THE MIDDLE EASTERN BAZAAR 中文翻译文英语6级听力: 中东的集市
The Middle Eastern bazaar takes you back hundreds --- even thousands --- of years. The one I am thinking of particularly is entered by a Gothic - arched gateway of aged brick and stone. You pass from the heat and glare of a big, open square into a cool, dark cavern which extends as far as the eye can e, losing itlf in the shadowy distance. Little donkeys with harmoniously tinkling bells thread their way among the throngs of people entering and leaving the bazaar. The roadway is about twelve feet wide, but it is narrowed every few yards by little stalls where goods of every conceivable kind are sold. The din of the stall-holder; crying their wares, of donkey-boys and porters clearing a way for themlves by shouting vigorously, and of would-be purchars arguing and bargaining is continuous and makes you dizzy.中东的集市仿佛把你带回到了几百年、甚至几千年前的时代。此时此刻显现在我脑海中的这个中东集市,其入口处是一座古老的砖石结构的哥特式拱门。你首先要穿过一个赤日耀眼、灼热逼人的大型露天广场,然后走进一个凉爽、幽暗的洞穴。这市场一直向前延伸,一眼望不到尽头,消失在远处的阴影里。赶集的人们络绎不绝地进出市场,一些挂着铃铛的小毛驴穿行于这熙熙攘攘的人群中,边走边发出和谐悦耳的叮当
叮当的响声。市场的路面约有十二英尺宽,但每隔几码远就会因为设在路边的小货摊的挤占而变窄;那儿出售的货物各种各样,应有尽有。你一走进市场,就可以听到摊贩们的叫卖声,赶毛驴的小伙计和脚夫们大着嗓门叫人让道的吆喝声,还有那些想买东西的人们与摊主讨价还价的争吵声。各种各样的噪声此伏彼起,不绝于耳,简直叫人头晕。
Then as you penetrate deeper into the bazaar, the noi of the entrance fades away, and you come to the muted cloth-market. The earthen floor, beaten hard by countless feet, deadens the sound of footsteps, and the vaulted mud-brick walls and roof have hardly any sounds to echo. The shop-keepers speak in slow, measured tones, and the buyers, overwhelmed by the pulchral pxoatmosphere, follow suit .随后,当往市场深处走去时,人口处的喧闹声渐渐消失,眼前便是清静的布市了。这里的泥土地面,被无数双脚板踩踏得硬邦邦的,人走在上面几乎听不到脚步声了,而拱形的泥砖屋顶和墙壁也难得产生什么回音效果。布店的店主们一个个都是轻声轻气、慢条斯理的样子;买布的顾客们在这种沉闷压抑的气氛感染下,自然而然地也学着店主们的榜样,变得低声细语起来。
One of the peculiarities of the Eastern bazaar is that shopkeepers dealing in the same kind of goods do not scatter themlves over the bazaar, in order to avoid competition, but collect in the same area, so that purchars can know where to find them, and so that they can form a cloly knit guild against injustice or percution. In the cloth-market, for instance, all the llers of material for clothes, curtains, chair covers and so on line the roadway on both sides, each open-fronted shop having a trestle trestle table for display and shelves for storage. Bargaining is the order of the cay, and veiled women move at a leisurely pace from shop to shop, lecting, pricing and doing a little preliminary bargaining before they narrow down their choice and begin the really rious business of beating the price down.中东集市的特点之一是经销同类商品的店家,为避免相互间的竞争,不是分散在集市各处,而是都集中在一块儿,这样既便于让买主知道上哪儿找他们,同时他们自己也可以紧密地联合起来,结成同盟,以便保护自己不受欺侮和刁难。例如,在布市上,所有那 1些卖衣料、窗帘布、椅套布等的商贩都把货摊一个接一个地排设在马路两边,每一个店铺门面前都摆有一张陈列商品的搁板桌和一些存放货物的货架。讨价还价是人们习以为常的事。头戴面纱的妇女们迈着悠闲的步子从一个店铺逛到另一个店铺,
一边挑选一边问价;在她们缩小选择范围并开始正儿八经杀价之前,往往总要先同店主谈论几句,探探价底。
