听力文本

One dark night many years ago an army was approaching Constantinople, but it was so dark the people in the city did not see it and did not know they were about to be attacked. Suddenly the moon shone out from behind a cloud. By the light of the moon the watchmen saw the enemy, sounded the alarm, and the city was saved. Ever since then the Turks have used the new moon on their churches as we do a cross and a new moon and a star on their flag, as these had brought good luck. A new moon is called a “crescent.” The Turks have a society, the same society as our Red Cross; but as a cross is a Christian sign, they don’t use it, so they call their society the Red Crescent.

One of the largest churches in the World was built in Constantinople before the Turks came. It was called the church of Holy Wisdom, which in Greek is Santa Sophia. Perhaps you may know a girl named Sophie. Well, she may be wise or she may not, but her name means wise. When the Turks captured the Christian city of Constantinople they changed Santa Sophia and all the other churches in the city to Mohammedan churches, which are called mosques, and they tore down the crosses on top of the churches and put up in the place of each a crescent. There are now over eight hundred mosques in the city. Finally not very many years ago they changed Constantinople’s name to Istanbul.

You might think it would be better if I hadn’t told you the old name of Istanbul. Then you would have one less long name to remember. But Constantinople was the name of the city for a much longer time than Istanbul has been. Even now Constantinople is a better-known name than Istanbul. I won’t, however, tell you what the city was called before it became Constantinople. Two names are enough to learn about any city. So if you want to know Istanbul’s earliest name you’ll have to ask some one or find it in some other book.

参考译文

很多年前，一个漆黑的夜晚，一支敌军正在接近君士坦丁堡。但是由于天太黑了，城里的人没有看到这支部队，更没有意识到他们即将遭到进攻。突然月亮从云后现出来了，借着月光巡夜人看见了敌人，发出警报，城市得救了。从那以后，土耳其人将新月标志安装在他们的教堂上，就像我们在教堂上安装十字架一样，他们还在国旗上印上一弯新月和一颗星星，因为新月和星星曾给他们带来好运。新月也被称作“月牙”。土耳其人也有一个类乎“红十字会”的协会。但是，由于“十字”是基督教的标志，他们不用“十字”，而称他们的协会为“红新月会”。

世界上最大的教堂之一，在土耳其人到来之前就建在君士坦丁堡。它被称作“圣哲教堂”，希腊语称作“圣索菲娅教堂”。你也许认识一个名叫索菲（“索菲娅”的昵称）的女孩。她也许很聪明，也许不聪明，但是她的名字是“聪明”的意思。当土耳其人占领了君士坦丁堡这座基督教城市后，他们把圣索菲娅大教堂和城里的其他教堂都改成了伊斯兰教的教堂，叫做“清真寺”，他们拆掉教堂顶上的十字架，安装上新月标志。现在这座城市有八百多座清真寺。最后，就在没多少年前，他们把“君士坦丁堡”这个名字改成了“伊斯坦布尔”。

你也许认为，如果我不告诉你伊斯坦布尔以前的名字会更好些。那样你只需要记一个短一点的名字了。但是作为城市的名字，“君士坦丁堡”存在的时间比“伊斯坦布尔”长得多了。甚至现在，君士坦丁堡这个名字也要比伊斯坦布尔知名得多。然而，我不会再告诉你，在被称作君士坦丁堡之前，这座城市叫什么。两个名字足以让你了解一座城市。所以，如果你想知道伊斯坦布尔最早的名字，你就得去问别人或在其他书中查找。