听美国故事练听力 50

　　The old Indian was sitting in the snow. It was Koskoosh, former chiefof his tribe¹. Now all he could do was sit and listen to the others.
His eyes were old, he could not see. But his ears were wide open toevery sound. Aha, that was the sound of his daughter Sit-cum-to-ha,she was beating the dogs, trying to make them stand in front of thesnow sleds. He was forgotten by her and by the others too. They had tolook for new hunting grounds, the long snowy wide waited. The days ofthe northlands were growing short. The tribe could not wait for death.
Koskoosh was dying².
The stiff³ crackling noises of frozen⁴ animal skins told him that thechief’s tent was being torn down. The chief was a mighty⁵ hunter. Hewas his son, the son of Koskoosh. Koskoosh was being left to die. Asthe women worked, old Koskoosh could hear his son’s voice drive themto work faster. He listened harder; it was the last time he would hearthat voice. A child cried and a woman sang softly⁶ to quiet it. Thechild was Koo-tee, the old man thought. A sickly child, it would diesoon. And they would burn a hole in the frozen ground to bury it. Theywould cover its small body with stones to keep the wolves away. Well,what of it, a few years and in the end--death. Death waited, neverhungry. Death had the hungriest stomach of all. Koskoosh listened toother sounds he would hear no more. The man tying strong leather ropearound the sleds to hold their belongings⁷. The sharp sounds of leatherwhips ordering the dogs to move and pull the sleds. Listened to thedogs' cry, how they hated the work. They were off, sled after sledmoved slowly away into the silence. They had passed out of his life.
He must meet his last hour alone.
But what was that? The snow packed down hard under someone’s shoes. Aman stood beside him and placed a hand gently on his old head. His sonwas good to do this. He remembered other old men whose sons had notdone this who had left without a goodbye. His mind traveled into thepast until his son’s voice brought him back.
“It is well with you?” his son asked. The old man answered, “It iswell.” “There’s wood next to you and a fire burns bright.” The sonsaid. “The morning is great and the cold this year. It will snow sooneven now, it is snowing. The tribesmen hurry. Their loads are heavyand their stomachs flat from little food. The way is long and theytravel fast.”
“I go now, all is well?” “It is well. I am as last year’s leafthat sticks to the tree. The first breath⁸ that blows will knock me tothe ground. My voice is like an old woman’s. My eyes no longer showme the way my feet go. I am tired and all is well.” He lowered⁹ hishead to his chest¹⁰ and listened to the snow as his son rode away. Hefelt the sticks of wood next to him again. One by one the fire wouldeat them and step by step death would cover him. When the last stickwas gone the cold would come. First, his feet would freeze then hishands. The cold would travel slowly from the outside to the inside ofhim and he would rest. It was easy, all men must die. He felt sorrowbut he did not think of his sorrow¹¹. It was the way of life. He hadlived close to the earth and the law was not new to him. It was thelaw of the body. Nature was not kind to the body. She was notthoughtful of the person alone. She was interested only in the group,the race, the species¹².
This was a deep thought for old Koskoosh. He had seen examples of itin all his life. The trees sap in early spring, the newborn greenleaves soft and fresh as skin. The fall of the yellowed dry leaf. Inthis alone was all history.
He placed another stick on the fire and began to remember his past. Hehad been a great chief too. He had seen days of much food andlaughter. Fat stomachs when food was left to rot¹³ and spoil¹⁴. Times whenthey left animals alone, unkilled; days when women had many children.
And he had seen days of no food and empty stomachs. Days when the fishdid not come and the animals were hard to find. For seven years, theanimals did not come. Then he remembered when as a small boy how hewatched the wolves killed a moose. He was with his friend Zing-ha whowas killed later in the Yukon River. Aha, but the moose. Zing-ha andhe had gone out to play that day. Down by the river they saw freshsteps of a big heavy moose. “He is an old one,” Zing-ha had said. “He cannot run like the others. He has fallen behind. The wolves haveseparated him from the others. They will never leave him.” And so itwas. By day and night, never stopping, biting at his nose, biting athis feet, the wolves stayed with him until the end. Zing-ha and he hadfelt the blood quicken¹⁵ in their bodies, the end would be a sight tosee.
They had followed the steps of the moose and the wolves. Each steptold a different story. They could see the tragedy¹⁶ as it happened.
Here was the place the moose stopped to fight. The snow was packeddown for many feet. One wolf had been caught by the heavy feet of themoose and kicked to death. Further on, they saw how the moose hadstruggled to escape up a hill. But the wolves had attacked frombehind. The moose had fallen down and crashed to wolves. Yet, it wasclear the end was near.
The snow was red ahead of them, then they heard the sounds of battle.
He and Zing-ha moved closer on their stomachs so the wolves would notsee them. They saw the end. The picture was so strong it had stayedwith him all his life. His dull blind eyes saw the end again as theyhad in the far off past. For long, his mind saw his past.
The fire began to die out and the cold entered his body, he placed twomore sticks on it, just two more left. This would be how long he wouldlive. It was very lonely. He placed one of the last pieces of wood onthe fire, listen, what a strange noise for a wood to make in the fire.
“No, it wasn’t a wood.” His body shook as he recognized the sound.
Wolves! The cry of a wolf brought the picture of the old moose back tohim again. He saw the body torn to pieces with fresh blood running onthe snow. He saw the clean bones lying grey against the frozen blood.
He saw the rushing forms of the grey wolves, their shining eyes, theirlong wet tongues and sharp teeth. And he saw them form a circle andmoved ever slowly closer and closer.
A cold wet nose touched his face. At the touch, his soul jumpedforward to awaken¹⁷ him. His hand went to the fire and he pulled aburning stick from it. The wolf saw the fire but was not afraid. Itturned and howled¹⁸ into the air to his brother wolves. They answeredwith hunger in their throats and came running. The old Indian listenedto the hungry wolves. He heard them form a circle around him and hissmall fire. He waved his burning stick at them, but they did not moveaway, now one of them moved closer slowly as if to test the old man’sstrength. Another and another followed. The circle grew smaller andsmaller. Not one wolf stayed behind. Why should he fight? Why cling¹⁹ tolife? And he dropped his stick with the fire on the end of it, it fellin the snow and the light went out. The circle of wolves moved closer,once again, the old Indian saw the picture of the moose as it'sstruggled before the end came. He dropped his head to his knees. Whatdid it matter after all? Isn’t this the law of life?
You have just heard the American story "The Law of Life". It waswritten by Jack²⁰ London. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. Listenagain next week for another American story in VOA Special English

