新编大学英语视听说教程第六册听力原文Unit 10

Unit 10

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Scene 1: In the Mebbins' home

Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin:

(Mrs. Mebbin comes back home from tiger hunting. She sits at the table and her husband joins her.)

Oh, my, my dear! Finally... you're back! How's everything? Was it a success?

Oh, dear! Be patient! It's a long story and I have so much to tell you. Really? I already know what it's about. Mrs. Packletide invited you to go tiger hunting with her, right?

Yes, but it's more complicated than it seems to be. She paid me for

that. But do you know why Mrs. Packletide suddenly decided to go shoot a tiger? You don't think it's because she wants to leave India as a safer and better place, do you?

Mrs. Packletide can't be that naive! Tell me all about it. Do you remember that Mrs. Loona Bimberton was carried 11 miles in a

helicopter by an Algerian pilot?

Sure. Everybody remembers. Her experience was given extensive coverage in all the local newspapers. So what?

So what! Mrs. Packletide never allows herself to be even slightly

inferior to any other person in the world.

Especially... Mrs. Loona Bimberton? Of course. Everything Mrs. Packletide does is because of her dislike

of Loona Bimberton.

How do you know that?

Mrs. Packletide has already arranged in her mind a luncheon party she

will give at her house in Curzon Street. Apparently it'll be given in honor of Loona Bimberton, but nobody will believe it.

I see. Mrs. Packletide went to shoot a wild beast in order to have the press cameras focused on her.

That's right. She's in desperate need of something that is at least

comparable to Loona Bimberton's flight, so that Mrs. Packletide can show off. Mrs. Packletide told me that she planned to give Loona Bimberton a tiger-claw brooch on her next birthday.

And I guess she'll make a big tiger-skin rug and talk about it during the luncheon party.

Possibly. You know, the strangest thing is the shooting itself.

Mr. Mebbin: How is that?

good preparations for her shoot and she promised to pay them a thousand rupees so long as she wouldn't need to take too many risks.

Mrs. Mebbin: Mrs. Packletide arranged for people in a neighboring village to make

Mr. Mebbin: Did she take any risks?

Mrs. Mebbin: Absolutely not. It so happened that an old tiger had been staying

Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin: Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin:

Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin:

Mrs. Mebbin: Mr. Mebbin:

Mrs. Mebbin:

around the village and had been eating some of their chickens and goats!

So it was actually an old tiger that you went to shoot?

To tell the truth, yes. What's more, the villagers wanted the one

thousand rupees so much that they did everything they could to make sure the tiger stayed in the jungle near their village.

Did they leave any bait here and there to attract the tiger?

Yes. The cheaper kinds of old goats and chickens served as bait. And

almost all the villagers turned out to make certain the tiger didn't roam away from it, though they knew it was almost impossible for a tiger that old and lame to hunt its own prey.

Really? It sounds a little dramatic.

Children were posted night and day near the local jungle to head the

tiger back towards the village in case the tiger should have the urge of leaving it. And mothers carrying their babies home through the jungle after the day's work in the fields stopped singing so they wouldn't wake the tiger from its sleep.

So things were really rather easy when you actually went to shoot the tiger?

Definitely. Mrs. Packletide called it \"a great night\". Everything was

prepared. Some villagers built a platform in a tree, and Mrs. Packletide had her accurately sighted rifle in her hand as we crouched on the platform and waited for the tiger to come near.

Did you wait a long time?

No. An old goat and some chickens used as bait kept raising a noise.

Even a partially deaf tiger could hear that noise. And the night was moonlit and cloudless, so we could clearly see the tiger.

Did Mrs. Packletide shoot the tiger immediately?

No. As soon as the tiger caught sight of the goat, it lay flat in the

grass probably to take a rest. As she hesitated, I urged Mrs. Packletide to pull the trigger before the tiger started to attack the goat or chickens.

Why?