It is a point of honor with the customer not to let the shopkeeper guess what it is she really likes and wants until the last moment. If he does guess correctly, he will price the item high, and yield little in the bargaining. The ller, on the other hand, makes a point of protesting that the price he is charging is depriving him of all profit, and that he is sacrificing this becau of his personal regard for the customer. Bargaining can go on the whole day, or even veral days, with the customer coming and going at intervals .对于顾客来说,至关重要的一点是,不到最后一刻是不能让店主猜到她心里究竟中意哪样东西、想买哪样东西的。假如让店主猜中了她所要买的商品的话,他便会漫天要价,而且在还价过程中也很难作出让步。而在卖主那一方来说,他必须竭尽全力地声称,他开出的价钱使他根本无利可图,而他之所以愿意这样做完全是出于他本人对顾客的敬重。顾客有时来了又去,去了又来,因此,像这样讨价还价的情形有可能持续一整天,甚至好几天。
One of the most picturesque and impressive parts of the bazaar is the copper-smiths' market. As you approach it, a tinkling and banging and clashing begins to impinge on your ear. It grows louder and more distinct, until you round a corner and e a fairyland of dancing flashes, as the burnished copper catches the light of innumerable lamps and braziers . In each shop sit the apprentices – boys and youths, some of them incredibly young – hammering away at copper vesls of all shapes and sizes, while the shop-owner instructs, and sometimes takes a hand with a hammer himlf. In the background, a tiny apprentice blows a bi-, charcoal fir e with a huge leather bellows worked by a string attached to his big toe -- the red of the live coals glowing, bright and then dimming rhythmically to the strokes of the bellows.集市上最引人注目、给人印象最深刻的地方之一是铜器市场。你一走近这里,耳朵里便只听得见金属器皿互相碰击时所发出的一阵阵砰砰啪啪、丁丁当当的响声;走得越近,响声便越来越大,越来越清晰。直待你走到拐角处一转弯,眼前便出现了锃亮的铜器,它们映照着无数盏明灯和火盆,流光飞舞,有如仙境。每个铜匠铺子里都有几个徒工——他们都是一些男性青少年,其中有的年龄小得让人难以置信——在那里不停地锤打着一些形状各异、大小不一的铜器,而铺子的老板则在一
旁指点着,有时也亲自操锤敲打几下。铺子的后边,还有一个小不点儿的徒工在那里用一根拴在大脚趾上的绳子鼓动着一个巨大的皮风箱,煽着一大炉炭火——燃烧着的木炭随着风箱的鼓动而有节奏地变得忽明忽暗。
Here you can find beautiful pots and bowls engrave with delicate and intricate traditional designs, or the simple, everyday kitchenware ud in this country, pleasing in form, but undecorated and strictly functional. Elwhere there is the carpet-market, with its profusion of rich colors, varied textures and regional designs -- some bold and simple, others unbelievably detailed and yet harmonious. Then there is the spice-market, with its pungent and exotic smells ; and the food-market, where you can buy everything you need for the most sumptuous dinner, or sit in a tiny restaurant with porters and apprentices and eat your humble bread and chee. The dye-market, the pottery-market and the carpenters' market lie elwhere in the maze of vaulted streets which honeycomb this bazaar. Every here and there, a doorway gives a glimp of a sunlit courtyard, perhaps before a mosque or a caravanrai where camels lie disdainfully c
hewing their hay, while the great bales of merchandi they have carried hundreds of miles across the dert lie beside them.在这里,你会看到许多精美的锅碗瓢盆,上面雕刻着各种精细复杂的传统图案,也能看到一些当地人日常使用的质朴无华的厨房用具,虽无花纹图案,但造形美观,经济实用。 再走一处便是地毯市场。这儿有各种质地的地毯,它们色彩斑炯,花纹图案富有地方特色——有的简单粗犷,有的精巧和谐得令人吃惊。再往前走便是香料市场,这里充满各种浓烈的异香奇味;接下来是食品市场,在这里,你可以买到豪华酒宴上所需的任何山珍海味,也可以与徒工、脚夫一道坐进小饭馆里去吃那不能登大雅之堂的面包和奶酪。集市里有棚顶的街巷纵横交错,有如一座迷宫,鳞次栉比地坐落其间的有印染市场、陶器市场和木器市场。随便走到哪儿,你都有可能透过某个门洞瞥见一个洒满阳光的庭院,那也许是个清真寺的院子,也许是个商旅客栈的院子。在那儿,总会有几头骆驼旁若无人地卧着嚼草料,而在骆驼的身边则总是堆放着它们穿越沙漠,从几百英里以外的地方驮运而来的大捆大捆的货物。
