听美国故事练听力 12

　　Our story today is called "the Wide Net". It was written by EudoraWelty. Here is Larry West with the story.
William Wallace Jameson's wife Hazel was going to have a baby, butthis was October, and the baby wouldn't be borne until April. Hayzelacted as if it would come tomorrow. She wouldn't speak to her husbandwhen he came into the room. If he tried to touch her, she would runaway¹ from him, or stick out her tongue at him. So one night, WilliamWallace went out with his friend Virgil Thomas. He didn't come homeuntil the next morning. Hazel wasn't there when he got back. Instead,he found a letter from her. It said she was going to the river todrown herself. He ran out of the house. As he ran, he shouted forVirgil Thomas, who had just gone into his own house.
"I've lost Hazel," William Wallis cried to his friend. "She went todrown herself in the river.""Why? that's not like Hazel." said Virgil.
William Wallace reached out and shook Virgil, "We have to drag theriver with a wide net.""Who will get to help us pull the net through the river?" Virgilscratched his head, "I'll get the Doyles and you go get the Malones."he said.
They met again 15 minutes later.
"Here come all the Malones." said William Wallace. "I ask four of themto come help. But the rest of the family invited themselves.""Don't they always do just that?" said Virgil.
From the other direction, came the Doyles with the eggs from theirbreakfasts still on their faces. The whole crowd went to see Dock². OldDock owned the wide net. He had a house on top of the hill. And he satoutside it on his rocking chair.
"Now what?" he asked when everyone had arrived and stood in front ofhim.
William Wallace stepped forward,"If nobody else is using your wide net, could we use it?"Virgil Thomas pushed William Wallace aside, "We got a reason to thinkWilliam Wallace's wife is in the river, drowned."Dock gave a long, low whistle. "Hazel is the prettiest girl inMississippi." he said. "A golden hair girl, I never saw a prettierone. Never will."He got to speak and said, "I'm coming with you."They followed the path that took them through the deep woods and tothe Pearl³ River. They walked in silence near William Wallace. Theywould not let him carry anything. Soon the smell of the river spreadover the woods.
"We're in the changing time." Dock said. "Any day now the change willcome. It's gone the turn from hot to cold, and the old man winter willbe standing⁴ in the door."They walked down and suddenly they reached the river. Everyonestopped, but Dock talked down as though nothing had happened.
"Only today," he said, "today in October Sun, it's all gold. The sky,the trees, the water. Just the all changes, everything seems to bemade of gold."William Wallace looked down. He thought of Hazel's shining eyes. Hecould see her in his thoughts, sitting at home like a piece of puregold, too precious to touch.
The men began to unfold the wide net. It was very old and had beenused a lot. There in the Ocotober light, it looked golden, too. Sincethe net was so wide, it was able to reach across the entire river.
Splashing⁵ sounds filled the air, the Malones with great groans⁶ swamacross the river. The Doyles stayed near Virgil Thomas. Each groupgrabed an end of the net and began walking along the riverside. Dockgot in a rowboat and followed the parade from the middle of the river.
William Wallace swam in front of the wide net, diving down underwater. The dogs chased⁷ up and down in and out of the water and in andout of the woods. Where the leaf fell on the river, it trembledgently. The willow⁸ trees leaned over the water. Their long brancheshung like green waterfalls in the morning air. The men were catchinglots of fish in the net, big ones and little ones. William Wallacecaught more of the big fish than anyone else. He and the others putropes through the fish's mouth, and pulled them through the waterbehind them. They caught other things, too. Old shoes, a lady'snecklace and a baby alligator⁹.
"It's time we ate some of these fish." said Virgil.
They all gathered by a clearing near the river and built a fire, thenamong clouds of smoke, they cooked and ate fish. They ate until theyall were so full, they could need any more. The men one by one, theyall fell asleep.
The thunder woke them up. Lightning flashed in the sky looked black.
All color left the world. The golden afternoon was just memory. A windtouched each man on his forehead. They ran under some trees as harddrops of rain began to fall. The rain fell heavily. When the suddenstorm ended, the man looked up the river ahead of them.
"Look," said Virgil, "we've come almost to town."There just beyond the trees is Dover. It had rained there, too. Andthe town looked somehow like new. The way be heat of the lateafternoon came down as the men entered the main street.
William Wallace walked through the town as if he did not see or hearanything. He carried his great capture¹⁰ of fish high. So that everybodycould see it. Virgil came next, imitating William Wallace exactly.
Then came the Doyels and the Malones, tossing¹¹ their fish in the air.
Behind the entire crowd, walked Dock. The whole town of Dover came outto watch the men. People came out of their houses, the stores and thepost offices.
"Did you ever see so many fish?" said the people of Dover.
As the sun went down, Dock climbed the hill to his house. He sat downin his rocking chair and lit his pipe. William Wallace hung up thewide net, while Virgil Thomas waited for him. Then they both went tosay good night to Dock.
"Well now," said Dock when they came up.
"I've never seen a better river dragging.""But," Virgil objected, "we didn't catch Hazel."Dock took the pipe out of his mouth.
"She wasn't there." he said.
"Girls don't like water. And they don't jump in rivers just becausethey are angry with their husbands. Remember that!"William Wallace looked up,"Didn't you think this morning she had drowned herself?""Not even once." Dock said.
Virgil and William Wallace walked home slowly. When they reachedVirgil's house, Virgil said "good night" and went inside. WilliamWallace was alone.
When he got to his own house, William Wallace saw something he hadnever seen before in his life. There, curved¹² over his roof, was arainbow at night. The moon was out, and its light fell on the littlerainbow. It made William Wallace think of a lady's summer dress. Thestars showed through the rainbow.
William Wallace walked into his house. Someone called his name. Thevoice came from the bedroom.
"What do you want?" he yelled¹³.
Then the bedroom door opened, and there was Hazel! She had not changedat all!
"Supper was ready." she said. "I was wondering if you were coming hometonight. Go wash yourself for dinner."They sat on the front steps of their house after dinner.
"Where were you this morning when I came in?" asked William Wallace.
"I was hiding." she said. "I had just finished writing the letter."He looked at her,"Did you watch me while I was reading it?""Yes." she laughed. "I was so close to you that you could have put outyour hand and touched me."He bit his lip and pulled her into his arms.
"Do you think you'll do it again?" he whispered, holding her tightly¹⁴.
She tried to free herself for a few seconds and then she suddenlyrelaxed in his arms.
"I'll do it again if I feel like it." she said, smiling into his eyes.
It was if he had chased her and captured¹⁵ her again. After a fewminutes, she took his hand and led him into the house.
You have just heared the story "the wide net", written by EudoraWelty. It was adapted for Special English by Doneld Sanktice. Withpermission from R. and B. library agency¹⁶ New York. This story iscopyrighted. All rights reserved. Your storyteller was Larry West. ForVOA Special English, this is Shirley Griffith.

