听美国故事练听力 04

　　Our story today is called The Cask of Amontillado. It was written byEdgar Allan Poe. Here is Larry West with the story.
Fortunato and I both were members of very old and important Italianfamilies. We used to play together when we were children. Fortunatowas bigger, richer and more handsome than I was. And he enjoyed makingme look like a fool. He hurt my feelings a thousand times during theyears of my childhood. I never showed my anger, however, so he thoughtwe were good friends. But I promised myself that one day I wouldpunish Fortunato for his insults¹ to me.
Many years passed, Fortunato married a rich and beautiful woman whogave him sons. Deep in my heart, I hated him. But I never said or didanything that showed him how I really felt. When I smiled at him, hethought it was because we were friends. He did not know it was thethoughts of his death that made me smile. Everyone of our townrespected Fortunato. Some men were afraid of him because he was sorich and powerful². He had a weak spot, however, he thought he was anexcellent judge of wine.
I also was an expert on wine. I spent a lot of money buying rare³ andcostly wines. I stored the wines in the dark rooms under my family’spalace. Our palace was one of the oldest buildings in the town. TheMontresor's family had lived in it for hundreds of years. We haveburied our dead in the rooms under the palace. These tombs⁴ were quietdark places that no one but myself ever visited.
Later one evening during carnival⁵ season, I happened to meet Fortunatoon the street. He was going home alone from a party. Fortunato wasbeautiful in his silk suit made of many colors, yellow, green, purpleand red. On his head he wore an orange cap covered with little silverbells. I could see he had been drinking too much wine. He threw hisarms around me. He said he was glad to see me. I said I was glad tosee him too. Because I had a little problem.
"What is it?" he asked putting his large hand on my shoulder.
"My dear Fortunato," I said, "I am afraid I have been very stupid. Theman who sells me wine said he had a rare barrel⁶ of amontillado wine. Ibelieved him. I bought it from him. But now I am not so sure that thewine is really amontillado.""What?" He said, "A cask of amontillado at this time of year. Anentire barrel? Impossible!""Yes, I was very stupid. I paid the wine-man the full price he wantedwithout asking you to taste the wine first. But I could not find you.
And now I was free, he would sell the cask of amontillado to someoneelse. So I bought it.""A cask of amontillado?" Fortunato repeated. "Where is it?"I pretended⁷ I did not hear this question. Instead I told him I wasgoing to visit our friend Neuqucy. "He will be able to tell me if thewine is really amontillado." I said.
Fortunato laughed at my face. " Neuqucy can not tell amontillado fromVinegar."I smiled to myself and said: "But some people say that he is a goodjudge of wine as you are."Fortunato grabbed⁸ my arm. "Take me to it," he said, "Oh, taste theamontillado for you.""But my friend," I protested⁹, “It is late. The wine is in my winecellar underneath¹¹ the palace. Those rooms are very damp and cold andthe walls dripped¹² with water.""I do not care." He said, "I am the only person who can tell you ifyour wine-man has cheated you. Neuqucy can not."Fortunato turned and still hold me by the arm; hold me down the streetto my home.
The building was empty. My servants were enjoying carnival. I knewthey would be gone all night. I took two large candles, lit them andgave one to Fortunato. I started down the dark, twisting¹³ stairway withFortunato close behind me. At the bottom of the stairs, the damp airracked its s around our bodies.