Perhaps the most unforgettable thing in the bazaar, apart from its general atmosphere, is the place where they make lined oil. It is a vast, sombre cavern of a room, some thi
rty feet high and sixty feet square, and so thick with the dust of centuries that the mud brick walls and vaulted roof are only dimly visible. In this cavern are three massive stone wheels, each with a huge pole through its centre as an axle. The pole is attached at the one end to an upright post, around which it can revolve, and at the other to a blind-folded camel, which walks constantly in a circle, providing the motive power to turn the stone wheel. This revolves in a circular stone channel, into which an attendant feeds lined. The stone wheel crushes it to a pulp, which is then presd to extract the oil .The camels are the largest and finest I have ever en, and in superb condition – muscular, massive and stately.除了其给予人的总体印象外,集市中最令人难忘的地方恐怕要算是榨亚麻籽油的作坊了。那是一间约三十英尺高、六十英尺见方的屋子,空间阔大,但光线幽暗,犹如洞穴一般。其拱形屋顶及四面的泥砖墙壁因厚厚地覆盖着数百年积下的灰尘而变得模糊难辨。屋内有三个大石磙,每个石磙上都有一根粗木杆从中心穿过,作为磙轴,磙轴的一端与一根立柱相连,使石磙可以绕立柱作旋转运动,另一端则套在一头蒙着眼罩的骆驼身上,通过骆驼不停地绕圈子走动来带动石磙旋转。石磙沿着一个环形石槽作圆周运动,石槽旁边有一人专门负责往槽里装亚麻籽。亚麻籽先由石磙碾成浆,然后再拿去榨
油。油坊的骆驼是我见过的骆驼中最大最好的,而且体格健壮无比——肌肉发达,身躯伟岸,气宇轩昂。
The pressing of the lined pulp to extract the oil is done by a vast ramshackle apparatus of beams and ropes and pulleys which towers to the vaulted ceiling and dwarfs the camels and their stone wheels. The machine is operated by one man, who shovels the lined pulp into a stone vat, climbs up nimbly to a dizzy height to fasten ropes, and then throws his weight on to a great beam made out of a tree trunk to t the ropes and pulleys in motion. Ancient girders girders creak and groan , ropes tighten and then a trickle of oil oozes oozes down a stone runnel into a ud petrol can. Quickly the trickle becomes a flood of glistening lined oil as the beam sinks earthwards, taut and protesting, its creaks blending with the squeaking and rumbling of the grinding-wheels and the occasional grunts and sighs of the camels.榨油工序是由一套摇摇欲坠的机械装置来完成的。该装置由大梁、缆索和滑轮组合而成,犹如一座高塔耸立在屋中,上端直与拱形屋顶相接。相形之下,油坊里的骆驼和石磙便显得矮小起来。这套装置是由一个人操
作的。他先将亚麻籽浆铲入一只大石缸里,继而动作利索地爬上令人头晕目眩的高处系牢缆索,然后全身使劲压在一根用树干做成的粗大的横梁上,带动缆索的滑轮装置运转。古木大梁压得嘎吱作响,缆索开始绷紧,接着便见一滴滴的油沿着一条石槽流入一只废旧汽油桶里。随着大梁越压越低,缆索越绷越紧,大梁的嘎吱声,石磙的辘辘声,以及骆驼不时发出的咕噜咕噜的呼吸声和叹息声响成一片,榨出的油也很快地由涓滴细流变成了一股晶莹发亮、奔腾不止的洪流。
Hiroshima -- the "Liveliest” City in Japan 课文翻译: 广岛——日本“最有活力”的城市 (节 选) 雅各•丹瓦 |
“Hiroshima! Everybody off!” That must be what the man in the Japane stationmaster's uniform shouted, as the fastest train in the world slipped to a stop in Hiroshima Station. I did not understand what he was saying. First of all, becau he was shouting in Japane. And condly, becau I had a lump in my throat and a lot of sad thoughts on my mind that had little to do with anything a Nippon railways official might say. The very act of stepping on this soil, in breathing this air of Hiroshima, was for me a far greater adventure than any trip or any reportorial assignment I'd previously taken. Was I not at the scene of the crime?
