听力文本

In spite of the fact that land in New York City is worth more than any other land in the World, there are two big parks where city people may have a little country. Central Park is fifty blocks long and several blocks wide, and Bronx Park has a wonderful Zoo where there are strange and curious animals which hunters have brought alive from the jungles, mountains, deserts, and wildernesses of far-off lands.

A man from across the ocean once landed in New York and spent the day seeing the sights. Just before dinner he said he would like to drive out and see Niagara Falls, which he had heard were the most wonderful falls in the World. When he was told that it would take all night on a fast train to get to Niagara, he couldn’t understand.

“But isn’t Niagara in New York?” he asked.

“Yes,” was the reply, “but not in New York City. Niagara is all the way across the State of New York.”

On the west edge of New York State are two great lakes with Indian names—Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Lake Erie on the map looks lower than Lake Ontario, but it really is much higher. So the water from Lake Erie falls over a high and broad cliff to reach Lake Ontario. This waterfall is called Niagara, and though there are other falls in the World higher and other falls broader, Niagara is the most beautiful and most famous, and people go from all over the World to see it. The oar of the water as it thunders over the edge can be heard for miles, and when the sun is shining there is always a rainbow in the spray that rises from the bottom of the falls. Thousands of people view the falls each day, and of each thousand—

358 say “Isn’t it wonderful !”

247 say “Isn’t it grand!”

136 say “Isn’t it beautiful!”

93 say “Isn’t it lovely!”

45 say “Isn’t it pretty !”

24 say “Ah!”

And the rest say “Oh!”

A part of Niagara is caught in a huge bucket as it falls. and the falling water turns giant wheels in the bottom of the bucket. The wheels make electricity, which is carried on wires to turn the wheels of mills, to run the trolley-cars, and to light the houses and streets in the city of Buffalo near-by, and other places farther away.

参考译文

尽管纽约市的土地比世界上其他任何地方都要贵，但市内仍然有两个很大的公园，城里人可以在那里感受一点田园风光。中央公园有50个街区那么长，好几个街区那么宽，布朗克斯公园里有一座很棒的动物园，里面有各种珍奇罕见的动物，都是猎人从丛林、深山、沙漠和遥远国度的荒野之地捕捉来的。

有一次，大洋彼岸有个人来到纽约，欣赏了一天的风景。就在晚饭前，他说他想开车去看看尼亚加拉大瀑布，因为他听说那是世界上最壮观的瀑布。当他听说得乘坐快速火车花上一整夜的时间才能到达尼亚加拉，他很疑惑。

“尼亚加拉不是就在纽约吗？”他问道。

“是的，”对方回答说，“不过不是在纽约市，是在纽约州的另一端。”

在纽约州西部边界有两个大湖——伊利湖和安大略湖，这两个名字都是印第安语。从地图上看伊利湖在安大略湖的下面，其实伊利湖的地势要高很多。因此伊利湖的水从一处又高又宽的悬崖飞泻而下，流入安大略湖。这个瀑布叫做尼亚加拉瀑布，尽管世界上还有比它更高更宽的瀑布，但尼亚加拉瀑布却是最美丽、最著名的，世界各地的人都慕名前来观赏。瀑布在悬崖边发出震耳欲聋的轰隆声，几英里外都能听到，阳光灿烂的时候，瀑布底部升起的水雾中总能看到一道五彩缤纷彩虹。每天都有成千上万的人来观赏这个瀑布，每一千名游客中——

358人会说：“太棒了！”

247人会说：“太壮观了！”

136人会说：“太美了！”

93人会说：“太可爱了！”

45人会说：“太漂亮了！”

24人会发出“啊”的感叹声

其余人会发出“哇”的惊叹声。

尼亚加拉瀑布的水有一部分落入一个巨大的桶，桶底部有几个巨大的轮子，流水推动轮子转动就能发电了。电通过电线输送出去，就可以让磨坊的机轮转动起来，让电车开动起来，也让附近的布法罗市和其他更远地方的房子和街道的灯亮起来。