(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Faith Lapidus with PEOPLE IN AMERICA from VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Edgar Allan Poe, a nineteenth century American writer. His stories and poems were some of the most frightening and strange ever written. Americans celebrate Halloween on October thirty-first. It is mostly a holiday for children, who like to be frightened. Yet many grown people observe Halloween, too. Those who love the writings of Edgar Allan Poe think Poe is most famous for his stories and poems of strangeness, mystery and terror.
Edgar Allan Poe died in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in eighteen forty-nine. Now, in that city, an unusual party takes place every Halloween. In the dark of night, visitors go to the grounds of Westminster Presbyterian Church where Poe is buried. Everything is quiet. Then a voice calls out. It is Poe! No, it is just an actor, reading Poe's work. Reading stories was one of the most important forms of enjoyment in Edgar Allan Poe's time. Poe created many of these "short stories." They appeared in different publications. Horror stories already were popular when Poe began writing. Critics say he wrote the perfect horror story. Poe also wrote detective stories. These were mysteries about crimes, such as murder. An investigator called a detective solves the mysteries. The detective is able to find important, hidden meanings in facts. The horror and detective stories Poe created remain popular in books and movies.
Edgar Allan Poe's work is not easy to read. His language is difficult to understand today. And most of his writing describes very unpleasant situations and events. His story "The Pit and the Pendulum," for example, is about the mental torture of a prisoner. Each time the prisoner saves himself from death, a new and more horrible form of death threatens him. Another story is "The Masque of the Red Death." In it, a terrible disease -- the Red Death -- has killed half the population of a country. The ruler of the country shuts his castle against the disease. He and his wealthy friends are inside. They pass the time by having parties. They believe the Red Death will not find them. But it does.
Edgar Poe was born in eighteen-oh-nine in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were actors. At that time, actors were not accepted by the best society. Edgar was a baby when his father left the family. He was two years old when his mother died. He was taken into the home of a wealthy businessman, John Allan. He then received his new name -- Edgar Allan Poe. John Allan never officially made Edgar his son. In fact, he came to dislike him strongly. Edgar attended schools in England and in Richmond, Virginia. As a young man, he attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He was a good student. He was a member of the Jefferson Literary Society. But he liked to drink alcohol and play card games for money. Edgar was not a good player. He lost money he did not have.
John Allan refused to pay Edgar's gambling losses. He also refused to let Edgar continue at the university. So, Edgar went to Boston and began working as a writer and editor for monthly magazines. He also served in the army for two years. Edgar Allan Poe worked hard. He became a successful editor. He published three books of poetry. He also began writing stories. Five of his stories were printed in a publication in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in eighteen thirty-two. Yet he was not well paid. His life was difficult. He was poor, and he was troubled by sicknesses of the body and mind. Poe suffered from depression. He feared he was insane. He drank alcohol to escape his fears. The alcohol had a very bad effect on him.
In eighteen thirty-five, Poe began editing the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia. The following year, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Virginia Clemm. She was the daughter of his father's sister. She was only thirteen years old. Poe and his wife moved often as he found work at magazines and newspapers in Philadelphia and New York. For a time, it seemed that Poe would find some happiness. But his wife was sick for most of their marriage. She died in eighteen forty-seven. After his wife's death, Poe's problems with alcohol increased. He died two years later, at the age of forty. He was found dead in Baltimore after days of heavy drinking. Through all his crises, Edgar Allan Poe produced many stories, poems, and works of criticism. Some of his stories won prizes. Yet he did not become famous until eighteen forty-five. That was when his poem "The Raven" was published.
There is no question that Poe suffered from emotional problems. One critic said Poe's spirit was torn. He said Poe's stories were often about his own divided nature. Each person in his stories showed a different side of the writer. There is a question, however, about Poe's importance. Some critics said he was one of America's best writers. Others disagreed. One critic said Poe discovered a new artistic universe -- a universe of dreams. It was a place where the line between reality and unreality is extremely thin. Even those who praised Poe agreed that there are many difficulties in his work. These difficulties place Poe's writing outside the main body of American literature. Most American writing is realistic. Poe's interests and way of writing were not realistic at all.
Poe's work has been praised most in France. He had a great influence on many French writers. Poe's best-known poem is "The Raven." Some people love it. They say it is like music. Others hate it. They say it sounds forced and unnatural -- like bad music. "The Raven" is about a man whose great love, Lenore, has died. She is gone forever. But the man cannot accept that all happiness is gone. He sits alone among his books late at night. He hears a noise at the window.
重点解析
1.frightening 令人恐惧的；引起突然惊恐的
It was a very frightening experience and they were very courageous.
那是一次非常令人恐惧的经历，但他们非常勇敢。
2.detective 侦探；侦探的
Detectives are appealing for witnesses who may have seen anything suspicious...
探员呼吁看到任何可疑情况的人进行举报。
3.torture 折磨；拷问；歪曲
His confessions were made under torture .
他被屈打成招。
4.horrible 可怕的；极讨厌的
Still the horrible shrieking came out of his mouth.
他的嘴里还是发出了恐怖的尖叫声。
5.pass the time 打发时间；消磨时光
Although I spoke to him a number of times, it was only to pass the time of day.
我虽然和他说过许多次话，但都是寒喧而已。
6.insane 疯狂的；精神病的
Some people simply can't take it and they just go insane.