“广岛到了!大家请下车!”当世界上最快的高速列车减速驶进广岛车站并渐渐停稳时,那位身着日本火车站站长制服的男人口中喊出的一定是这样的话。我其实并没有听懂他在说些什么,一是因为他是用日语喊的,其次,则是因为我当时心情沉重,喉咙哽噎,忧思万缕,几乎顾不上去管那日本铁路官员说些什么。踏上这块土地,呼吸着广岛的空气,对我来说这行动本身已是一套令人激动的经历,其意义远远超过我以往所进行的任何一次旅行或采访活动。难道我不就是在犯罪现场吗?
The Japane crowd did not appear to have the same preoccupations that I had. From the sidewalk outside the station, things emed much the same as in other Japane cities. Little girls and elderly ladies in kimonos rubbed shoulders with teenagers and women in western dress. Serious looking men spoke to one another as if they were oblivious of the crowds about them, and bobbed up and down re-heatedly in little bows, as they exchanged the ritual formula of gratitude and respect: "Tomo aligato gozayimas." Others were using little red telephones that hung on the facades of grocery stores and tobacco shops.这儿的日本人看来倒没有我这样的忧伤情绪。从车站外的人行道上看去,这儿的一切似乎都与日本其他城市没什么两样。身着和嘏的小姑娘和上了年纪的太太与西装打扮的少年和妇女摩肩接豫;神情严肃的男人们对周围的人群似乎视而不见,只顾着相互交淡,并不停地点头弯腰,互致问候:“多么阿里伽多戈扎伊马嘶。”还有人在使用杂货铺和烟草店门前挂着的小巧的红色电话通话。
"Hi! Hi!" said the cab driver, who door popped open at the very sight of a traveler. "Hi", or something that sounds very much like it, means "yes". "Can you take me to City Hall?" He grinned at me in the rear-view mirror and repeated "Hi!" "Hi! ’ We t off at top speed through the narrow streets of Hiroshima. The tall buildings of the martyred city flashed by as we lurched from side to side in respon to the driver's sharp twists of the wheel. “嗨更进一步!嗨!”出租汽车司机一看见旅客,就砰地打开车门,这样打着招呼。“嗨”,或者某个发音近似“嗨”的什么词,意思是“对”或“是”。“能送我到市政厅吗?”司机对着后视镜冲我一笑,又连声“嗨!”“嗨!”出租车穿过广岛市区狭窄的街巷全速奔驰,我们的身子随着司机手中方向盘的一次次急转而前俯后仰,东倒西歪。与此同时,这座曾惨遭劫难的城市的高楼大厦则一座座地从我们身边飞掠而过。
Just as I was beginning to find the ride long, the taxi screeched to a halt, and the driver got out and went over to a policeman to ask the way. As in Tokyo, taxi drivers in Hiroshima often know little of their city, but to avoid loss of face before foreigners, will not admit their ignorance, and will accept any destination without concern for how long it may take them to find it.正当我开始觉得路程太长时,汽车嘎地一声停了下来,司机下车去向警察问路。就像东京的情形一样,广岛的出租车司机对他们所在的城市往往不太熟悉,但因为怕在外国人面前丢脸,却又从不肯承认这一点。无论乘客指定的目的地在哪里,他们都毫不犹豫地应承下来,根本不考虑自己要花多长时间才能找到目的地。
At last this intermezzo came to an end, and I found mylf in front of the gigantic City Hall. The usher bowed deeply and heaved a long, almost musical sigh, when I showed him the invitation which the mayor had nt me in respon to my request for an interview.这段小插曲后来终于结束了,我也就不知不觉地突然来到了宏伟的市政厅大楼前。当我出示了市长应我的采访要求而发送的请柬后,市政厅接待人员向我深深地鞠了一躬,然后声调悠扬地长叹了一口气。
"That is not here, sir," he said in English. "The mayor expects you tonight for dinner with other foreigners or, the restaurant boat. See? This is where it is.” He sketched a little map for me on the back of my invitation. “不是这儿,先生,”他用英语说道。“市长邀请您今天晚上同其他外宾一起在水上餐厅赴宴。您看,就是这儿。”他边说边为我在请柬背面勾划出了一张简略的示意图。