1 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

2 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。

3 stiff   

adj.严厉的，激烈的，硬的，僵直的，不灵活的

参考例句：

• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。
• You have to push on the handle to turn it,becanse it's very stiff.手柄很不灵活，你必须用力推才能转动它。

4 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

5 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。

6 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

7 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

8 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

9 lowered   

v.（使）降低， （使）跌落( lower的过去式和过去分词 )；削弱；削减；减少

参考例句：

• Every evening at sunset the flag was lowered. 每天傍晚日落时都要降旗。
• She lowered her eyelids, then sprang them open. 她低垂着眼睑，然后突然睁开。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 chest   

n.胸，大箱子，金库，资金，一箱，密封室，衣橱

参考例句：

• The bear's chest is hairy.那只熊的胸部毛茸茸的。
• Mother has a pain in her chest.母亲胸口疼.。

11 sorrow   

n.悲哀；悲痛

参考例句：

• It helps to share your sorrow with someone else.向他人诉说你的痛苦对你是有益的。
• I think she did it more in sorrow than in anger.我觉得她这样做更多是出于悲哀而不是愤恨。

12 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

13 rot   

n.腐烂，腐蚀，败坏；vi.腐烂，烂，堕落，憔悴；vt.使腐烂，使腐朽，使堕落

参考例句：

• Dead plants rot and become part of the soil again.枯死的植物腐烂，又成为土壤的一部分。
• Much rain will make the fruit rot.这么多雨会使水果腐烂。

14 spoil   

n.战利品，赃物，奖品，掠夺，次品；vt.损坏，破坏，溺爱；vi.腐坏，掠夺

参考例句：

• Don't bunch the flowers up so tightly,you'll spoil them.别把花束得这么紧，会弄坏的。
• Overacting will only spoil the effect.表演过火，效果反而不好。

15 quicken   

vt.加快；vi.加快

参考例句：

• A good debate can quicken one's mind.有意义的辩论能使人的大脑更加敏锐。
• Your heart beat will quicken when you run up the stairs.跑上楼梯时，心跳会加速。

16 tragedy   

n.悲剧；惨事，惨案，灾难

参考例句：

• The news of the tragedy really knocked us out.关于这一惨案的消息确实使我们感到震惊。
• The play was a tragedy,but the acting was laughable.戏是悲剧，可是演得却令人发笑。

17 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

18 howled   

v.嗥叫( howl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；吼叫；哀号

参考例句：

• The angry crowd howled the speaker off the platform. 愤怒的人群把演说者赶下了台。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wind howled and the waves closed over him. 狂风怒号，巨浪把他淹没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 cling   

vi.缠住，粘住，依恋，依靠，坚信，坚持

参考例句：

• Wet clothes cling to the body.湿衣服贴身。
• Members of a family should cling together in times of trouble.一家人应该患难与共。

20 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。