听力文本

Since that time roads and railroads have been made all the way across the country; great cities have been built where once was only wilderness; and the wild Indians have been tamed. The United States has given the Indians large pieces of land to pay them for having taken other land away from them. These places given to the Indians are called “Reservations,” because they are reserved for them, just as a seat in the theater that is reserved for a person is called a “reserved seat.”

The first railroad to the Pacific coast took the middle route from Chicago to San Francisco. But you can now take a train from Chicago and cross to the Pacific by the north, middle, or south. It took months when the “Forty-niners” went across in their covered wagons, but now it takes less than one day by airplane.

People used to say, “Go West, Young Man, if you want to make a fortune,” and many thousands did go West, not looking for gold, but for farm lands, which were given them free by the United States if they would raise crops. Some of these men who went to Oklahoma and Texas and other places, chiefly west of the Mississippi, found oil oozing out of the ground on their farms. This oil spoiled the land for farming and made the water unfit even for the horses and cows to drink. The land was ruined—no good—so many farmers gave up and moved away.

There are three kinds of oil in the World—vegetable, animal, and mineral. Did you ever play the game called Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral? It’s a good game. The “Old Man” shouts, “Vegetable !” and you must name a vegetable, any vegetable—“potato,” for instance—before he can count ten. Or he shouts, “Mineral !” or “Animal!” and you must name a mineral or an animal before he counts ten. In this game a mineral is anything that isn’t animal or vegetable. But no matter whether he says “Animal,” “Vegetable,” or“Mineral,” you will always be right if you say, “Oil!” for it is one of the few things in the World that can be all three.

The oil from vegetables, like olive oil, and the oil from animals, like cod-liver oil, is good for food, but mineral oil from the rocks under the ground is not good for food. But some one found out that mineral oil could be burned to give light and heat, and then the automobile was invented, and from this mineral oil was made the gasoline to run automobiles. Many other things are now made from this kind of oil—medicine, colors for dyeing, and even perfumes.

参考译文

从那时起公路和铁路开始修建起来，横贯整个国家；以前的荒野之地建起了大城市；野蛮的印第安人也变温顺了。美国曾从印第安人那夺走了一些土地，现在作为补偿，给了他们另外的土地。这些给印第安人的土地叫做“保留地”，因为是专门为他们而保留的，就像剧院里为某个人保留的座位叫做“保留座位”一样。

第一条通往太平洋海岸的铁路是从芝加哥出发，沿着中间路线，抵达旧金山。但是现在乘火车从芝加哥出发，无论是沿北线、中线或者南线都可以到达太平洋海岸。“49淘金人”当初驾着大篷车，历经数月艰辛才能到达太平洋沿岸，现在乘飞机一天之内就能到达。

人们过去常说：“年轻人，想发财的话，就去西部吧。”成千上万的人确实到西部去了，不是去淘金，而是去找田地。当时美国政府规定，只要有人愿意在西部种庄稼，就可以免费获得那里的土地。其中有些人去了密西西比河西岸的俄克拉荷马州、德克萨斯州和其他地方，却发现农田里不断渗出油。这种油破坏了农田的土壤，还影响了水质，甚至马或牛都不能喝。土地被毁了——不能做农田了——因此很多农民放弃了田地，搬走了。

世界上有三种油——植物油、动物油和矿物油。你有没有玩过一种叫做“动物、植物和矿物”的游戏？那是个很好玩的游戏。“老人”大声喊：“植物！”那你就必须在他数到10之前说出一种植物，任何植物都可以，比如说“土豆”。或者他会喊：“矿物！”或“动物！”你就必须在他数到10之前说出一种矿物或动物。在这个游戏里，矿物指的是除动物或植物之外的东西。但是不管他是说“动物”、“植物”还是“矿物”，如果你说“油”，你永远都是正确的，因为世界上同时归于这三者的东西寥寥无几，油就是其中之一。

植物油，像橄榄油，动物油，如鱼肝油，适合做食物，但是地下岩石里的矿物油是不适合做食物的。但有人发现矿物油可以燃烧，发光发热，后来人们发明了汽车，从矿物油提取出汽油，开动汽车。现在有很多其他东西也是用这种油生产出来的—药物、染色颜料甚至香水。