听力文本

Thirty years passed and though he went back home several times he always returned to Africa and at last he disappeared. He was given up for lost, and his countrymen thought him dead. But some people in our country got the idea that he might still be alive, so they sent a newspaper reporter named Stanley to look for him. They thought a reporter could find him if anybody could. Stanley landed on the west coast of Africa and asked the black men by signs if any one had seen a white man. Most of the black men said “no”—thirty years was too long a time to remember—in fact, most that were alive then were dead. But some black men said they had heard their fathers say that a white man had once passed through that way, and they pointed toward the east.So Stanley kept on going east and still east. After a long, long while he came to a long, long lake that hasa long, long name—Tanganyika. When he reached this lake an old white man came to meet him. Stanley said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” just as if he were greeting a stranger whom he had been sent to meet at the railroad station. Of course, it was Livingstone, and Stanley tried to get him to go back with him.
But Livingstone said, “No, my work is here, teaching the black people about God and curing their bodily diseases. I’ll not go back until I’m dead. When I am dead, then I want to go home to be buried in England.” So Stanley had to return without him.
Two years after that, with no one around him but black men, Livingstone died. He was on his knees at prayer when his black servant boy found him dead. All the black men loved him, and knowing that he wanted to be buried in England, they prepared his body by the sort of embalming they knew and bore it on their shoulders foreight hundred miles—it took two months—until they reached the coast.

参考译文

三十年过去了，尽管利文斯通回了几次家，他总是又返回非洲。最终他消失了。人们认为他失踪了，对找到他不再抱有任何希望。他的同胞认为他死了。但是在美国有一些人猜想他可能还活着，于是就派了一位名叫斯坦利的记者去找他。他们认为如果有什么人能找到利文斯通的话，那么记者就能做到。斯坦利在非洲西海岸上岸，用手势问那里的黑人是否看见一个白人。大多数黑人都表示“没有”——三十年的时间确实太长了，当时的事没有人记得了——事实上，大多数那时候活着的人现到都不在人世了。但是一些黑人说，他们听他们的父辈说过，有一个白人曾经朝那个方向走去，说着还指向东方。于是，斯坦利继续往东走，一直往东走。经过了很长一段时间，他看到了一个长长的湖，这个湖有个长长的名字——坦噶尼喀湖。当他到达湖边时，有位年老的白人过来迎接他，斯坦利说，“您就是利文斯通医生吧？”就像他被派去火车站迎接一位陌生人那样招呼对方。当然，他就是利文斯通。斯坦利试图说服利文斯通和自己一起回去。
但是，利文斯通说，“不，我的工作在这儿。我要引导这里的黑人信仰上帝，并治愈他们身体上的疾病。我死了才回去。等我死了，那时我希望回家，葬在英国。”于是，斯坦利只能自己一个人回去了。
两年后，利文斯通去世了，身边只有一些黑人陪伴着。当时，他正跪着在祷告，他的黑人仆人发现他已经死了。当地所有的黑人都很爱戴他，知道利文斯通希望死后葬在英国。他们以自己的方法，用香料对将利文斯通的身体做了防腐处理，用肩膀抬着他的遗体，走了800英里——花了两个月的时间——最终到了海边。