听力文本

I had come half-way round the World to see this sight and had traveled days in such terrific heat that a sunstroke was as much to be feared as a stroke of lightning. I saw the Taj by the full moon and was so busy looking that I stepped into a pool of water up to my knees, and I had hardly clambered out when I stepped off aplatform and sprained my ankle. But it was worth it. And yet to me the most beautiful building in the World is not the Taj. It is the Pearl Mosque, which is also at Agra. I don’t know what the buildings in Heaven look like, but I don’t believe they could be more beautiful than the Pearl Mosque.
On the east side of the country is the sacred river of India; it is called the Ganges. It has several mouthsand at one of these mouths is Calcutta. Calcutta is in India but most of the mouths of the Ganges are in Pakistan.
Farther up the sacred river is the sacred city of the Hindus. It is called Benares. No one but a Mohammedan may go to the sacred city of Mecca, but any one may go to Benares. Benares is built on the banks of the river, and covering the banks are long stone steps leading down into the river. Hindus come from all over India to bathe in the Ganges at Benares, not to wash away dirt but to wash away sins. They go in about waist-deep and, filling a bowl with the sacred water, pour it over their heads. Especially do they come to the Ganges when they think they are about to die. Good Hindus are not afraid to die. In fact, if they are miserably poorand unhappy they are glad to die, for if their sins are washed away they expect, by dying, they will immediately be changed into the body of a happier creature.

参考译文

我曾环绕地球半圈专程来看这景观。在旅行的那几天里，天气非常炎热，人们害怕中暑就像害怕被闪电击中一样。我在满月的银光之下看见了泰姬陵。我那么专注地看着，不知不觉竟步入一个水池，水没到膝盖，我刚爬出来，从一个平台上走下来，又扭伤了脚踝。但受伤也是值得的。然而，对我来说，世界上最美的建筑不是泰姬陵，而是珍珠清真寺，它也在阿格拉镇。我不知道天堂里的建筑是什么样的，但我相信，就算是天堂里的建筑也不会比珍珠清真寺更美丽。
印度的圣河，在这个国家的东边，叫做恒河。它有好几个河口，加尔各答在其中一个河口。加尔各答在印度，但大部分恒河河口在巴基斯坦。
在圣河上游有印度教徒的圣城——贝拿勒斯。圣城麦加，唯有伊斯兰教徒可以去，但任何人都可以去贝拿勒斯。贝拿勒斯建在恒河河畔，河岸铺着长长的石阶，石阶向下延伸到恒河。印度教徒从印度各地来到贝拿勒斯，在恒河里沐浴，不是洗去污垢而是洗去罪恶。他们走到齐腰深的地方，舀起一碗圣水，浇到自己的头上。当他们认为自己快要死的时候，就会特地来到恒河。虔诚的印度教徒并不怕死。事实上，如果生活贫穷，痛苦不堪，他们宁愿死去，因为如果他们的罪恶一旦洗去，他们期望通过死亡立刻转世成为一个比以前幸福的人。