听美国故事练听力 26

　　One December night, a long long time ago, a family sat around thefireplace in their home. A golden light from the fire filled the room.
The mother and father laughed at something their oldest daughter hadjust said. The girl was seventeen, much older than her little brotherand sister who were only five and six years old. A very old woman, thefamily's grandmother, sat knitting² in the warmest corner of the room.
And a baby, the youngest child, smiled at the fire's light from itstiny bed.
This family had found happiness in the worst place in all of NewEngland. They had built their home high up in the White Mountains,where the wind blows violently all year long. The family lived in anespecially cold and dangerous spot. Stones from the top of themountain above their house would often roll down the mountainside andwake them in the middle of the night.
No other family lived near them on the mountain. But this family wasnever lonely. They enjoyed each other's company, and often hadvisitors. Their house was built near an important road that connectedthe White Mountains to the St. Lawrence River. People travelingthrough the mountains in wagons³, always stopped at the family's door,for a drink of water and a friendly word. Lonely travelers crossingthe mountains on foot would step into the house to share a hot meal.
Sometimes, the wind became so wild and cold that these strangers wouldspend the night with the family. The family offered every traveler whostopped at their home, a kindness that money could not buy.
On that December evening, the wind came rushing down the mountain. Itseemed to stop at their house to knock at the door before it roareddown into the valley. The family fell silent for a moment, but thenthey realized that someone really was knocking at their door.
The oldest girl opened the door and found a young man standing⁴ in thedark. The old grandmother put a chair near the fireplace¹ for him. Theoldest daughter gave him a warm shy smile. And the baby held up itslittle arms to him.
"This fire is just what I needed," the young man said, "the wind hasbeen blowing in my face for the last two hours."The father took the young man's travel bag.
"Are you going to Vermont?" the older man asked.
"Yes; to Burlington," the traveler replied. "I wanted to reach thevalley tonight. But when I saw the light in your window. I decided⁵ tostop. I would like to sit and enjoy your fire and your company for awhile."As the young man took his place by the fire, something like heavyfootsteps was heard outside. It sounded as if someone was running downthe side of the mountain taking enormous steps.
The father looked out of one of the windows.
"That old mountain has thrown another stone at us again. He must havebeen afraid we would forget him. He sometimes shakes his head andmakes us think he will come down on top of us." the father explainedto the young man.
"But we are old neighbors," he smiled, "and we manage to get alongtogether pretty well. Besides, I have made a safe hiding place outsideto protect us in case a slide brings the mountain down on our heads."As the father spoke⁶, the mother prepared a hot meal for their guest.
While he ate, he talked freely to the family as if it were his own.
This young man did not trust people easily. Yet on this evening,something made him share his deepest secret with these simple mountainpeople. The young man's secret was that he was ambitious⁷. He did notknow what he wanted to do with his life yet. But he did know that hedid not want to be forgotten after he had died. He believed that sometime during his life, he would become famous and be admired bythousands of people.
"So far," the young man said, "I have done nothing. If I disappearedtomorrow from the face of the Earth, no one would know anything aboutme. No one would ask, 'who was he?' 'where did he go?' But I cannotdie until I have reached to my destiny⁸. Then let death come. I willhave built my monument."The young man's powerful emotions touched the family. They smiled.
"You laugh at me," the young man said, taking the oldest daughter'shand, "you think my ambition is silly."She was very shy and her face became pink with embarrassment⁹.
"It is better to sit here by the fire," she whispered," and be happyeven if nobody thinks of us."Her father stared into the fire, "I think there is something naturalin what the young man says; and his words have made me think about ourlives here. It would have been nice if we had had a little farm downin the valley. Some place where we could see our mountains withoutbeing afraid they would fall on our heads. I would have been respectedby all our neighbors. And when I had grown old, I would die happy inmy bed. You would put a stone over my grave so everyone would know Ilived an honest life.""You see," the young man cried out, "it is in our nature to want amonument. Some want only a stone on their grave. Others want to be apart of everyone's memory. But we all want to be remembered after wedie."The young man threw some more wood on the fire to chase away thedarkness. The firelight fell on the little group around the fireplace,the father's strong arms, and mother's gentle smile. It touched theyoung man's proud face and the daughter's shy one. It warmed the oldgrandmother still knitting in the corner.
She looked up from her knitting and with her fingers still moving theneedles, she said, "old people have their secrets just as young peopledo." The old woman said she had made her funeral clothes some yearsearlier. They were the finest clothes she had made since her weddingdress. She said her secret was a fear that she would not be buried inher best clothes.
The young man stared into the fire.
"Old and young," he said, "we dream of graves and monuments. I wonderhow sailors feel when their ship is sinking; and they know they wouldbe buried in the wide and nameless grave that is the ocean."A sound rising like the roar of the ocean shook the house. Young andold exchanged one wild look. Then the same words burst from all theirlips. "The Slide! The Slide!"They rushed away from the house into the darkness to the secret's spotthat father had built to protect them from the mountain slide.
The whole side of the mountain came rushing toward the house like awaterfall of destruction. But just before it reached the little house,the wave of earth divided in two and went around the family's home.
Everyone and everything in the path of the terrible slide wasdestroyed except the little house.
The next morning, smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the houseon the mountain. Inside, the fire was still burning. The chairs werestill drawn¹⁰ up in a half circle around the fireplace. It looked as ifthe family had just gone out for a walk.
Some people thought that a stranger had been with the family on thatterrible night. But no one ever discovered who the stranger was. Hisname and way of life remained a mystery. His body was never found.
You have just heard the story The Ambitious Guest. It was written byNathaniel Hawthorne and adapted for Special English by Dona deSanctis. Your narrator was Harry¹¹ Monroe.
纳撒尼尔.霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804～1864)19世纪美国小说家, 其代表作品《红字》(The Scarlet¹² Letter)《七角楼》（The House of the SevenGables）。

1 fireplace   

n.壁炉，炉灶

参考例句：

• The fireplace smokes badly.这壁炉冒烟太多。
• I think we should wall up the fireplace.我想应该封住壁炉。

2 knitting   

n.编结物；接合，联合；[外科]骨愈合v.（使）愈合( knit的现在分词)；编结，编织；（使）紧密地结合；织平针

参考例句：

• Weaving and knitting are traditional cottage industries. 编织和针织是传统的家庭手工业。
• manipulative skills such as typing and knitting 诸如打字、编织这样的技能

3 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

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 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 ambitious   

adj.有雄心的，劲头十足的，有野心的

参考例句：

• One may be poor but never ceases to be ambitious.人穷志不穷。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

8 destiny   

n.命运，定数，天命

参考例句：

• Nobody knows his own destiny.没有人知道自己的命运。
• It was her destiny to become famous.她命里注定出名。

9 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

12 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。