"Where are we?" Fortunato asked, "I thought you said the cask ofAmontillado, you say, in your wine cellar¹⁰.""It is," I said, "The wine cellar is just beyond these tombs where thedead of my family are kept. Surely¹⁴ you are not afraid of walkingthrough the tombs."He turned and looked into my eyes. "Tombs," He said. He began tocough. The silver bells on his cap jingled¹⁵.
"My poor friend," I said, "How long if you had that cough.""That is nothing." He said, but he could not stop coughing.
"Come," I said firmly, "We will go back upstairs. Your health isimportant. You are rich respected, admired and loved. You have a wifeand children. Many people would miss you if you die. We will go backbefore you get seriously ill. I can go to Loquicy for help with thewine.""No, " He cried. "This cough is nothing. It will not kill me? I willdie from a cough?""Oh, that is true," I said, "But you must be careful."He took my arm and we began to walk through the cold dark rooms. Wewent deeper and deeper into the cellar. Finally we arrived in a smallroom.
Bones were pushed high against one wall. A doorway¹⁶ in another wallopened to an even smaller room. About one meter wide and two metershigh. Its walls were solid¹⁷ rock.
"Here we are." I said, "I hid the cask of Amontillado in there." Ipointed to the smaller room.
Fortunato lifted his candle and stepped into the tiny room. Iimmediately followed him. He stood stupidly staring at two ironhandicaps, chaining to a wall of the tiny room. I grabbed his arms andlocked them into the metal handicaps¹⁸. It took only a moment. He wastoo surprised to fight me. I stepped outside the small room.
"Where is the Amontillado?" He cried.
"Ah, yes." I said, "The cask of Amontillado."I leaned¹⁹ over and began pushing aside the pile of bones against thewall. Under the bones was a basket of stone blocks, some cement²⁰ and asmall shovel²¹. I had hid the materials there earlier. I began to fillthe doorway of the tiny room with stones and cement.
By the time I laid the first row of stones, Fortunato was no longerdrunk. I heard a mourning²² inside the tiny room for ten minutes. Thenthere was a long silence. I finished the second and the third rows ofstone blocks. As I began the fourth row, I heard Fortunato began toshake the chains that held him to the wall. He was trying to pull themout of the ground of wall. I smiled to myself and stopped working sothat I could better enjoy listening to the noise.
After few minutes he stopped. I finished the fifth the sixth and theseventh rows of stones. The wall I was building doorway was now almostup to my shoulders. Suddenly loud screams burst²³ from the throat of thechained man. For a moment I worried what if someone heard him? Then Iplaced my hand on the solid rock of the walls and felt safe.
I looked into the tiny room where he was still screaming and I beganto scream too. My screams grew louder than his. And he stopped. It wasnow almost midnight. I finished the eighth the ninth and the tenthrows. All that was left was a stone for the last hole in the wall. Iwas about to push it in, when I heard a loud laugh from behind thestones. The laugh made the hair on my head stand up. Then Fortunatospoke in a sad voice that the longer sounded like him.
He said: "Well. You have played a good joke on me. We will laugh aboutit soon over a glass of that Amontillado. But is it getting late? Mywife and my friends will be waiting for us. Let us go.""Yes," I replied, "Let us go."I waited for him to say something else. I heard only my own breathing.
"Fortunato," I called. No answer.
I called again, "Fortunato. " Still no answer. I hurried to put thelast stone into the wall and put the cement around it. Then I pushedthe pile of bones in front of the new wall I had built.
That was fifty years ago, for half a century now. No one has touchedthose bones. May he rest in peace!

