听力文本

The fire-worshipers’ chief god was called Mazda and that is where we get the name for our electric-light bulbs. According to their religion, everything that was light was good and everything that was dark was bad. Afew Persians are still fire-worshipers, but most are now Mohammedans.
The good part of Persia, like the little girl who had a little curl, is very, very good, but the bad part ishorrid. In the part that is good, beautiful roses, fine melons and peaches grow, but much of Persia is desert. Most rivers get bigger and bigger as they flow along, but the Persian rivers get smaller and smaller and at last dwindle away to nothing. There are a great many mountains in Persia, and when the melted snows come down from these mountains they form streams, but many of these streams do not empty anywhere; they just dry up; they have no mouths.
Did you ever play charades? Here is a word we used to act out when I played charades, though we pronounced the word incorrectly. In the first act two girls would play drinking tea. In the second act a boy would run across the room. The two acts made the capital of Persia. Can you guess it? It is “Tehran.” Another charadecan be acted out in only one act. A boy runs across the room and then points to himself. Can you guess this one? It is “Iran,” the Persian name of the country.
The ruler of Persia is called, not a king, but a Shah. Once upon a time the Shah could do anything he wishedwith his people. He could take all their money away from them and put them to death, if he wished to do so; but all that has long been changed.

参考译文

拜火教徒信仰的主神是玛兹达，这就是我们的电灯泡借用的名字。根据他们的宗教信仰，凡是光明的东西都是好的，凡是黑暗的东西都是坏的。有一些波斯人仍是拜火教徒，但大多数现在都是伊斯兰教徒。
波斯条件好的地方，就像长着小鬈发的小女孩，非常非常美好，但条件差的地区就很糟。好的地方长着美丽的玫瑰花、甜蜜的瓜果、桃子，但波斯很多地方是沙漠。大多数河流总是越流越宽，但是波斯的河流却是越流越窄，直到最后完全消失。波斯有很多高山，山上的雪融化，流下来形成小溪，但是这些小溪并没有流入到什么地方，只是都干涸了，根本没有河口。
你有没有玩过字谜游戏？有个词，小时候玩字谜游戏时，我们常常把它表演出来让人猜，不过这个词的发音我们读不准。第一幕两个女孩表演喝茶，第二幕一个男孩跑着穿过房间。这两幕演的就是波斯的首都。你能猜到吗？就是“德黑兰”。另外一个字谜游戏只需一幕就能表演出来，一个男孩跑过房间，然后指着自己。你能猜对这个吗？是“伊朗”，就是这个国家的波斯语名字。
波斯的统治者不叫国王，而叫“沙”。从前，沙可以对他的人民为所欲为。他可以没收人们所有的财产，再把他们杀掉，只要他想这么做。但现在这一切早已改变了。