一些人就是接受不了，于是便变得精神错乱。
参考译文
我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。我是菲丝·拉伯蒂斯。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天，我们将讲述一位19世纪的美国作家埃德加·爱伦·坡。他的故事和诗集充满恐怖和怪异。10月31日是美国人的万圣节。这主要是那些喜欢恶作剧的孩子们的节日。但是很多成年人也庆祝万圣节。那些喜欢埃德加·爱伦·坡作品的人认为爱伦·坡的作品是以其中的怪异、神秘和恐惧出名。1849年，埃德加·爱伦·坡在马里兰巴尔的摩去世。如今，这座城市每年万圣节都会举办一场与众不同的聚会。夜幕降临，游客们来到爱伦·坡的安息之地威斯敏斯特大教堂的空地上。一切都十分安静。然后一个声音响起，是爱伦·坡！不，那只是一为演员在朗读爱伦·坡的作品。读故事是埃德加·爱伦·坡那个时代最重要的娱乐之一。
爱伦·坡写了很多这些“短篇故事”，出版于不同刊物。在爱伦·坡开始写作时，恐怖故事已经很受欢迎了。评论家说他写的恐怖故事是最好的。爱伦·坡也写侦探小说。关于犯罪中的神秘事件，比如谋杀。一名被称为侦探的调查员解决神秘案件。侦探能够找到真相中重要的隐藏线索。爱伦·坡写的恐怖侦探故事不管书籍和电影都很受欢迎。埃德加·爱伦·坡的作品并不容易读懂。他使用的语言如今很难理解。他的多数描写也是非常令人不悦的场景和事件。例如《陷阱与钟摆》就是关于一名犯人受精神虐待的故事。每次囚犯捡回一条命时，就会有一个新的更加恐怖的死亡形式威胁着他。另一个故事是《红死病魔的面具》。在这个故事中，一种可怕的疾病—红死病—杀死一个国家半数人口。这个国家的统治者闭门躲避该疾病。他和他的那些富有的朋友待在城堡里。他们靠聚会度日。他们认为红死病不会找到他们，但是他们错了。
1908年，埃德加·爱伦·坡出生于马萨诸塞州波士顿。他的父母都是演员。那时，演员不被上流社会接受。埃德加婴儿时期，他的父亲离开了他们。两岁的时候，他的母亲去世了。他被带到了一位富有商人约翰·爱伦的家中。然后，他有了自己的新名字—埃德加·爱伦·坡。法律上，埃德加并不是约翰·爱伦的儿子，事实上，他越来越不喜欢他。埃德加去过弗吉尼亚州里士满和英格兰的学校读书。作为一名年轻人，他去了夏洛茨维尔弗吉尼亚大学读书。他是个好学生。他是杰斐逊文学社团的成员。但他喜欢喝酒，打牌赌博。埃德加不是个好玩家。他欠了钱。约翰·爱伦拒绝为埃德加偿还赌金。他还拒绝让埃德加继续读书。所以埃德加来到波士顿开始在杂志社当作者和编辑。他还去军队服役两年。埃德加·爱伦·坡工作很努力。他成为了一名成功的编辑，出版了三本诗集，他还开始写故事。
1932年，他的五篇故事在宾夕法尼亚州费城的一家出版社出版，但是报酬不佳。他日子过的很艰难，他很穷，身体和心理也深受疾病困扰。爱伦·坡患上了抑郁症。他害怕自己疯掉。他靠着酗酒逃避自己的恐惧。酒精对他造成了严重影响。1835年，爱伦·坡开始在弗吉尼亚州里士满的南方文学信使做编辑。第二年，27岁的爱伦·坡和弗吉尼亚·克莱姆结婚。她是他父亲姊妹的女儿，那时她只有13岁。爱伦·坡和他的妻子经常搬家，因为他在费城和纽约为杂志和报社工作。有一段时间，爱伦·坡似乎找到了一些快乐。但是他的妻子经常生病，她在1847年去世了。妻子死后，爱伦·坡的酗酒问题更加严重，两年后他就去世了，年40岁。他被发现死在了巴尔的摩，此前多天大量饮酒。
通过这些他经历的痛苦，埃德加·爱伦·坡创作了很多故事、诗集和评判作品。其中一些还获了奖。但是他直到1845年才出名。那时他的诗集《乌鸦》出版了。毫无疑问，爱伦·坡经历了很多情感问题。一名评论家说爱伦·坡的精神遭到了蹂躏。他说爱伦·坡的故事经常是讲述他自己分裂的天性。他故事中的每个人都表现出了作者不同的一面。但有一个关于爱伦·坡重要性的问题。一些评论家说他是美国最好的作家之一。一些人则不认同。一名评论家说爱伦·坡发现了一种新的艺术世界—梦想世界。在这个世界中，现实和虚幻之间的界限很稀薄。
即使是那些赞扬爱伦·坡的人也同意他的作品中有很多磨难。这些磨难将爱伦·坡作品置于美国文学主体之外的地方。大部分美国作品都很现实。爱伦·坡的兴趣和他的写作方式一点也不现实。爱伦·坡的作品在法国广受赞誉。他对很多法国作家有着巨大的影响。爱伦·坡最出名的诗集是《乌鸦》。一些人爱它，他们说这篇诗像音乐一样。有人讨厌它，他们说这首诗听起来很压抑不自然—像是糟糕的音乐。《乌鸦》是关于一个男人，他的爱人丽诺尔去世了。她永远离开了。但是这个男人无法接受所有快乐已经消散的事实。深夜他独自坐在书中，听着窗外的声音。
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