For two reasons. First, if the tiger didn't touch the goat or chickens,

Mrs. Packletide wouldn't have to pay for them. It cost her extra. The

cost of the goat and chickens was not included in the one thousand rupees. I told Mrs. Packletide that it was too much for an old tiger, but she wouldn't listen. Second, I didn't want to take more risk than I had been paid for.

Mr. Mebbin:

Good. I've always known my wife is wise and shrewd.

towards the goat. After the shot was fired, the tiger fell, rolled over and died.

Mr. Mebbin:

Mrs. Packletide must think the tiger's worth one thousand rupees because it'll bring her great glory and admiration. She must have been very excited.

Mrs. Mebbin: Everybody was excited, except for me. The villagers on the scene

were so excited to get their one thousand rupees. They banged the drums to carry the good news to the whole village. I was the only one that remained alert.

Mr. Mebbin:

What do you mean by \"alert\"?

tiger had been hit by the bullet. The tiger looked uninjured.

Mr. Mebbin:

Woo! Why was the tiger dead then? It must have died of a heart attack.

Mrs. Mebbin: I guess so. Its heart attack must have been caused by the sudden,

noisy shot of the rifle.

Mr. Mebbin:

How did Mrs. Packletide feel about that?

villagers readily believed that she shot it to death.

Mr. Mebbin:

Scene 2: In Mrs. Packletide's home

(Mrs. Mebbin is visiting Mrs. Packletide.)

Mrs. Mebbin: It's a long time since your luncheon party. It was a great success. Mrs. Packletide: Yes, I haven't seen you since then. What have you been doing? Mrs. Mebbin: Um, nothing in particular. I've come here today to ask you a favor. Mrs. Packletide: Well, sure, if I can.

Mrs. Mebbin: Well, I'm wondering how amused every one would be if they knew what

really happened that night!

Mrs. Packletide: What do you mean?

Mrs. Mebbin: How you shot the goat and scared the tiger to death. Mrs. Packletide: No one would believe it.

Mrs. Mebbin: Mm, Loona Bimberton would if I told her.

Ha, the whole story seems ridiculous!

Mrs. Mebbin: At first, she was annoyed. But, anyway, she got her dead tiger and the Mrs. Mebbin: Well, I went near to look at the tiger and I found the goat beside the Mrs. Mebbin: But Mrs. Packletide waited until the tiger started to move slowly

Mrs. Packletide: You surely wouldn't give me away?

Mrs. Mebbin: I wouldn't like to, but I've seen a weekend cottage near Darking that

I should rather like to buy. It would only cost 680 pounds. Quite a bargain, only... I don't happen to have the money.

(Mrs. Packletide has indulged in no more shooting. \"The incidental expenses are too heavy,\" she confides to her friends.)

(Adapted from Saki's short story Mrs. Packletide's Tiger.)

Listen1-1

Robert Frost, the greatest American poet of his time, lived a life of contradictions. Descended from a long line of New Englanders who had lived in the region since 1632, Frost was born in California in 1874. Considered the most American of poets, he was first recognized not in his own country, but abroad, and his first two books were published in England. He never entered any writing competitions and in fact did not believe in prize contests, yet the Pulitzer Prize for the best poetry of the year was awarded to him four times. He did not care for politics yet the United States Senate extended its congratulations to him on his birthday in 1950, and in 1961 he agreed to read a poem at John F. Kennedy's inauguration as President of the United States. He chose New England as the place about which he would write, yet no poetry so regional has ever been so universal.

When Robert Frost was 10 years old, his father died and his mother moved back to New England. There he grew to appreciate other New England writers such as Emerson and Thoreau and decided he would like to become a poet. His first poem was published when he was 19 years old. His mother, a teacher, was delighted, but his grandfather was not because he believed no one could make a living as a poet. He gave Robert a farm and Robert farmed until he was 35 years old. By then he had saved enough money to enable him to move himself and his wife to England, where he met and talked with British poets and wrote poetry full-time. He had a difficult time finding someone to publish his poems, but once he did, he became famous in England. In 1915, soon after the outbreak of the First World War, the Frost family returned to the United States to find that he was now famous there too. Ever the man of contradictions, now that he knew he could support himself by poetry, he moved to a farm again and for the rest of his life lived mostly on farms excepting when teaching poetry at various universities throughout the U.S. As a professor, he felt his job was as a stimulator rather than as a teacher. He wanted not to instruct but to excite. Yet, in his own contradictory way, although he never tried to

persuade anyone to follow his poetic beliefs, he was undoubtedly the most influential American poet of the 20th century.

