Dreamlife in Rio De Janeiro

Dreamlife in Rio De Janeiro

“No other city on earth is more beautiful than this one and there’s hardly one that’s more confusing, you are never finished with it.” This is how the poet characterized¹ Rio de Janeiro. The first impression is that of incredible² profusion--the sun, the light, the colours.

Heinrich Pflug, a German in early retirement³, has come to 1)Rio to experience the 2)sunny side of life once more.

Heinrich: I 3)deliberately⁴ stopped working when I turned 60. At the time, I was also going through a 4)separation from my wife, we’re now divorced; so, I left everything behind and began a new life. I built a new house, my hobbies haven’t changed: sailing and riding motorbikes. What I didn’t have was the time to do ocean sailing or go for long motorcycle rides.

The retiree’s in a hurry—he’s trying to catch up with his youth which he hopes to find on beaches and other fun places.

Heinrich: The reasons that made me move to Rio are its beauty, the climate, the easy lifestyle, and the 5)exuberance⁵ of the city, the easy 6)interaction with the people—all in all, the carefree life. And the negative aspects, for instance the unreliability of the Brazilians, one simply has to accept.

His motorcycle cost him 26,000 euros, twice as much as in Germany but Pflug is in a position where he doesn’t have to worry about high import taxes. The German businessman doesn’t live at the famous 7)Copacabana or in fashionable 7)Ipanema—he’s bought a house where the really wealthy live, on the so-called luxury hill in 7)Barra, the plot and the designer villa⁶ on it cost the former manager $ 1,000,000.

Heinrich: A bridge connects the guest wing with the main part where I sleep and work. This bridge is a kind of gallery; from there you have a beautiful view down to the living room or of the pool on one side and the garden on the other. And this leads to the room where I sleep and work, where I have my little office. I still do a bit of consulting work for people who would like to move to 8)Brazil or haven’t been here before and wish to make use of my experience.

Usually Heinrich lives here alone; he hasn’t found a partner to share it with yet, but this doesn’t worry him. Women are not a reason to come to Rio but a reason to stay, he says.

Heinrich: Living by myself is only 9)temporary. At the moment, I’m living here alone but if somebody comes along who’s right for me and 10)vice⁷ versa—in other words, if I find the right woman, I would ask her to come and live with me.

Life up here has a different rhythm. Only a couple of days ago a long-legged model was 11)sprawling by the pool—Playboy magazine needed an 12)appropriate background for a photo shoot. Today there’s not a lot happening. Heinrich has fed the dog and read the newspaper; now he’s enjoying the peace and quiet.

Heinrich: When I started building the house about three years ago, I just wanted to have a spectacular⁹ location in Rio de Janeiro where I could watch the sky day and night and have a sea view as well. I love the sea because I love sailing, so this house with the 13)unobstructed view was the 14)realization¹⁰ of my dream.

But where are we? What’s this area called?

Heinrich: This is the Barra of Rio De Janeiro, what you can see on this side is the Barra da Tijuca, the modern Rio that has nothing in common with the old traditional city. It’s almost like 15)Miami or something.

There’s one more dream Heinrich Pflug wants to realize: crossing China by motorcycle along the 16)Silk Road. It’s a project that would have been unthinkable in his 17)previous life when he had a job and a family. He let go of both of them—the job because he didn’t need it anymore, and his wife because, as he says, their marriage didn’t work out.

注释：
1) Rio, Rio de Janeiro [5ri:Eu dE dVE5niErEu] 里约热内卢（巴西港口城市）
2) sunny side 向阳面，光明面
3) deliberately [di5libErEtli] ad. 慎重地，故意地
4) separation [sepE5reiFEn] n. 【法律】（夫妻）分居
5) exuberance [ig5zubErEns] n. 生气勃勃，繁茂
6) interaction [7intEr5AkFEn] n. 交互作用，交感
7) Copacabana (科帕卡巴纳）、Ipanema（伊帕内马）、Barra（巴哈），里约热内卢南部的海滨胜地
8) Brazil [brE5zil] n. 巴西
9) temporary [5tempErEri] a. 暂时的, 临时的
10) vice versa [5vaisi 5vE:sE] 反之亦然
11) sprawl⁸ [sprC:l] v. 四肢伸开地坐（或卧）
12) appropriate [E5prEupriit] a. 适当的
13) unobstructed [5QnEb5strQktid] a. 没有障碍的，畅通无阻的
14) realization [7riElai5zeiFEn] n. 实现
15) Miami [mai5Ami] n. 迈阿密 (美国佛罗里达州东南部港口城市)
16) Silk Road（中国）丝绸之路
17) previous [5pri:vjEs] a.在前的, 早先的