Thanks to his map, I was able to find a taxi driver who could take me straight to the canal embankment , where a sort of barge with a roof like one on a Japane hou was moored . The Japane build their traditional hous on boats when land becomes too expensive. The rather arresting spectacle of little old Japan drift汽车装饰品 adrift amid beige concrete skyscrapers is the very symbol of the incessant struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt.幸亏有了他画的图,我才找到一辆出租车把我直接送到了运河堤岸,那儿停泊着一艘顶篷颇像一般日本房屋屋顶的大游艇。由于地价过于昂贵,日本人便把传统日本式房屋建到了船上。漂浮在水面上的旧式日本小屋夹在一座座灰黄色摩天大楼之间,这一引人注目的景观正象征着和服与超短裙之间持续不断的斗争。
At the door to the restaurant, a stunning, porcelain-faced woman in traditional costume asked me to remove my shoes. This done, I entered one of the low-ceilinged rooms of the little floating hou, treading cautiously on the soft matting and experiencing a twinge of embarrassment at the prospect of meeting the mayor of Hiroshima in my socks.在水上餐厅的门口,一位身着和服、面色如玉、风姿绰约的迎宾女郎告诉我要脱鞋进屋。于是我便脱下鞋子,走进这座水上小屋里的一个低矮的房间,蹑手蹑脚地踏在柔软的榻榻米地席上,因想到要这样穿着袜子去见广岛市长而感到十分困窘不安。
He was a tall, thin man, sad-eyed and rious. Quite unexpectedly, the strange emotion which had overwhelmed me at the station returned, and I was again 什么是倒装句crushed by the thought that I now stood on the site of the first atomic bombardment, where thousands upon thousands of people had been slain one cond, where thousands upon thousands of others had lingered on to die in slow agony .市长是位瘦高个儿的男人,目光忧郁,神情严肃。出人意料的是,刚到广岛车站时袭扰着我的那种异样的忧伤情绪竟在这时重新袭上心头,我的心情又难受起来,因为我又一次意识到自己置身于曾遭受第一颗原子弹轰击的现场。这儿曾有成千上万的生命顷刻之间即遭毁灭,还有成千上万的人在痛苦的煎熬中慢慢死去。
The introductions were made. Most of the guests were Japane, and it was difficult for me to ask them just why we were gathered here. The few Americans and Germans emed just as inhibited as I was. "Gentlemen," said the mayor, "I am happy to welcome you to Hiroshima."到场的宾客们被互相介绍了一番。他们大多数都是日本人,我也不好开口去问为什么要请我们来这儿聚会。在场的少数几位美国人和德国人看来也同我一样有些局促不安。 “先生们,”市长开言道,“我很高兴欢迎你们到广岛来。”
Everyone bowed, including the Westerners. After three days in Japan, the spinal 微笑smilecolumn becomes extraordinarily flexible.大家都开始弯腰鞠躬,连在场的西方人也不例外。只要在日本呆上三天,人的脊椎骨就会变得特别地柔韧灵活。
"Gentlemen, it is a very great honor to have you her e in Hiroshima." “先生们,你们光临广岛是我们的极大荣幸。” 英语游戏大全 There were fresh bows, and the faces grew more and more rious each time the name Hiroshima was repeated大家又开始鞠躬。随着广岛这一名字的一次次重复,大家的面容变得越来越严肃起来。 "Hiroshima, as you know, is a city familiar to everyone,” continued the mayor. “广岛,大家知道,是一座大家都很熟悉的城市,”市长接着说道。
"Yes, yes, of cour,” murmured the company, more and more agitated. “对,对,当然是这样,”在场的人们低声议论着,脸上的神色越来越不安起来。 feel like的用法 "Seldom has a city gained such world renown, and I am proud and happy to welcome you to Hiroshima, a town known throughout the world for its--- oysters". “难得有个城市像广岛这样闻名遐迩。我既高兴而又自豪地欢迎诸位来到广岛。令广岛如此举世闻名的乃是它的——牡蛎。”
I was just about to make my little bow of asnt, when the meaning of the last words sank in, jolting evilangelme out of my sad reverie .我正准备点头对市长的话表示赞同,可就在这时,我突然听明白了刚才这句话末尾几个字的意义,我的头脑也就随之从忧愁伤感中清醒过来。
"Hiroshima – oysters? What about the bomb and the miry and humanity's most heinous crime?" “广岛——牡蛎?怎么没提原子弹和这个城市所遭受的灾难以及人类有史以来犯下的最大的罪恶呢sw是什么?”