1 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

2 dock   

n.码头；被告席；vt.使(船)进港；扣；vi.进港

参考例句：

• We took the children to the dock to see the ships.我们带孩子们到码头去看轮船。
• The corrupt official stood in the dock.那贪官站在被告席上。

3 pearl   

n.珍珠，珍珠母

参考例句：

• He bought his girlfriend a pearl necklace.他给他女朋友买了一条珍珠项链。
• The crane and the mother-of-pearl fight to death.鹬蚌相争。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 splashing   

v.使（液体）溅起( splash的现在分词 )；（指液体）溅落；击水声

参考例句：

• Water was splashing down from a large hole in the roof. 雨水从房顶上的一个大洞里倾泻下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The children love splashing water over each other. 儿童喜欢互相泼水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 groans   

n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 chased   

vt.追捕（chase的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The boy chased his sister in and out among the bushes. 那个男孩在灌木丛里跟着他姐姐追过来追过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy chased the decoys down to the place of ambush. 敌人将诱骗者一直追到伏兵所在地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。

9 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

10 capture   

vt.捕获，俘获；占领，夺得；n.抓住，捕获

参考例句：

• The company is out to capture the European market.这家公司希望占据欧洲市场。
• With the capture of the escaped tiger,everyone felt relieved.逃出来的老虎被捕获后，大家都松了一口气。

11 tossing   

v.（轻轻或漫不经心地）扔( toss的现在分词 )；（使）摇荡；摇匀；（为…）掷硬币决定

参考例句：

• Poor Joan has been tossing around all night with that fever. 可怜的琼因发烧而一整夜辗转不能入睡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The two boys agreed to decide the matter by tossing a coin. 这两个孩子同意用掷硬币的方法来决定这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 curved   

a.弯曲的

参考例句：

• His lips curved in a barely perceptible smile. 他的嘴角弯了弯，露出一丝几乎察觉不到的笑容。
• The missile curved gracefully towards its target. 导弹呈优美的曲线状飞向目标。

13 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

15 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

16 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。