寻梦里约热内卢

    “无其它城市能与之媲美，也无任何城市较之紊乱，你永远无法完全了解它”，诗人曾如此描述里约热内卢。第一印象是到处洋溢着——温暖、阳光和色彩，真是妙不可言。

    海恩里奇·弗拉格是一个已提早退休的德国人，他来到里约热内卢再次体验生活的光明灿烂。

海恩里奇：60岁时，我经过考虑后决定不工作了。那时，我也正与妻子分居——现在我们离婚了。因此，我放下了一切，开始新的生活。我盖了幢新房子，我的业余爱好并没改变：航海和骑摩托车。我以前缺的是进行大洋航行和长途摩托车旅行的时间。

    这个退了休的人行色匆匆——他正尽力在海滩和其他有趣的地方追回自己的青春。

海恩里奇：促使我搬到里约热内卢的原因是它风景优美，气候怡人，生活方式悠然，还有城市生气盎然，人们容易相处——总之，生活消遥自在。但也有消极的方面，例如巴西人不可靠，我也得接受了。

    他的摩托车价值26000欧元，相当于在德国出售的价格的两倍，但弗拉格已经是无需为高额进口税担心的人了。这个德国商人没有住在有名的科帕卡巴纳或者时髦的伊帕内马——而是在巴哈一个称作奢侈山的地方买了所房子，那里是真正有钱的人的居所。这幢专业设计的别墅连同地皮共花去了他100万美元。

海恩里奇：有一条桥连接着客房和我用来睡觉、工作的主体部分。桥有点像走廊，在那里看到下面美丽的起居室或者是分布在两旁的泳池与花园的美景。这里伸向我睡觉和工作的地方，那有我的小办公室。我仍然在做一些咨询工作，对象是想搬到巴西或以前没来过而想借助我的经验的人。

    通常海恩里奇一个人住——他还没找到合住的人，但他一点也不担心。女人不是他来里约热内卢的原因，但却是他留下的理由，他说道。

海恩里奇：自己一个人住只是暂时的。现在我是一个人住在这里，但要是适合我的人出现了，反之，换句话说，要是我找到了适合的人，我会邀她来与我一起住的。

    生活于此有不同的节奏。就在几天前，一位长腿模特就闲坐在泳池旁——《花花公子》杂志需要合适的背景来拍摄照片。今天没什么大事情发生。海恩里奇已经喂过狗，读罢报纸了。现在他正享受着平静祥和。

海恩里奇：大约三年前，我开始建这房子。那时，我只想在里约热内卢有个美轮美奂的地方让我可以日夜都看到天空和海景。我爱海因为我喜欢航海，所以这所可以极目远眺的房子让我梦想成真了。

    然而我们在哪呢？这里叫什么地方？

海恩里奇：这是里约热内卢的巴哈，在这边你可以看到的是巴哈达蒂茹卡——这是里约热内卢的的现代化城区，与传统旧区迥然不同。它极像迈阿密之类的地方。

    海恩里奇·弗拉格还有一个希望实现的梦想，就是骑摩托车沿丝绸之路穿过中国。这个计划要是在他从前的生活中是不可想象的，那时他有工作有家庭。现在，两者他都放弃了——放弃工作是因为他不再需要了，而妻子呢，用他的话说，他们的婚姻并不愉快。

1 characterized   

adj.[医]具有特征的v.是…的特征( characterize的过去式和过去分词 )；以…为特征；描述（人或物）的特性；使…具有特点（或最引人注目的特征）

参考例句：

• Mozart's music is characterized by its naivety and clarity. 莫扎特的音乐特色是纯朴兴清澈。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The world situation is characterized by turbulence and intranquility. 世界局势动荡不安。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

3 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

4 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

5 exuberance   

n.丰富；繁荣

参考例句：

• Her burst of exuberance and her brightness overwhelmed me.她勃发的热情和阳光的性格征服了我。
• The sheer exuberance of the sculpture was exhilarating.那尊雕塑表现出的勃勃生机让人振奋。

6 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

9 spectacular   

adj.引人注目的，出色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• This is a spectacular film.这是一部场面壮观的电影。
• This is the most spectacular financial crash of the decade.这是10年里最引人注目的金融破产事件。

10 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。