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Questions:

1. What happened to Robert Frost when he was 10 years old? 2. When was his first poem published?

3. How did his mother respond to his initial success as a poet? 4. What enabled Robert to move himself and his wife to England? 5. When did Robert and his family move back to the United States?

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How Do I Love Thee?

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

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Interviewer: Did you always want to be a writer? Lisa See:

I never wanted to be a writer. My mother and grandfather were both writers. When I was a kid, they both took the position that writing was about suffering and pain, so you can see why I didn't want to be a writer. There came a time when I was about 20 and living in Greece, and I knew three things: I didn't want to get married, I didn't want to have children, and I only wanted to live out of a suitcase. But how was I going to support myself? One morning I woke up and it was like a light bulb went off. I could be a writer! Within 24 hours of returning back to the States, I had my first two magazine assignments. And then I got married and had children. And thank God, because I would have been a pretty boring person if I didn't have those three people in my life. But I still love to live out of a suitcase.

Interviewer: What are your favorite books and what makes them special to you? Lisa See:

The Jungle Book series by Rudyard Kipling. Many of my favorite books are

those I read as a child. Every Saturday morning, I used to treat myself by reading \"Rikki-Tikki Tavi\loved the way Kipling played with the fragility of life. Another is The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan. I know Amy and love all of her books. This

one I listened to on tape. Amy read it. There's a place in the story where the main character is talking about her little boy dying. As Amy read, her voice broke. Later she told me she was really surprised when that happened and was even more surprised that the producers left it in. But I'm glad they did. I didn't cry at all when I was writing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but when I read it to my husband I cried. I don't know

what that means about the writing process. Maybe we're so involved in the story and are working from such a deep place that the tears don't come. But later it's surprising when the emotions break through—sometimes at places I never expect. It's as though I lived the moment of Snow Flower dying.

Questions:

1. Why didn't Lisa want to become a writer? 2. How did she change her mind?

3. What did she want to do when she was in Greece? 4. Which of the following was one of her favorite books? 5. In which way were Lisa See and Amy Tan alike?

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Maxine Hong Kingston, considered one of the greatest contemporary American writers, is known particularly for The Woman Warrior (based on the legend of Hua Mulan plus Kingston's own life), China Men (based on the experiences of her grandfathers, who immigrated to Hawaii) and Tripmaster Monkey (based on the Monkey King legend). In 19 Kingston spent a week lecturing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A portion of the session, in which Kingston discusses her sense of the \"audience\" for which she writes, follows:

Student: I have a question about Tripmaster Monkey. Do you have an intended audience

for the book, or is it the same audience as for China Men and The Woman Warrior?

Kingston: You know, I'm not like some writers who are very specific about their

audience. My sense of an audience is very wide—maybe people in the distant future—in a sense, the universe. My audience is not limited to the living. I am not just thinking of Chinese Americans or white Americans. I've spent 10 years of my life being a high school teacher, and I feel a strong impulse to educate and enlighten. When I stood in front of high school kids, I felt that everything I said had to reach every one of them—the kids with the lowest IQ and the genius kid, and kids of all racial and economic backgrounds.

Student: B ut I think Tripmaster Monkey requires a very literate audience beyond your

other books.

Kingston: You're right! An educated audience would get more out of it in that they would

have more fun puzzling out the allusions I make to Beckett and Joyce.

Student: W ell, I come from an uneducated family. I'm the first member of my family to

go to college. When I read Tripmaster I felt too challenged. I just couldn't get the allusions. I felt ignorant and so the book gave me an inferiority complex.

Kingston: But The Woman Warrior also has a lot of allusions that I know people did not

get. Yet, people don't seem to be frustrated with it.

