听力文本

Long before the time of Christ, athletic meets used to be held in Greece once every four years. These were called Olympic Games, and champions in running and jumping and other sports from all over Greece used to compete for a prize, which was a simple crown made of laurel leaves. There is a huge stadium in Athens where such games and races were held, but it had fallen to ruins. Not so many years ago a Greek who had made a fortune and wanted to do something splendid for his home city repaired and recovered the old stadium with marble, and again the Olympic Games were held there.

Near Athens there is another hill called Mount Hymettus, where was found a very delicious kind of honey. It is said to taste like flowers and it was supposed to be the food the gods lived upon—they called it “ambrosia.” You can still get the same honey in the restaurants in Athens, but there are no more gods to feed on it.

Greece of to-day is famous for—what do you suppose? For poetry? No. For music? No. For sculpture? No. For beautiful buildings? No. My geography says it is famous for “currants.” Currants are little dried grapes that are used in cakes and puddings. Currants are named from Corinth, the stem that joins north and south Greece, or rather, I should say, the stem that used to join them, for the Greeks have cut a canal four miles long straight through the isthmus so that boats can now sail across Corinth without going all the way around Greece.

There is a lunch-room downtown kept by a young Greek who has come to America to make his fortune. He calls it the Delphi Restaurant. Last week I went in for luncheon, and just for fun I asked him if he had any ambrosia. “No,” said he, “we have corned beef and cabbage to-day.”

参考译文

在耶稣诞生前很久，希腊每四年举行一次体育大会，叫做“奥林匹克运动会”。来自希腊各地的跑步、跳远以及其他项目的冠军都来争夺一个奖品，奖品是一个用月桂树叶编的简单花冠。雅典有一个巨大的体育场专门用来举办这样的比赛，但是后来变成了废墟。没多少年前，一位发了财并想为自己的家乡做点贡献的希腊人用大理石修复了古老的体育馆，这样，奥林匹克运动会就又在那儿举行了。

在雅典附近，还有一座山，叫海麦搭斯山，人们在那儿发现了一种非常美味的蜂蜜。据说尝起来像花的味道，是过去传说中众神赖以生存的食物——叫做“神馔”。你在雅典的餐馆里可以品尝到同样的蜂蜜，只是再没有神仙以此为食了。

现在的希腊是以什么著称呢？你猜一猜。诗歌？不是。音乐？不是。雕刻？不是。美丽的建筑？也不是。我的地理学书告诉我，希腊是以“加仑子”著称的。加仑子是无核小葡萄，做蛋糕和布丁可以放一些加仑子。加仑子的名字来自科林斯，也就是连接南北希腊的那条狭长的地带，更确切地说，是过去连接南北希腊的狭长的地带，因为希腊人已经挖了一条4英里长的运河，笔直地贯穿这条地峡，现在船只可以穿过科林斯而不用走远路绕过整个希腊。

我们这里市中心有一家快餐店，是一位想来美国发财的希腊年轻人经营的，他把小快餐店叫做“德尔斐餐馆”。上周，我去那儿吃午餐。只是为了逗乐，我问他有没有“神馔”—什么好吃的？他回答说，“没有，今天只有咸牛肉和卷心菜。”