最后，母亲想吓唬父亲让他戴草帽。“爸爸，”她说，“看看我们认识的大部分护林员，就能知道。他们每个夏天都戴着厚厚的羊毛牛仔帽，他们中的大多数人头发都掉了。”
父亲嘲笑母亲，他笑得很厉害，眼泪顺着脸流下来，肚子也笑疼了。但他的笑声并没有阻止母亲，她告诉他吉姆·巴里大约两年前掉了头发。父亲有点生气地回答：“不是牛仔帽让吉姆·巴里掉了头发。他妻子总是谈论帽子，不给他任何安宁。”母亲什么也没说，她不再谈论帽子了。我不知道会发生什么。后来有一天，母亲比平常起得早。她大步走到厨房去做早餐，脸上的表情很严肃。她一句话也没说，比平常弄出了更多噪音。她重重地放下盘子，我以为盘子会破碎。突然，她上了车，朝城里开去。她没有告诉我们，她去城里的原因。后来，她带着一顶草帽回了家。她看起来还是很严肃。那年雨水不多，对护林员来说这是糟糕的一年。我们只有一点钱。但今年父亲买了一顶新牛仔帽。母亲知道的，她还想，如果她花钱买了草帽，父亲就不会再去在买牛仔帽了。母亲是对的。父亲看到草帽时，脸色通红。他什么也没说，把草帽从头顶上拉下来，遮住眼睛。他看起来很滑稽。我想笑，但却没有。我不敢笑，因为父亲会很生气。我记得他走出家门时非常安静。那天我跟着他，他打算再去训练野马。
我喜欢看他工作，他在今年早些时候得到些马。但这些马还有野性，需要训练。父亲慢慢地向野马吃草的地方走去。他是一个很好的护林员，因为他对马很温柔，从不虐待它们。他把玉米给了所有的马，他总是在早上第一次见到它们时，就抓住它们。他轻声地对它们说话，这样马儿就不会感到害怕了。有时，当他召唤马匹的名字时，它们就向他走来。它们认识他每天戴的牛仔帽。它们在其他人附近时感到不安全。我跟着父亲走向那片草地，喊着马儿的名字。起初，马继续吃着草。但当父亲走近时，马抬起头来看着他。突然，它们高高跳起，抬起前蹄，然后开始狂奔。它们像受惊的马一样尖叫，一匹马挡住了运干草的马车。它们都在圆形的田野里跑动着，然后向着它们睡觉的谷仓跑去。我从没听到过这样的声音。父亲开始喊道“喔，孩子们。当心，孩子们，当心。”但是，没有什么能追得上它们。他向马走去。在谷仓里，受惊的马尖叫着，紧紧地靠在谷仓的墙上。母亲跑出房子，她站在门口等着父亲，她把手放在胸前。“怎么了，爸爸？这是怎么回事？”父亲没有回答，母亲把门打开，他大步走进屋里，母亲跟着他走了进来。我跟着他们进去，看看会发生什么。父亲径直走向厨房的炉子，他打开炉子盖，把草帽从头上扯下来，把它深深地推入火中。
最后，他转向母亲，用一种甚至吓坏我的眼神看着她，我从没听到父亲这么生气过。他叫喊着各种生词。最后，他的愤怒消失了，然后用柔和但坚定的声音说。“现在，听我说妈妈。你要明白这点，我再也不戴草帽或其他我的马不喜欢的帽子了。”然后，他戴上那顶周日牛仔帽走出家门。快到半夜了，噪音消失了，动物们安静下来。第二天，父亲把谷仓墙上所有破碎的木头都修整好。我再也没听到母亲再提起帽子的事。也许，这就是为什么多年后父亲去世时，他头顶上有一片地方没有头发的原因。
