VOA慢速英语2009年-THIS IS AMERICA - A Scary Story to Get You

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. October thirty-first, this coming Saturday, is Halloween. Millions of children will dress as ghosts, witches, skeletons, superheroes, princesses -- all sorts of costumes.

VOICE ONE:

Then, with parents usually nearby, they will walk through their neighborhoods. They will go door to door, yelling "trick or treat." This threat of a trick, all in good fun, quickly brings a treat, usually some candy. Then the trick-or-treaters will go off to the next house.

VOICE TWO:

But, you know, there is a reason people in ancient times were careful to honor evil spirits and the dead with a night of their own. The masks that people wore on All Hallows' Eve were meant to hide their identity, so they would avoid a most frightful¹ trick. But now, do you want to know a story that is even scarier than that?

VOICE ONE:

Do you mean the story of my mother? That story? It makes me shake just to think about it!

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

Faith's mother lived in a small town in New York State when she was a girl. The fall season was beautiful in the Adirondack Mountains, but it was very cold at night.

VOICE ONE:

There was a girl named Arial at my mother's school. She was popular but not very nice. She told stories about people. She ruined them with her gossip.

Missus Hart was a very kind teacher at the school. Everyone liked her.

VOICE TWO:

"Class ... "

VOICE ONE:

she said one morning early in the new school year,

VOICE TWO:

"... we have a new student, Pearl Dew from Kentucky. Please welcome her."

VOICE ONE:

Arial saw an easy victim in Pearl. And my mother says Pearl was very strange. She was so thin and her skin was so white you could almost see through it. She had long black hair. It reached so far down her back, she had to bring it around the front so she would not sit on it. She did not look healthy.

VOICE TWO:

Arial did not help the situation for Pearl, did she? No, she made the situation worse. Soon terrible stories about Pearl and her family were going around the school. Kids were saying that her father had murdered a family of five back in the hills of Kentucky, but got away with it.

VOICE ONE:

Yes, Arial started that rumor². She said Pearl's father had buried them deep in the wilds of the mountains, so their bodies were never found. No one could prove he killed them. Arial also told a lie about Pearl's mother. She said the mother knew about the murders and could not live with the truth, so one night she threw herself off a mountain.

Everyone believed Arial. They all knew that Pearl did not have a mother.

VOICE THREE:

"She fell by accident. She loved walking in the hills. She would never leave me. It was an accident. My father's not a murderer. That family -- he didn't even know them. No one knows what happened to them. Why do you say these things, Arial? Please, stop. What did I ever do to you?"

VOICE TWO:

When Pearl would ask her to stop, Arial would just laugh. Or she would act frightened. "Don't get your Dad after me, Pearl," she would say.

VOICE ONE:

Yes, although Pearl's father was apparently³ not the threat that Arial needed to worry about.

Weeks went by, and October came. People put pumpkins⁴ on their porches and hung skeletons or ghostly shapes on their front doors.

The children at school noticed a slow change in Pearl that month. She began to talk a little more. Sometimes you might see a little smile, or hear a quiet laugh. In late October, she sent out twelve invitations for a Halloween party. My mother got one. So did several of her friends. Pearl even invited their teacher.

VOICE TWO:

But not Arial?

VOICE ONE:

No, no, not after all that torture Pearl had to suffer from Arial.

VOICE TWO:

But Arial did not understand that reasoning. She was angry. In fact, it was the first time anyone saw her speechless. She was so filled with rage, she could not put a sentence together.

VOICE ONE:

But that did not last long. Arial told my mother that she planned on attending the party anyway. She said she did not need an invitation.

The night of the party was cold enough that you could see your breath. My mother dressed as a ghost, so she could wear a heavy coat under her white sheet. It was difficult to get to Pearl's house. She and her father lived in an old house in the valley of a mountain. There was a footpath⁵, but parts of it got a little rough.

VOICE TWO:

But they all got there safely?

VOICE ONE:

Well no. They never got to the party at all. My mother said all the guests first met at her house. They decided⁶ it would be best to walk to the party as a group. So they started along, dressed as witches and zombies and the like. It was fun, she said, playing little tricks to scare each other along the way. The group entered the woods near Pearl's house. The kids were excited, happy to be going to a party. They could see the lights in Pearl's house in the distance below.

VOICE TWO:

So what happened?

VOICE ONE:

Well, the kids and Missus Hart, their teacher, saw a woman ahead of them walking very close to the edge of the path. Missus Hart quickly reacted.

TEACHER:

"Oh my god -- she's going to fall! We have to warn her. Miss! MISS! Run ahead, kids. Oh, no!"

VOICE ONE:

It was too late. The woman went over the edge. Yet she did not fall. She was floating in the air. She had her arms held out.

WOMAN:

"Come to me, child, come to me, my little girl."

VOICE ONE:

All of a sudden two girls come crashing out of the woods and across the path. The girl in front is clearly Pearl. Her black hair is flowing like wings of a dark angel. But who is she pulling behind her?

TEACHER:

"Pearl, STOP! You'll fall off the cliff. You'll kill yourself. Who is that with you? PEARL!!

VOICE ONE:

Pearl stops and looks toward the floating woman.

WOMAN:

"Come to me, child. Come to me, my Pearl."

VOICE ONE:

My mother shined her flashlight at Pearl and the girl behind her. And there for an instant a look of insane fear stared back at the group from the face of Arial.

(SCREAMS)

VOICE ONE:

Well, after that night, no one ever found any sign of Pearl or Arial. Pearl's father also disappeared that night. The house had been decorated for a party that never took place.

(SOUND)

At the cemetery⁷ in town, there are headstones for Pearl and Ariel in graves that hold no remains⁸. My mother says she visits sometimes when she goes back to her hometown. She told me that the last time she was there, she noticed something for the first time. If you mix around the letters of Arial's name -- spelled A-R-I-A-L -- it spells "a liar⁹."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁰. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Transcripts¹¹ and podcasts of our programs can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

2 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

5 footpath   

n.小路，人行道

参考例句：

• Owners who allow their dogs to foul the footpath will be fined.主人若放任狗弄脏人行道将受处罚。
• They rambled on the footpath in the woods.他俩漫步在林间蹊径上。

6 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。

7 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。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

10 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

11 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句