原版英文故事与诗歌：The comeback

 　　Fausto Ruiz got off the boat at the port of the city where he had been born fifty years ago, and to which he had not returned for twenty years. He walked along the seafront, surprised by how much his hometown had changed, and also by how much of it he could still recognise. There were lots of new buildings up on the hills around the city now, buildings which he didn’t recognise. Yet many of the old buildings along the sea were exactly the same as he recognised them, although many of the old shops he remembered were there no more.

 

　　He walked away from the port and into the centre of the city. He walked up the main road and saw how all the shops had changed, but that there was still one small café there which was the same as it had been when he was young, and famous. He walked into the café and sat down at one of the tables. He recognised the owner of the café behind the bar as well as the waiter who was working there. They both looked much, much older. Fausto felt certain that he didn’t look as old as they did, even though they were all twenty years older now.

 

　　Fausto sat at his table and waited for the waiter to come to him. He sat there for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes. Half an hour passed and the waiter continued to ignore him. Fausto raised his arm and shouted to the waiter, then to the owner of the café behind the bar, but it was useless. They didn’t come and ask him what he wanted. They were ignoring him.

 

　　Angry, Fausto got up and walked out of the café, slamming¹ the door behind him. Such ignorant² people, he thought. Now I remember why I left this town twenty years ago, and why I never came back.

 

　　He walked along the main street as far as the main square in the town and when he arrived at the main square he remembered the other reason why he had never come back. In the main square of the town there was the theatre. As he looked at the theatre, Fausto Ruiz had a terrible memory of what had happened there twenty years ago.

 

　　Twenty years ago, Fausto Ruiz had been the most famous singer in the world. He had sung in all of the most famous opera houses in the world. He had sung in London, New York, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Tokyo and Sydney. Everywhere he went, people paid large sums of money for tickets, then when they saw him sing they clapped and applauded³ and cheered for hours. When he was at the height of his fame, Fausto Ruiz decided⁴ to come back to his home town, and to sing in a triumphant⁵ concert in the theatre on the main square of the town.

 

　　The concert was announced, and all the tickets sold out within a few hours. The evening of the concert, thousands of people crowded into the theatre to see the legendary⁶ Fausto Ruiz sing in the theatre of his hometown.

 

　　There was silence as Fausto walked onto the stage. Then he began to sing, one of his best known⁷ songs. And at the end of the song, there was just silence. Nobody clapped, nobody applauded, nobody cheered. Fausto waited, very surprised for a moment, then started to sing another song. At the end of this song, there was silence for a moment, then the people began to boo and to hiss⁸. Fausto tried to cover the noise of the booing and hissing⁹ by singing another song, very loudly this time. But it got worse. The louder he sang, the louder the boos and hisses¹⁰ became. Then someone threw a tomato at him. Then someone else threw a rotten¹¹ orange at him. Then someone else threw an old shoe at him. Soon, there was a rain of rotten fruit and vegetables and smelly¹² old shoes falling down on the great Fausto Ruiz. Fausto was angry, Fausto was furious¹³. He stormed off the stage and out of the theatre. He left his hometown that night, and he said that he would never, ever go back there ever again.

 

　　But twenty years later, Fausto Ruiz changed his mind. He was getting old now, he thought, and he wanted to go back home again, to see the town where he had grown up. But in the café, he realised that perhaps not much had really changed. He decided to walk into the theatre. As he walked in he saw the man selling tickets in the box office. It was the same man from twenty years ago. Fausto said hello to him but the man said nothing and ignored him. “Still the same” thought Fausto. He walked into the theatre and got up onto the empty stage. He thought he could hear the terrible booing and hissing of that night, twenty years ago.

 

　　He felt sad, and left the theatre and decided to go and visit the house where he had been born fifty years ago. He walked all the way across the town, expecting to be recognised by people. When he got close to his old house he walked through the park where he had played as a small child. He saw some men there, the same age as he was, and thought that he remembered them. They were people who had been his friends when he was at school. He walked over to them to say hello, but they, too, ignored him. He walked past the old shops near his house. They hadn’t changed. There were still the same people there, all of whom ignored him.

 

　　He was so angry and so disappointed¹⁴ now that he began to shout as he walked along the streets. “I am the great Fausto Ruiz!!! The greatest singer the world has ever heard!!!” Nobody took any notice of him. He continued. “Don’t you know me??? Don’t you recognise me???” Nobody took any notice.

 

　　When he finally reached his old house he at least had a pleasant surprise. Outside the house, there was a statue, and it was a statue of himself. “Finally!” thought Fausto “Somebody has recognised my genius! They put up a statue of me... and they never even told me!”

 

　　Fausto went to have a closer look at the statue. There was some writing at the bottom of the statue. “Fausto Ruiz” it said, “Singer”. Fausto was disappointed that it said only “singer” and not “the greatest singer in the world”, but at least it was a statue. There was some more writing. He looked carefully at it. There was his date of birth, fifty years ago. And then there was something else. It was the date of his death. And the date was yesterday.

1 slamming   

n.砰击v.砰地关上（门或窗）( slam的现在分词 )；用力一放；使劲一推；猛劲一摔

参考例句：

• When Mrs. Richards walked towards him, he fled, slamming the door behind him. 当理查德夫人向他走去时，他把门“砰”的一声关上就跑开了。 来自《用法词典》
• "All right,'said Vance, slamming the coach door, and the conveyance rolled away. “行了，"万斯说，砰的一声关上车门，车子就上路了。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

2 ignorant   

adj.无知的，没有学问的，愚昧的，不知道的

参考例句：

• They are unbelievably ignorant.他们无知到令人难以置信的地步。
• He's not stupid,merely ignorant.他并不愚蠢，只是无知。

3 applauded   

v.鼓掌( applaud的过去式和过去分词 )；称赞，赞许

参考例句：

• The audience warmly applauded when the performance came to the end. 当演出接近尾声时，观众热烈鼓掌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The audience applauded after the soprano sang the aria so beautifully. 女高音将咏叹调唱得十分优美，观众爆发出热烈的掌声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

6 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

7 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

8 hiss   

v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满

参考例句：

• We can hear the hiss of air escaping from a tire.我们能听到一只轮胎的嘶嘶漏气声。
• Don't hiss at the speaker.不要嘘演讲人。

9 hissing   

n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
• His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕

10 hisses   

嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The speaker was received with a mixture of applause and hisses. 那演说者同时得到喝彩声和嘘声。
• A fire hisses if water is thrown on it. 把水浇到火上，火就发出嘶嘶声。

11 rotten   

adj.腐烂(朽)的；令人不愉快的；糟糕的

参考例句：

• The book was pretty rotten.这本书糟透了。
• Rotten eggs give off a bad smell.臭蛋散发出难闻的气味。

12 smelly   

adj.(口)有臭味的，发出臭气的

参考例句：

• The river was smelly today.今天这条河散发着一股臭味。
• The toilets in that restaurant were horribly smelly.那个餐馆的卫生间气味难闻。

13 furious   

adj.狂怒的，暴怒的，强烈的，激烈的

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• His wife was furious with him.他妻子对他大发雷霆。

14 disappointed   

adj.失望的，不满意的，不如意的

参考例句：

• He seemed disappointed when the man refused his request.当那个人拒绝了他的要求时他看起来很失望。
• He was disappointed so often that he became hopeless.他屡次失望，以致变为了绝望。