While the mayor went on with his speech in prai of southern Japane a food, I cautiously backed away and headed toward the far side of the room, where a few men were talking among themlves and paying little attention to the mayor's speech.市长还在继续演讲,一个劲儿赞美着日本南方的海味。我蹑手蹑脚地退到屋子的后边,那儿有几个人在开小会,没怎么理睬市长的演讲。
"You look puzzled," said a small Japane man with very large eye-glass. “您看上去像是心中有什么疑惑未解似的,”一个身材矮小、戴着一副特大眼镜的日本人对我说道。
"Well, I must confess that I did not expect a speech about oysters here. I thought that Hiroshima still felt the impact of the atomic impact ."“不错,我得承认我真的没有料到在这儿会听到一番关于牡蛎的演说。我原以为广岛仍未摆脱原子弹灾祸的阴影。”
"No one talks about it any more, and no one wants to, especially, the people who were born here or who lived through it. “没有人再去谈它了,谁都不愿再提了,尤其是在这儿出生的或是亲身经历了那场灾难的人。”
"Do you feel the same way, too?" “你也是这种态度吗?”
"I was here, but I was not in the center of town. I tell you this becau I am almost an old man. There are two different schools of thought in this city of oysters, one that would like to prerve traces of the bomb, and the other that would like to get rid of everything, even the monument that was erected at the point of impact. They would also like to demolish the atomic muum." “我当时就在这个城市,不过没在市中心。我之所以对您讲起这些,是因为我已差不多步入老年了。在这个以牡蛎闻名的城市里有两种截然不同的意见,一种主张保存原子弹爆炸留下的痕迹,另一种则主张销毁一切痕迹,甚至要拆除立于爆炸中心的纪念碑。这一派人还要求拆掉原子博物馆。”
"Why would they want to do that?" “你们为什么要这样做呢?”
"Becau it hurts everybody, and becau time marches on. That is why." The small Japane man smiled, his eyes nearly clod behind their thick lens. "If you write about this city, do not forget to say that it is the gayest city in Japan, even it many of the town's people still bear hidden wounds, and burns." Like any other, the hospital smelled of formaldehyde and ethere . Stretchers and wheelchairs lined the walls of endless corridors, and nurs walked by carrying Stretchers instruments, the very sight of which would nd shivers down the spine of any healthy visitor. The so-called atomic ction was located on the third floor. It consisted of 17 beds. “因为那些东西使人伤感,因为时代毕竟在前进。”小个子日本人面带微笑,一双眼睛在厚厚的镜片后面眯成了一条缝。“假如您要描写这座城市的话,千万别忘记告诉人们这是日本最快乐的城市,尽管这里的市民许多人身上还带着暗伤和明显的灼伤。”※ 和其他任何一家医院一样,这家医院里也弥漫着甲醛和乙醚的气味。长得看不到尽头的走廊墙边排列着无数的担架和轮椅,穿廊而过的护士手中都端着镀镍的医疗器械,使得来这儿的健康人一看便脊背发凉。所谓原子病区设在三楼,共有十七个病床。
"I am a fisherman by trade. I have been here a very long time, more than twenty years, "said an old man in Japane pajamas. “我是以打鱼为生的,在这儿已呆了好久了,二十多年了。”一个身穿日本式睡衣的老人这样对我说。
“What is wrong with you?”“你是受的什么伤?” "Something inside. I was in Hiroshima when it happened. I saw the fire ball. But I had no burns on my face or body. I ran all over the city looking for missing friends and relatives. I thought somehow I had been spared. But later my hair began to fall out, and my belly turned to water. I felt sick, and ever since then they have been testing and treating me. " “内伤。那场灾难降临时我正在广岛。我看到了原子弹爆炸时的火球,但无论脸上身上都没有灼伤。我当时满街奔跑着寻找失踪的亲友。我以为自己总算是幸免于难了,但到后来,我的头发开始脱落,腹内开始出水,并感觉恶心呕吐。打那时起,他们就一直不断地对我进行体检和治疗。”
The doctor at my side explained and commented upon the old man's story, "We still hare a handful of patients here who are being kept alive by constant car e. The other s died as a result of their injuries, or el committed suicide.” 站在我身边的大夫对老人的话作了补充说明:“我们这儿还有一些病人是靠不断的护理医治才得以维持生命的。另有一些病人因伤重不治而死,还有一些自杀身亡。”
"Why did they commit suicide?" “他们干吗要自杀呢?”