1 insults   

侮辱，辱骂，侮辱性的言论( insult的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He shouted insults at the boy who had kicked him. 他大声辱骂那个踢了他的男孩。
• I will by no manner of means put up with such insults. 我绝不会容忍这种侮辱。

2 powerful   

adj.有力的，有权力的，强大的

参考例句：

• The UN began to get more and more powerful.联合国开始变得越来越强大了。
• Such are the most powerful voices of our times!这些就是我们时代的最有力的声音！

3 rare   

adj.稀罕的，罕有的，珍贵的，稀薄的，半熟的，非常的；adv.非常

参考例句：

• It is rare to see a man over 160 years old.很少见到一个人能活到160岁。
• The zoo has a lot of rare animals in it.这个动物园有许多珍奇的动物。

4 tombs   

墓穴( tomb的名词复数 )； 墓葬； 墓群

参考例句：

• Many things left by the ancient Egyptians in tombs have been brought to light. 在古埃及的古陵墓中发掘出很多东西。
• They began to walk between rows of uniquely constructed tombs. 他们开始在一排排构造特殊的坟墓中间行走。

5 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

6 barrel   

n.圆桶；一桶的量；枪管；vt.把...装桶

参考例句：

• I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel.我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。
• The man rolled the barrel into the yard.那个人把圆桶滚进院子。

7 pretended   

adj.假装的；徒有外表的；传说的；号称的v.假装( pretend的过去式和过去分词 )；伪装；（尤指儿童）（在游戏中）装扮；自诩

参考例句：

• He pretended that resigning was part of his long-term career strategy. 他假装辞职是他长远事业规划的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He politely pretended not to have heard this remark. 他有礼貌地假装没有听到这句话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

9 protested   

v.声明( protest的过去式和过去分词 )；坚决地表示；申辩

参考例句：

• He protested he was being cheated of his rightful share. 他提出抗议说他被人骗取了他依法应得的份额。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Amy protested she was being cheated of her rightful share. 艾米提出抗议，说有人骗取了她依法应得的份额。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 cellar   

n.地窖，地下室，酒窖

参考例句：

• He took a bottle of wine from the cellar.他从酒窖里拿出一瓶酒。
• The little girl hid away in the cellar.小姑娘藏在地下室里。

11 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

12 dripped   

v.（使）滴下( drip的过去式和过去分词 )；滴出；含有；充满

参考例句：

• She was hot and sweat dripped into her eyes. 她很热，汗水滴入双眼。
• The rain-water dripped through a crack on the ceiling. 雨水从天花板的裂缝中漏下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 twisting   

n.翘曲，扭曲v.扭，搓，缠绕（ twist的现在分词 ）adj.缠绕的；曲折的；转动的

参考例句：

• The old peasant is twisting pieces of straw into a rope. 这位老农民正把稻草搓成绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Those children have been twisting the wreath off again. 那些孩子又把花冠扭了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 surely   

adv.确实地，无疑地；必定地，一定地

参考例句：

• It'should surely be possible for them to reach an agreement.想必他们可以达成协议。
• Surely we'll profit from your work.我们肯定会从你的工作中得到益处。

15 jingled   

喝醉的

参考例句：

• The bells jingled all the way. 一路上铃儿叮当响。
• Coins in his pocket jingled as he walked. 走路时，他衣袋里的钱币丁当作响。

16 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

17 solid   

adj.固体的，结实的，可靠的，实心的；n.固体，实心；adv. 一致地

参考例句：

• Water may change from a liquid to a solid.水可以由液体变为固体。
• I know that James is a solid type of person.我知道詹姆斯是个可信赖的人。

18 handicaps   

妨碍，使不利( handicap的第三人称单数 )； 使（某人）行动和生活不正常

参考例句：

• His lack of English handicaps him. 他的英语不好对他是一件不利的事。
• In the first winter of the war these accumulated and glaring deficiencies were serious handicaps. 战争的第一个冬季，此种累积且显著的弱点，成了严重的障碍。

19 leaned   

v.（使）倾斜，屈身( lean的过去式和过去分词 )；倚；依赖；使斜靠

参考例句：

• He leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly together. 他俯身向前，双手十字交错地紧握着。
• He leaned back, exulting at the success of his plan. 他向后一靠，为自己计划成功而得意扬扬。

20 cement   

n.水泥；胶结材料；vt.粘结；巩固

参考例句：

• We need 100 tons of cement at most for this project.这项工程满打满算有一百吨水泥就足够了。
• Let's cement the parts together.咱们来把这些部件粘接在一起吧。

21 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

22 mourning   

n.悲痛，哀悼；戴孝；服丧期

参考例句：

• He was still mourning his brother's death. 他仍然在为哥哥的去世而悲伤。
• The government announced a day of national mourning for the victims. 政府宣布全国为受害者哀悼一日。

23 burst   

vi.（burst，burst）爆炸；爆破；爆裂；爆发；vt.使…破裂；使…炸破；n.突然破裂；爆发

参考例句：

• We all held our breath till the bomb burst.我们屏住呼吸直到炸弹爆炸。
• She suddenly burst into song.她突然唱起歌来。