英语听力—环球英语 1181 Merry Cemetery

 　　Voice 1

 

　　Welcome to Spotlight¹, I'm Liz Waid

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　And I'm Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Next to a church, blue crosses stand in long lines. These crosses mark the place where dead people are buried. This may seem like a sad place. But in the distance, you can hear someone laughing.

 

　　Today's Spotlight is on the Merry Cemetery² in the town of Sapanta, Romania.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　A cemetery is a place for dead people. They are buried there when they die. Many European cultures see death as something that is sad and serious. In most places, cemetaries are very serious. But the local culture in Sapanta is different.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Often, cemeteries³ are places where people come to remember. They remember friends and family members who are no longer living. A stone marks the place where a person is buried. This stone is a headstone or tombstone. Usually, the headstone is made of a dark rock. The headstone may be flat against the ground or it may stand up.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Headstones often have words on them. The words usually tell some information about the person who died. It tells their name. It also tells the dates when the person was born and when the person died. Sometimes, the headstone includes a few words about the person's life, or some religious⁴ words.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　But the cemetery in Sapanta is not a normal cemetery. You will not find gray headstones made of rock here. And many of the people visiting the Merry Cemetery are not sad. Merry is another word for happy. For some people, this cemetery is a place to be merry. It is a place to be happy, to laugh.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　People are happy at the Merry Cemetery because of the special headstones. The headstones are made of wood. They are in the shape of crosses. The crosses are as tall as a person and painted a special color called "Sapanta blue". The colour blue represents⁵ the sky. The Romanian people believe the spirit of a person goes to the sky when he dies. A person carves, or cuts, words and pictures into the wood of the headstone.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　These carvings⁷ show pictures from the life of the person buried there. They paint the carvings with many beautiful colors. Some of the headstones show the person working at their job or doing another thing he enjoyed. Some headstones show how the person died. The words carved into the headstone read as if the person who died is saying them. Here is an example from one headstone. It is about a man who prepared meat for food. The picture shows the man with a large knife in his hand. He is cutting meat. Here is a translation of the headstone:

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　"As I lived in this world,

 

　　I took the skin of many sheep

 

　　Good meat I prepared

 

　　So you can eat freely⁸

 

　　I offer you good fat meat

 

　　and to have a good desire for food."

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Here are the words from another headstone:

 

　　Voice 4

 

　　"Here lies my mother-in-law.

 

　　Had she lived another year,

 

　　I would be lying here."

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　It does not sound like that man liked his wife's mother very much! Some of the pictures and writing on the headstones are full of humour⁹ like this. The headstones make people smile as they walk through the cemetery. But why did the people in Sapanta start making these different headstones?

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Wood is a very important material to the people in this area of Romania. For thousands of years, people made their homes from wood. They carved pictures and symbols into their homes. Carving⁶ wood is an important part of life.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Stan Ioan Patras was a wood carver. He is the man who started the Merry Cemetery. Stan's job was creating carved wood art. In 1934 he started carving wooden headstones. He made them in the shape of a cross. He painted the crosses bright blue. Over the years, more people in the town started using his beautiful crosses as their headstones. He enjoyed learning¹⁰ about the people in his town. When a person died, he would remember what the person was like. He would make a headstone showing part of the person's life. He made pictures of local culture and wrote about the person's life. Stan wrote about the bad things and the good things. The headstones showed what the person's life was truly like.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　In the 1950s a group of people from France travelled through Stan's town. They visited the cemetery with his headstones. The travellers¹¹ enjoyed the cemetery very much. They gave it the name "Merry Cemetery." In 1971 a art museum invited Stan to France to present his headstones in a special show. After that, many people visited the Merry Cemetery. In fact, his headstones made the Merry Cemetery one of the most visited cemeteries in Europe! The United¹² Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, declared the Merry Cemetery to be a World Heritage¹³ Site. Now it is part of the world's history. It is a protected place.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　People from all over the world still come to Sapanta to see the Merry Cemetery. But today, a man named Dumitru Pop Tincu carves the headstones. Stan was his teacher. Dumitru spends most of his time putting new paint on the old headstones. There are almost eight hundred carved headstones in the cemetery, so this job takes a lot of time. Dumitru also leads visitors around the cemetery. He says that people like the cemetery so much, that they want their own headstones to look like the ones there. Dumitru makes headstones for the people of the town. But he also makes almost as many headstones for visitors.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Many people think of cemeteries as sad places. But the Merry Cemetery does not make people feel sad. When a person dies, her friends and family do not only mourn¹⁴ her death. They also celebrate her life. The Merry Cemetery uses colourful pictures and poems to celebrate the person's life. The Merry Cemetery helps all people to remember the joy of life even in the sadness of death.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The writer and producer of this program was Joshua Leo. The voices you heard were from The United States. You can visit Spotlight on the Internet. Our address is http://www.radioenglish.net There., you can listen to this program again, and read it at the same time. This program is called, 'The Merry Cemetery. The website also has many other Spotlight programs, our word list, more information, and comments from other listeners¹⁵.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　If you have a comment or question about any Spotlight program you can email us at [email protected]. Or you can leave a comment on the script¹⁶ page of the program on our website, radioenglish dot net.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　You can also find Spotlight on Facebook and Twitter - just search for spotlightradio. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

3 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

4 religious   

adj.宗教性的，虔诚的，宗教上的；n.修道士，出家人

参考例句：

• She is very religious person who goes to church every Sunday.她十分虔诚，每个星期天都上教堂。
• It is hard for me to reject religious beliefs.要我抛弃自己的宗教信仰是困难的。

5 Represents   

v.表现( represent的第三人称单数 )；代表；体现；作为…的代表

参考例句：

• This represents a volte-face in government thinking. 这代表着政府观点的彻底转变。
• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history. 俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

7 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 freely   

adv.自由地，随便地，无拘无束地

参考例句：

• She was unable to keep back her tears,and wept freely.她抑制不住泪水，痛痛快快地哭了起来。
• A liquid flows freely and has no fixed shape.液体能自由流动，无固定形态。

9 humour   

n.幽默，诙谐，情绪，体液；vt.使满足，迁就

参考例句：

• We can't always humour the child the way we do.不能总是顺着孩子。
• His new play is a mixture of saddness and humour.他的新剧本融悲哀和幽默于一体。

10 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

11 travellers   

n.旅行者( traveller的名词复数 )；旅游者；旅客；游客

参考例句：

• The unusually heavy rainfall was an ill omen for the travellers. 异乎寻常的大雨是旅行者的不祥之兆。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The travellers looked weather-beaten, there was little spit and polish. 旅客们满面风尘，仪容不整。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

13 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

14 mourn   

v.哀悼，忧伤，服丧

参考例句：

• We mourn over the child's death.我们悲悼这孩子的死。
• When the old woman had died,she had very few to mourn for her.那位老太婆去世的时候，没有什么人哀悼她。

15 listeners   

n.倾听者，收听者( listener的名词复数 )；听众

参考例句：

• the demographics of radio listeners 电台听众统计数据
• The singer's high notes jarred on the ears of her listeners. 那位歌手的高音让听众们觉得刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。