"It is humiliating to survive in this city. If you bear any visible scars of atomic burns, your children will encounter prejudice on the par t of tho who do not. No one will marry the daughter or the niece of an atomic bomb victim. People are afraid of genetic damage from the radiation." “因为在这座城市里苟延残喘是一种耻辱。假如你身上有着明显的原子伤痕,你的孩子就会受到那些没有伤痕的人的歧视。男人们谁也不愿娶一个原子弹受害者的女儿或侄女为妻。他们害怕核辐射会造成遗传基因病变。”
The old fisherman gazed at me politely and with interest.那位老渔民彬彬有礼、兴致勃勃地定睛望着我。
Hanging over the patient was a big ball made of bits of brightly colored paper, folded into the shape of tiny birds. "What's that?" I asked.他的病床上方悬挂着一个由许多叠成小鸟形状的五颜六色的纸片结成的大纸团。 “那是什么?”我问道。
"Tho are my lucky birds. Each day that I escape death, each day of suffering that helps to free me from earthly cares, I make a new little paper bird, and add it to the others. This way I look at them and congratulate mylf of the good fortune that my illness has brought me. Becau, thanks to it, I have the opportunity to improve my character." “那是我的吉祥鸟。每当我从死神那儿挣脱出来的那一天,每当病痛将我从尘世烦恼中解放出来的那一天,我都要叠一只新的小纸鸟,加到原有的纸鸟群里去。我就这样看着这些纸鸟,庆幸病痛给自己带来的好运。因为正是我的病痛使我有了怡养性情的机会。”
Once again, outside in the open air, I tore into little pieces a small notebook with questions that I'd prepared in advance for inter views with the patients of the atomic ward. Among them was the question: Do you really think that Hiroshima is the liveliest city in Japan? I never asked it. But I could read the answer in every eye.从医院出来,我又一次地撕碎了一个小笔记本,那上面记着我预先想好准备在采访原子病区的病人时提问的一些问题,其中有一个问题就是:你是否真的认为广岛是日本最充满活力的城市?我一直没问这问题,但我已能从每个人的眼神中体会出这个问题的答案。 (选自埃德•凯编播的美国广播节目 |
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第三课
沙漠之舟
艾尔•戈尔
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I was standing in the sun on the hot steel deck of a fishing ship capable of processing a fifty-ton catch on a good day. But it wasn' t a good day. We were anchored in what ud to be the most productive fishing site in all of central Asia, but as I looked out over the bow , the prospects of a good catch looked bleak. Where there should have been gentle blue-green waves lapping against the side of the ship, there was nothing but hot dry sand – as far as I could e in all directions. The other ships of the fleet were also at rest in the sand, scattered in the dunes that stretched all the way to the horizon . Ten year s ago the Aral was the fourth-largest inland a in the world, comparable to the largest of North America's Great Lakes. Now it is disappearing becau the water that ud to feed it has been diverted in an ill-considered irrigation scheme to grow cotton In the ur t. The new
shoreline was almost forty kilometers across the sand from where the fishing fleet was now permanently docked. Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Muynak the people were still canning fish – brought not from the Aral Sea but shipped by rail through Siberia from the Pacific Ocean, more than a thousand miles away.