Student: T hey expect more. Besides you have a way of drawing us into it.

Kingston: I'm your guide. Also, I guess, as a minority person in America, and with a lot of

perceptions that English is not my first language, I felt the need of being a guide in The Woman Warrior with its many Chinese cultural allusions.

Questions:

1. Which of Kingston's books is based on the legend of Hua Mulan plus her own life? 2. Who were the intended audience for Kingston's book Tripmaster Monkey?

3. What was Kingston's attitude toward her students when she was a high school teacher?

4. What did the student think of Kingston's book Tripmaster Monkey? 5. What role did Kingston play when writing?

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(The teacher of an introductory literature class discusses the importance of denotative and connotative meanings.)

As we have already discussed, words have multiple meanings, and writers often intentionally play on this multiplicity. They also want to avoid ambiguity, so they must be aware of the connotations of the words they use. This is particularly true for poets, who must be cognizant of the connotations if they are to make clear a forceful point. The following famous poem, written over 400 years ago, shows the poet's conscious choice of words to set a tone.

Upon Julia's Clothes

by Herrick

Whenas in silks my Julia goes,

Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows That liquefaction of her clothes. Next, when I cast mine eyes and see That brave vibration each way free; O how that glittering taketh me!

Like most poetry written so long ago, these lines also present some problems in denotation because meanings sometimes change over the years. We might look up four words with the following results: \"Whenas\" means \"whenever\"; \"methinks\" means \"it seems to me\"; \"liquefaction\" means \"fluidity\"; \"brave\" means \"showy\" or \"colorful\". Why is Julia dressed in silks? The poet knew that silken clothing is thin, expensive, beautiful and sensuous. Although Herrick is probably referring to a silken dress, \"silks\" may also connote silk stockings or a silk nightgown. Thus the connotations of the word

are luxuriant and slightly sensual. The poet also refers to Julia as \"my Julia\". The use of the possessive adjective \"my\" suggests that Julia may be Herrick's possession, his lover, both confirming and compounding the sensuous connotations of \"silks\".

Herrick's use of \"vibration\" is also interesting. In the 21st century we are apt to associate this word with rapid movement, especially with the vibrations of automobiles, trains, planes, etc. moving at high speed. In the 17th century, however, the word was often used to describe the slow swing of a pendulum. In this poem, therefore, \"That brave vibration each way free\" suggests the gentle side-to-side swishing of a woman's skirts. And, in fact, the freedom of the movement suggests that Julia's swaying movement is meant to entice. In addition, the \"brave\" skirts were showy or colorful, the connotations being those of boldness and showiness, a woman wishing to entice through her dress.

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(Amy Tan, a best-selling novelist, who is especially famous for The Joy Luck Club, talks about her passion for writing. )

Why do I write? Because I once thought I couldn't, and now I know I can. Because I have qualities in my nature which are shaped by my past—a secret legacy of suicide, forced marriages, and abandoned children in my homeland; an eclectic upbringing that included no fewer than 15 residences, ranging from tough neighborhoods in Oakland, California, to the snobbish environs of Montreux, Switzerland; a distorted view of life shaped by two conflicting religions, the death of my father and brother in a year's time, and the murder of my best friend. Those elements and others in my life have combined to make me feel that writing provides the sort of freedom and danger, satisfaction and discomfort, truth and contradiction that I can't find anywhere else in life.

I write stories because I have questions about life, not answers. I believe life is mysterious and not dissectible. I think human nature is best described as a long-winded story and not a psychoanalytical diagnosis. I write because often I can't express myself any other way, and I think I'll implode if I don't find the words. I can't paraphrase or give succinct morals about love and hope, pain and loss. I have to use a mental longhand, ponder and work it out in the form of a story that is revised again and again, 20 times, a hundred times, until it feels true.

I write for very much the same reasons that I read: to startle my mind, to churn my heart, to tingle my spine, to knock the blinders off my eyes and allow me to see beyond the pale. Fiction is an intimate companion and confidant for life.

