听力文本

One of the jobs that elephants are used for is hauling, lifting, and loading the heavy logs of teak. I thought I should like to have an elephant myself, so I bought a nice one and brought it all the way home. There it is on my table now. It’s made of bronze.
Stretching down from Thailand like an elephant’s trunk is a long peninsula known as the Malay Peninsula. Just about half a mile offshore from the top of this “trunk” is a bit of an island called Singapore. It was at one time nothing but a jungle in which poisonous snakes and terrible tigers lurked. The owner tried to give it away to get rid of it and couldn’t. Later, however, he sold it to an Englishman named Raffles for almost nothing, and England built a city there. Why do you suppose England wanted such a place at all? Because this spot was another gateway for ships going east or west. There is, as you will see, a narrow passageway between the islands, and this was the only good way for ships to go. Just as in the case of Gibraltar, Suez, and Aden, England wanted to control it. In World War II the Japanese captured Singapore, not with ships fromthe sea, but with soldiers from the land side of the city. When the Japanese were finally beaten in the war,England again took control of Singapore. Singapore is now one of the most important stopping-places for ships, and in the lobby of the great hotel called “Raffles” you may now see people from all nations of the earth.

参考译文

大象常干的工作之一就是帮助装卸这些沉重的柚木木料。我想我自己要有一头大象就好了，于是，我买了一头很可爱的大象，一路把它带回家。现在它就在我的桌子上。它是一件青铜制品。
从泰国向下延伸出的一个长长的半岛，很像大象的鼻子，叫做马来半岛。距“象鼻子”顶端只有半英里远的海上，有一个很小的岛叫“新加坡”。新加坡岛曾经有一个时期只不过是一片丛林，里面藏着很多毒蛇和凶猛的老虎。岛的主人想把它捐赠出去，但没有人要。不过他后来把它卖给了一位名叫“莱佛士”的英国人，价格非常低，几乎是白送。英国就在新加坡岛建了一座城市。你猜英国人究竟为什么想要这样一个地方？因为这儿是东西方船只来往的又一条通道。你会看到，这些岛屿之间有一条狭窄的通道，这是唯一适合船只通行的航道。就和直布罗陀、苏伊士和亚丁的情况一样，英国又想控制这条通道。第二次世界大战期间，日本人占领了新加坡，不是从海上用军舰攻占，而是从城市陆地一侧派士兵占领的。日本人最终在战争中被打败后，英国重新控制了新加坡。现在，新加坡是来往船只最重要停靠港口之一。在一个叫“莱佛士大酒店”的大厅里，你可以看到来自世界各个国家的人。