英语听力：Beethoven 贝多芬 - 14

 "Married Love" is the subtitle¹ of the opera Fidelio. A woman disguises herself as a man in order to rescue her husband from prison. It's perhaps not too fantastic or surrealistic to think that his obsession² with the Fidelio theme which after all he went on writing and rewriting over a period of 12 years or so was a man in a dark prison like a deaf man being rescued from that loneliness, and his, of his own scowl³ by a woman who absolutely adored him. 

 

I think he writes about love as well as anybody and it's resolved love. And it's not like vulgar's love, it never achieves orgasm, Beethoven’s stance. So I think the man-woman relationship and power and potency⁴ of love is even more important than the other great theme of Fidelio which is freedom, a freedom of speech, freedom of behavior and a horror of a totalitarian or fascist⁵ rule. 

 

Fidelio, Beethoven's only opera was finally performed to great acclaim⁶ in 1814 during the congress of Vienna which celebrated⁷ the end of 20 years of war in Europe. Beethoven now 43 reached the peak of his fame. But in his family life，disaster followed. His brother died and Beethoven became joint⁸ guardian⁹ of his nephew Karl along with the child's mother. In 1815 a five-year custody¹⁰ battle began. 

 

Beethoven knew that his sister-in-law did have a shady side of her character and Beethoven devoted¹¹ all his resources to wresting¹² that son from his own mother. He was in emotional turmoil¹³ over the nephew who was after all the only Beethoven of the next generation. Also one has to remember what was happening with his deafness. It was becoming more and more profound. He was not composing as he would want to, nothing significant for a period of time. But it may also be that Beethoven's going through sort of, some sort of gestational period that what was happening was he was coming into a new style, he realized the heroic style had passed. In fact, Beethoven's compositional periods can often be marked by slow periods where he's shedding his skin and then starting up with a new style which is very fruitful.

1 subtitle   

n.副题（书本中的），说明对白的字幕

参考例句：

• His new book has a subtitle.他的新书有一个副标题。
• Ah!I don't know why they don't subtitle these movies.唉！我不知道这些电影为什么不打字幕。

2 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

3 scowl   

vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容

参考例句：

• I wonder why he is wearing an angry scowl.我不知道他为何面带怒容。
• The boss manifested his disgust with a scowl.老板面带怒色，清楚表示出他的厌恶之感。

4 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

5 fascist   

adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子

参考例句：

• The strikers were roughed up by the fascist cops.罢工工人遭到法西斯警察的殴打。
• They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship.他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。

6 acclaim   

v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞

参考例句：

• He was welcomed with great acclaim.他受到十分热烈的欢迎。
• His achievements earned him the acclaim of the scientific community.他的成就赢得了科学界的赞誉。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

10 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

11 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

12 wresting   

动词wrest的现在进行式

参考例句：

• The amphitheater was a sealed off round structure. Swordplay, wresting, gladiatoral and other contests were held there. 该竞技场为四周封闭式结构，可以举行斗剑、格斗、斗兽及其他竞赛项目。
• This paper introduces mechanism and control system of instrument for wresting training. 本文详细介绍了摔跤训练器的机械机构与控制方法。

13 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。