I write because I have been in love with words since I was a child. I hoarded words from the thesaurus and dictionary as though they were magic stones, toys, treasures. I loved metaphors and used them before I knew what the word meant. I thought of metaphors as secret passageways that took me to hidden rooms in my heart, and my memory as the dreamy part of myself that lived in another world. I played with my memory of both real and imaginary life the way most children play with their toys. Writing to me is an act of faith, a hope that I will discover what I mean by truth. But I don't know what that will be until I finish. I can't determine it ahead of time. I also think of reading as an act of faith, a hope I will discover something remarkable about ordinary life, about myself. If the writer and the reader discover the same thing, if they have that connection, the act of faith has resulted in an act of magic.

Mlisten4-2 Quiz1-1

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A Poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund (愉快的) company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

Quiz2-1

Su Dongpo, one of China's literary giants, was a great poet of the Song Dynasty. In his letters to friends and students, he wrote commentaries on writing. The following are typical:

\"In general, writing should be like sailing clouds and flowing water. It has no required form. It goes where it has to go and stops where it cannot but stop. One has thus a natural style, with all its charms. Confucius said, 'If a statement is not beautiful, it will not be read far and wide.' Again he said, 'In writing, all one asks is successful expression of an idea.' One may think that if a statement merely aims at expressing one's thoughts, it will not be beautiful. That is not true. It is not easy to express exactly a passing thought. First of all, it is difficult to see and appreciate it in one's mind and heart—not one in a million can do it—and even harder to express it by writing or by word of mouth. When this is done that thought or idea is given proper expression, and when one can do this, one can do anything. Yang Xiong loved to dress up his superficial ideas in complicated and difficult language. For if he said clearly what he thought, it would be shown to be something everybody knew already. Ouyang Xiu said that writing is like gold or jade, with a definite market price for a certain quality. Literary reputation is not something which can be made or minimized by someone's expressed opinion.\"

Quiz3-1

All fiction is autobiographical, no matter how obscure from the author's experience it may be, marks of their life can be detected in any of their tales. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway is based largely on Hemingway's own personal experiences, some factual, some fantasy.

The main character of the novel, Frederic Henry, experiences many of the same situations that Hemingway lived. Hemingway and Henry were both involved in World War I. Both were shot in their right knees during a battle. Both were Americans, both met their nurse lovers while the men were hospitalized. There are differences but these differences are only surface. These slight changes allowed Hemingway, an extremely private man, to try and prove to the public that it was not himself and his own experiences which he was writing about.

There is great power in being an author; you can make things happen which do not necessarily occur in real life. Hemingway felt, throughout his life, powerless, and so to escape this, he created alternative lives by writing stories. Hemingway continued his own affair with Agnes through Frederic and his lover Catherine. He put his dreams of what his faded love affair would have been like in the love scenes between Catherine and Frederic. Both men escaped reality by hunting, drinking, and spending lots of money. Their escapism was both psychological and physical.

Hemingway and Henry also have similar unhealthy obsessions and personality flaws. Both men are eternally morbid, which shows itself in their obsessions with war and death. Hemingway fought in more than one war and subsequently wrote more than one novel about his experiences in them. Henry also could not leave the war for even a moment, up until the end when he decides to desert. The war years \"were a democratic, a leveling school\" for Hemingway. Wyndham Lewis, the literary critic, feels that war was a \"release\" for Hemingway, an \"opportunity to show that he is a real man\". One can see that he is obsessed with war, much like Frederic Henry, because it is an outlet for him, or another form of escape.

Another striking similarity between Hemingway and his character Henry, is their isolationism. Henry, like Hemingway, leads a private life as a detached, isolated individual. He socializes with the officers and talks with the priest, but maintains only superficial relationships except for his nurse lover. Happiness comes for Hemingway and Henry only when they are in these relationships, away from the pressures of society and their lives. Ernest Hemingway once gave some advice to his fellow writer, F. S. Fitzgerald, \"If something in life hurts you, you should use it in your writing.\" In writing A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway followed his own advice.