听力文本

The Land of the Angles (continued)

I ONCE asked an Englishman if he lived in London.

“Why does every American think that every Englishman lives in London?” he replied—and he sounded rather vexed. “There are other places in England besides London.

There is Chester and Manchester,

There is Norwich and Harwich,

There is Oxford and Guildford,

There is Birm ingham and Nottingham,

There is Cambridge and Tunbridge,

There is Northampton and Southampton,

There is Plymouth and Yarmouth and Weymouth…” And as he gasped for breath I cried, “Please don’t tell me all the ’wiches and ’fords and’mouths in England.”

“Well,” said he, “there are over thirty million people in England who don’t live in London and I am one of them.”

But nearly every Englishman, no matter where he does live, goes to London some time in his life. You can get to London in a day from any place in England, for the island is so small and trains are so fast.

Railroads were invented by an Englishman, and some of the fastest trains run in England. Their trains look different from ours. They seem much smaller and lighter and the cars are divided into rooms instead of being one long room like ours. Each room has half the seats facing forward and half facing backward, so that half of the people have to ride backward. Some of these rooms are labeled “lst class,” but most are “3rd class.” People pay more to ride in a lst class room than they do in a 3rd class room. The 1st class has cushioned seats and there is more space for each person. The 3rd class has wooden seats without cushions, and more people are put in a room. The English railroad trains run on the left hand side of the road. Most Americans are right-handed, and we say “Keep to the Right,” but most Englishmen are right-handed too, yet they say “Keep to the Left.” You would be arrested in England if you drove or rode on the right hand side as we do here.

参考译文

盎格鲁人的土地（续）

我曾经问过一个英国人是不是住在伦敦。

“为什么每个美国人都认为所有英国人都住在伦敦呢？”他却这样回答——语气有点生气，“除了伦敦，英国还有很多其他地方啊。

有切斯特和曼彻斯特，

有诺里奇和哈里奇，

有牛津和吉尔福德，

有伯明翰和诺丁汉，

有剑桥和坦布里奇，

有北安普顿和南安普顿，

有普利茅斯、雅茅斯和韦茅斯……”他停下喘气的时候，我大叫：“请不要把英国所有那些‘里奇’、‘福德’和‘茅斯’都说出来了！”

“好吧，”他说，“英国有三千多万人都不住在伦敦，我就是其中之一。”

但是几乎每个英国人，不管他住在哪里，一生中总会到伦敦去住一段时间。无论从英国哪个地方出发，都可以在一天之内到达伦敦，因为整个岛屿很小，而火车速度又很快。

铁路是英国人发明的，世界上一些跑得最快的火车也在英国。他们的火车看起来和我们的不一样，似乎更小、更轻，他们的车厢被分成一个个隔间，而不像我们的车厢那样，没有任何隔断。每个隔间里设有面对面的座位，因此一半乘客是倒着前进的。有些隔间标着“头等”，但大多数是“三等”。头等车厢隔间的车票要比三等车厢隔间的贵。头等车厢隔间的座位上铺有软垫，每个人的空间也更大些。三等车厢隔间只有木制的座位，没有软垫，每个隔间里的乘客也更多些。英国的火车是靠铁路的左边行驶的。大部分美国人是惯用右手的，我们说“请靠右行”，但大部分英国人也是惯用右手的，可他们却说“请靠左行”。在英国，如果你像在美国一样靠右开车或骑车，就会被警察抓起来。