我头顶烈日站在一艘渔船的滚烫的钢甲板上。这艘渔船在丰收季节一天所处理加工的鱼可达15吨。但现在可不是丰收季节。这艘渔船此时此刻停泊的地方虽说曾是整个中亚地区最大的渔业基地,但当我站在船头向远处眺望时,却看出渔业丰收的希望非常渺茫。极目四顾,原先那种湛蓝色海涛轻拍船舷的景象已不复存在,取而代之的是茫茫的一片干燥灼热的沙漠。渔船队的其他渔船也都搁浅在沙漠上,散见于陂陀起伏、绵延至天边的沙丘间。十年前,咸海还是世界上第四大内陆湖泊,可与北美大湖区五大湖中的最大湖泊相媲美。而今,由于兴建了一项考虑欠周的水利工程,原来注入此湖的水被引入沙漠灌溉棉田,咸海这座大湖的水面已渐渐变小,新形成的湖岸距离这些渔船永远停泊的位置差不多有40公里远。与此同时,这儿附近的莫里那克镇上人们仍在生产鱼罐头,但所用的鱼已不是咸海所产,而是从一千多英里以外的太平洋渔业基地穿越西伯利亚运到这儿来的。
My arch for the underlying caus of the environmental crisis has led me to travel aro
und the world to examine and study many of the images of destruction. At the very bottom of the earth, high in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, with the sun glaring at midnight through a hole in the sky, I stood in the unbelievable coldness and talked with a scientist in the late tall of 1988 about the tunnel he was digging through time. Slipping his parka back to reveal a badly burned face that was cracked and peeling, he pointed to the annual layers of ice in a core sample dug from the glacier on which we were standing. He moved his finger back in time to the ice of two decades ago. "Here's where the U. S Congress pasd the Clean Air Act, ” he said. At the bottom of the world, two continents away from Washington, D. C., even a small reduction in one country's emissions had changed the amount of pollution found in the remotest end least accessible place on earth.我因要对造成环境危机的原因进行调查而得以周游世界,考察和研究许多类似这样破坏生态环境的事例。一九八八年深秋时节,我来到地球的最南端。高耸的南极山脉中太阳在午夜穿过天空中的一个孔洞照射着地面,我站在令人难以置信的寒冷中,与一位科学家进行着一场谈话,内容是他正在挖掘的时间隧道。这位科学家一撩开他的派克皮大衣,我便注意到他脸上因烈日的曝晒而皮肤皲裂,干裂的皮屑正一层层地剥落。他一边讲话一边
指给我看。从我们脚下的冰川中挖出的一块岩心标本上的年层。他将手指.到二十年前的冰层上,告诉我说,“这儿就是美国国会审议通过化空气法案的地方。”这里虽处地球之顶端,距美国首都华盛顿两大洲之遥,但世界上任何一个国家只要将废气排放量减少一席在空气污染程度上引起的相应变化便能在南极这个地球上最偏而人迹难至的地方反映出来。
But the most significant change thus far in the earth' s atmosphere is the one that began with the industrial r evolution early in the last century and has picked up speed ever since. Industry meant coal, and later oil, and we began to burn lots of it – bringing rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) , with its ability to trap more heat in the atmosphere and slowly warm the earth. Fewer than a hundred yards from the South Pole, upwind from the ice runway where the ski plane lands and keeps its engines running to prevent the metal parts from freeze-locking together, scientists monitor the air ver al times ever y day to chart the cour of that inexorable change. During my visit, I watched one scientist draw the results of that day's measurements, pushing the end of a steep line still higher on the graph. He told me how easy it is – there at the end of the earth – to e that this enormous change in the global atmosphere is still picking up speed.迄今为止,地球大气
层最重要的变化始于上世纪初的工业命,变化速度自那以后逐渐加快。工业意味着先是煤、后是石油消耗。我们燃烧了大量的煤和石油——导致大气层二氧化碳含的增加,这就使更多的热量得以留存在大气层中,从而使地球的候逐渐变暖。离南极极点不到一百码远,在雪上飞机降落的冰铺道上风处,科学家们一日数次地测量大气,以便绘制图表记录下无情的变化。雪上飞机在冰铺跑道上降落后,引擎仍得保持运聋以防金属部件冻住而无法发动。在我访问期间,我观看了一位科家绘出那天的测量结果,把图表上一条斜度很大的上升的线再上推进。他告诉我——在这地球的尽头——很容易看清全球大层的巨大变化的速度仍在加快。