听美国故事练听力 48

　　Our story today is The Riverman. It was written by Stewart EdwardWhite. Here is Shep O' Neal with our story.
I first met him in a small lumber¹ town. I was sitting in front of ahotel watching people pass by. It was a warm day. Now and then a groupof laughing rivermen marched by. One group especially caught my eye.
They wore bright red shirts and heavy boots. Suddenly one of them cameup to me, "Say, Mister," he said, "You look mighty² interested. Are weyour long lost friends?" His voice was friendly enough, but he seemedready for any answer, trouble if I wanted it or help if I needed it.
"Can you tell me where all these people are going?" I asked. He pushedhis little cap farther³ back on his head. "Birling match," he said,"come on."I joined him and we followed the crowd to the river. There we saw 6men running toward⁴ the river with the peaveys they used to controllogs. They used the round metal hooks⁷ on the end of the peaveys topush a heavy log⁵ into the water. Then one of the men took a long leapand landed on the end of the log. The force of his jump pushed the logout into the middle of the river. The man, arms folded over his chest,stood straight up like a statue of bronze. The crowd roared⁹ itsapproval.
The man's name was Darrell. He was a small man but he had wideshoulders and long arms. He walked to the center of the long heavy logand turned to face the crowd. Then slowly, he began to walk, notforward or backward, but in the same place, in the center of the log.
The log began to turn under his feet. His folded arms, his straightback did not move, only his legs and feet. Soon, the log was spinning.
Suddenly the man jumped up in the air. He came down on the log withboth feet. The log stopped turning. It rested under him like a greatmoving animal. The man on the log then dropped his arms and stoodstill for a moment. He jumped into the air again. But this time heturned completely over in the air then landed on the log with bothfeet. The crowd roared again.
Someone then pushed a long pole out toward the log. The log withDarrell on top was pulled toward shore. Another man then ran to theriver and jumped on the log with Darrell. They stood, facing eachother. Then they began to walk, slowly at first, then faster. The logbegan to turn around under them, spinning faster and faster. Soon, itbecame clear that the other man could not keep up with Darrell. Theman was being forced off the top of the log. Suddenly the man fellbackward into the water.
"Clean belled." my friend said. 12 other men, one after the other,tried to get Darrell to fall into the water but none of them couldmove their feet as fast as he could. The crowd now shouted for someoneto stop Darrell. It wanted the best and began to shout, "We wantPowers."Jimmy Powers was my new friend. He got up and ran to the river andjumped onto the log with Darrell. At first, the two men just stoodlooking at each other, waiting for the first move. Suddenly Darrellbirled the log 3 times quickly then jumped up and down to stop it. Thelog shook under Powers but he kept his balance. The battle started.
Sometimes the log rolled left to right, then right to left. They movedtheir feet together, faster and faster. At every move, the crowdshouted for Powers to throw Darrell into the water. Suddenly there wasa big splash¹⁰. There was Powers swimming toward shore. I walked over tohim.
"How did he do it?" I asked. He turned to me and I saw the anger inhis wet face. "Ah, it's you, well, that's how he did it." And heshowed me a row of holes in his boots. Blood was running from theholes. He jumped on my foot with his boots and pushed the metal spikesright through. "Why didn't you say something?" I asked. "Look, Mister," he said, "I am big enough to take care of myself. Don't lose anyhair over this. I'll stop Darrell on next time. "The following year I visited the old lumber town again. But this timethe town was empty. "Everybody has gone to see the logjam." said anold woman. The jam was up the hill, above the town. When I got there,everybody was looking down at the river. There, in the middle of thewater was a mountain of logs⁶, thousands of them, one on top of theother, blocking the river. About 50 men were using peaveys to free thelogs. Sometimes one would break loose and ten others followed. Allfloated down the river away from the jam. At noon the men came toshore for lunch.
"Hello, Powers," I said, "Do you remember me?" "Sure," he said,"aren't you a little bit early this year?" "No," I said, "this isbetter than a birling match, it will be a great sight when the logsbreak loose." "You bet¹¹ it well," he said. We talked of many things.
And finally I asked "Did you ever get a chance to birl Darrell off alog?" "Mister," he said, "Those little marks are still on my foot.
Just you remember this. Dicky Darrell will get his from me."About 3 o'clock that afternoon, the logjam began to break up. Therewas no warning just a loud cracking sound that got louder and louderas the rows of logs began to hit each other. At first, a few hundredbroke loose and fell into the swift¹² water. Others quickly followed.
The rivermen separated. They raced away in all directions, leaping andhopping from log to log to get to shore. One man fell into the waterand started to swim to shore. It was Darrell. He was caught in theriver. A thousand logs were rushing toward him.
Suddenly, another riverman raced across the floating logs, seizedDarrell by the coat collar and started to climb up the mountain oflogs, pulling Darrell with him. It was an exciting rescue. The logswere falling and rolling down toward them. But they finally got to thetop of the pile. Without stopping for thanks or shaking hands, the twomen immediately went to work. They pushed and pulled the logs on topto keep the others moving. 40 other men attacked the logs. Then with amighty roar⁸, the mountain broke free. The falling logs leaped forwardlike animals down into the swift water. The logjam was broken.
One by one, the town people left. The sun moved down behind the trees.
A cool evening breeze¹³ came up the river. Jimmy Powers walked towardme. "You now," he said, "the owner of the largest lumber mill¹⁴ saw mework today and offered me a job as a boss. Imagine that, me, a boss."There was a strange look on his face. "Well," I said, "you earned it.
I'm not going to call you a hero because you wouldn't like that. Butwhat you did this afternoon showed courage. It was a brave act. But itwas better because you saved your enemy. You are a leader of men." Istopped.
Jimmy kept looking at me. "Mister," he said, "if you are going to hangstars on my Christmas tree, just stop right now. I didn't rescueDarrell because I had any Christian¹⁵ feeling for him. I was just savinghim for the birling match next 4th of July. "You have been listening to the story: The Riverman. It was written byStewart Edward White. Your storyteller was Shep O'Neal. The storyappeared in Americans All published by Hokwerd Brace¹⁶ and World in1920. This story is copyrighted¹⁷, all rights reserved. Listen againnext week for American Stories told in Special English on the Voice ofAmerica. I'm Shirly G.

