听力原文

When they finally spied Castle Black, its timbered keeps and stone towers looked like nothing more than a handful of toy blocks scattered on the snow,
待他们终于见到黑城堡，却发现那不过是这面广大冰墙下的木造城楼和石砌高塔，看起来简直就像散布雪地的玩具积木。
beneath the vast wall of ice. The ancient stronghold of the black brothers was no Winterfell, no true castle at all.
黑衫军的古老堡垒远不如临冬城，甚至称不上是座像样的城堡。
Lacking walls, it could not be defended, not from the south, or east, or west; but it was only the north that concerned the Night's Watch, and to the north loomed the Wall.
它没有城墙，无法抵御来自东西南三方面的攻击，守夜人部队惟一关心的只有北方，而高耸在黑堡北边的正是绝境长城。
Almost seven hundred feet high it stood, three times the height of the tallest tower in the stronghold it sheltered.
长城高近七百尺，足足是它所庇护的要塞上最高的塔楼的三倍。
His uncle said the top was wide enough for a dozen armored knights to ride abreast.
叔叔说城墙之宽，足以让十二名全副武装的骑士并肩共骑。
The gaunt outlines of huge catapults and monstrous wooden cranes stood sentry up there, like the skeletons of great birds, and among them walked men in black as small as ants.
巨大的弩炮和怪兽般的投石机守卫着城墙，行走其上的黑衣军渺小如同蝼蚁。
As he stood outside the armory looking up, Jon felt almost as overwhelmed as he had that day on the kingsroad, when he'd seen it for the first time.
如今站在兵器库外向上看去，琼恩感受的震慑丝毫不亚于当日在国王大道上初见之时。
The Wall was like that. Sometimes he could almost forget that it was there, the way you forgot about the sky or the earth underfoot,
绝境长城就是如此，有时你会忘记其存在，一如你对头顶长空和脚下大地司空见惯，不以为意，
but there were other times when it seemed as if there was nothing else in the world.
但有时又仿佛是举世间惟一真切的存在。
It was older than the Seven Kingdoms, and when he stood beneath it and looked up, it made Jon dizzy.
它比七大王国还要古老，每当琼恩站在城墙下抬头仰望，总是头晕目眩。
He could feel the great weight of all that ice pressing down on him, as if it were about to topple, and somehow Jon knew that if it fell, the world fell with it.
他可以感觉到雄浑繁厚的冰层向他重压而来，仿佛城墙崩塌要将他掩埋。琼恩隐约知道，倘若哪天长城真的陷落，整个世界必将随之瓦解。

背景介绍:

《权力的游戏》是一部中世纪史诗奇幻题材的电视连续剧。该剧以美国作家乔治·R·R·马丁的奇幻巨作《冰与火之歌》七部曲为基础改编创作，由大卫·贝尼奥夫和丹尼尔·威斯编剧、HBO电视网推出。乔治·雷蒙德·理查德·马丁是欧美奇幻小说大师。马丁的作品主要以人物为关注点，描写细腻丰富，突破了幻想文学界固有的创作模式，多次引领阅读潮流。由于马丁的辉煌成就，他被誉为美国的托尔金和新世纪的海明威。从1989年开始，马丁淡出文学界，转而投身演艺界发展，1996年他才重返文坛而开始奇幻文学的创作，处女作便是《权力的游戏》，即为《冰与火之歌》的首部曲。《权力的游戏》甫出便拿下了British Fantasy Society、 世界奇幻奖和星云奖年度最佳幻想作品提名，在非官方的不记名奇幻作品投票中，《冰与火之歌》俨然已经可以和《魔戒》平起平坐，作者网站的访问量也是和斯蒂芬·金、J.K.罗琳等不相上下，其受欢迎的程度可见一斑。乔治马丁被时代杂志评选为2011年影响世界的一百人之一。

妙语连珠

1.handful of 少数

Only a handful of Americans-or any Westerners, for that matter-have been allowed to go there.
只有很少数的美国人-严格来说应该是西方人--被批准参观过那个地方。

Fortunately, there are a handful of errors that account for a significant proportion of problems, and we've solved them for you.
幸运的是，有少数几个错误占据了这些问题的很大一部分比例，我们已经替你把他们解决了。

2.look up 仰望；查阅

You can have them look up, down or to the camera.
可以让模特向上看，向下看，或者看镜头。

He turned his face to look up at the sky in a carefree manner.
他仰首望着天， 做出一副满不在乎的神气。

3.as if 犹如，好似

I feel as if I had been born again.
我有一种再生之感。

She works hard as if she never knew fatigue.
她工作努力，仿佛从不知疲倦似的。