听力文本

India is divided into states like the United States and many of these states have separate rulers called rajahs. Many of the rajahs, however, are more interested in showing off and in having a good time than they arein ruling. They love jewels, such as diamonds and pearls, and they collect them as you might collect marbles, though one of their diamonds may be worth a million times what one of your precious marbles is worth. Theyown some of the largest and finest jewels that have ever been found. We think of diamond and pearl necklacesas something that only women wear, but when the rajahs appear before their subjects or ride in processions, as they love to do, they dress themselves up with their wonderful gems, some of them as big as walnuts, and wear collars of pearls, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. In such processions a rajah rides on an elephant, which is dressed up too. The rajah sits on top of the elephant under a canopy that is so high in the air he has to use a stepladder to climb up.
Elephants are considered sacred in India, and even though there are many wild ones, it is against the law toshoot one. So men hunt them, catch them, and tame them without shooting them. Hundreds of men form a long line around the place where there are elephants and beat drums and blow horns to frighten them. The elephants move away from the noise and, unknowingly, toward a pen that is left open to catch them. In this way they are driven by the terrible racket into the pen, which is then closed. After they are caught they must be tamed. This is not an easy job, for some elephants are very dangerous and can easily stamp a man to death. Once tamed, however, an elephant can be used like a camel in Arabia, a horse in Europe, or an automobile, a tractor, or a piece of machinery in our country.

参考译文

像美国一样，印度也划分为不同的州，很多州有各自的统治者——叫做“邦主”。然而，许多邦主感兴趣的不是治理国家，而是炫耀自己和尽情享受。他们喜欢珠宝，比如钻石和珍珠。就像你有可能收集玻璃弹子一样，他们收集珠宝，不过，他收集的其中一个钻石也许比你珍爱的玻璃弹子贵一百万倍。他们拥有迄今为止所发现的最大最好的珠宝。我们认为钻石和珍珠项链只有女士才佩戴。但是，当这些邦主出现在他们的臣民面前，或是参加列队行进的时候——他们就喜欢有这样的机会，他们穿上盛装，佩戴华丽无比的宝石。有的宝石有核桃那么大，衣领上缀有珍珠、红宝石、蓝宝石、绿宝石。在队伍中，邦主骑在一头也盛装打扮的大象上，华盖为其遮挡太阳。因为大象太高了，邦主不得不用一个梯子才能爬上去。
在印度，大象被认为是神圣的。尽管有很多野生大象，但是射杀大象是犯法的。于是，人们就捕猎大象，而不是射杀，捕获后驯化它们。猎象时，数百人把有大象的地方围起来，然后，敲鼓吹号来吓唬它们。为了避开噪声，大象不知不觉走向一个为捕捉它们而有意敞开的围栏。就这样，大象在喧闹声中被赶进了围栏，这时有人马上就把围栏关上。捕获大象后一定要驯化它们。驯象是一件很难的事，因为有些大象非常危险，能轻易将人踩死。然而，一旦驯化，大象就能像阿拉伯的骆驼、欧洲的马、美国的汽车、拖拉机，或一台机器一样被人使用。