1 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

2 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

3 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

4 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

5 log   

n.记录，圆木，日志；v.伐木，切，航行

参考例句：

• They log for a living.他们以伐木为生。
• And then what do you do with that log?然后你要拿那些记录做什么呢？

6 logs   

n.练习用球瓶；原木，木材，木料( log的名词复数 )；航海[飞行]日志

参考例句：

• logs for the fire 烧火用的木材
• The logs were knocked together as they floated down the stream. 圆木顺流而下时互相碰撞着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hooks   

钩拳( hook的名词复数 )； 挂钩； 转弯处； 曲线球

参考例句：

• I want to buy the hams hanging on the hooks. 我想买挂在钩子上的火腿。
• This dress hooks at the back, not at the side. 这件衣服是在背后而不是在旁边扣钩。

8 roar   

n.吼，咆哮，轰鸣，喧闹；vi.吼叫，大声说出，喧闹；vt.呼喊，使轰鸣

参考例句：

• He began to roar when I took the chocolate away. 当我把巧克力拿走时，他大哭起来。
• The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight.机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。

9 roared   

v.咆哮( roar的过去式和过去分词 )；大笑；大哭；熊熊燃烧

参考例句：

• A log fire roared in the open hearth. 柴火在敞开着的壁炉里熊熊燃烧。
• Vroom! A sports car roared past. 呜的一声，一辆跑车疾驶而过。

10 splash   

v.溅，泼；n.溅泼声，溅出的水等，斑点

参考例句：

• I fell into the water with a splash.我跌入水中，激起水花四溅。
• There's a splash of paint on the white wall.白墙上溅上了一片油漆。

11 bet   

v.打赌，以(与)...打赌；n.赌注，赌金；打赌

参考例句：

• I bet you can't do this puzzle.我敢说，你解决不了这个难题。
• I offered to bet with him.我提出与他打赌。

12 swift   

n.雨燕，大滚筒；adj.迅速的，快的，敏捷的，立刻的；adv.迅速地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He is swift to hear,but slow to speak.他听力敏锐，但不善言辞。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery.他康复得相当快。

13 breeze   

n.微风；轻而易举的事；vi.来去匆匆，急速走

参考例句：

• A little breeze is blowing in from the window.微风从窗户里吹进来。
• The clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing.云淡风轻。

14 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

15 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

16 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

17 copyrighted   

获得…的版权( copyright的过去式 )

参考例句：

• That magazine usurped copyrighted material. 那杂志盗用了版权为他人所有的素材。
• Why is it common for students to download copyrighted music? 为什麽学生下载有版权的音乐如同家常便饭？