Lesson 1

 

　　A Puma1 at large

 

　　逃遁的美洲獅

 

　　Where must the puma have come from?

 

　　Pumas2 are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted3 forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily4 similar.

 

　　The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 'a large cat' only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of "cat-like noises' at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully5 convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.

 

　　New words and expressions 生詞和短語

 

　　puma

 

　　n.   美洲獅

 

　　spot

 

　　v.   看出，發現

 

　　evidence

 

　　n.   證據

 

　　accumulate

 

　　v.   積累，積聚

 

　　oblige

 

　　v.   使……感到必須

 

　　hunt

 

　　n.   追獵；尋找

 

　　blackberry

 

　　n.   黑莓

 

　　human being

 

　　人類

 

　　corner

 

　　v.   使走投無路，使陷入困境

 

　　trail

 

　　n.   一串，一系列

 

　　print

 

　　n.   印痕

 

　　cling

 

　　v.   粘

 

　　convince

 

　　v.   使……信服

 

　　somehow

 

　　adv. 不知怎么搞地，不知什么原因

 

　　disturb

 

　　v.   令人不安

 

　　參考譯文

 

　　美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動物，產于美洲。當倫敦動物園接到報告說，在倫敦以南45英里處發現一只美洲獅時，這些報告并沒有受到重視。可是，隨著證據越來越多，動物園的專家們感到有必要進行一番調查，因為凡是聲稱見到過美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相似。

 

　　搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開始的。那里的一位婦女在采摘黑莓時的看見“一只大貓”，離她僅5碼遠，她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。專家證實，美洲獅非被逼得走投無路，是決不會傷人的。事實上搜尋工作很困難，因為常常是早晨在甲地發現那只美洲獅，晚上卻在20英里外的乙地發現它的蹤跡。無論它走哪兒，一路上總會留下一串死鹿及死兔子之類的小動物，在許多地方看見爪印，灌木叢中發現了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。有人抱怨說夜里聽見“像貓一樣的叫聲”；一位商人去釣魚，看見那只美洲獅在樹上。專家們如今已經完全肯定那只動物就是美洲獅，但它是從哪兒來的呢？由于全國動物園沒有一家報告丟了美洲獅，因此那只美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養的，不知怎么設法逃出來了。搜尋工作進行了好幾個星期，但始終未能逮住那只美洲獅。想到在寧靜的鄉村里有一頭危險的野獸繼續逍遙流竄，真令人擔心。

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　  Lesson 2

 

    Thirteen equals one 十三等于一

 

　　Was the vicar pleased that the clock was striking1? Why?

 

　　Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.

 

　　One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer2.

 

　　'Whatever are you doing up here Bill?' asked the vicar in surprise.

 

　　'I'm trying to repair the bell,' answered Bill. 'I've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.'

 

　　'You certainly did give me a surprise!' said the vicar. 'You've probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is working again.'

 

　　That's the trouble, vicar,' answered Bill. 'It's working all right, but I'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen times and there's nothing I can do about it."

 

　　We'll get used to that, Bill,' said the vicar. "Thirteen is not as good as one, but it's better than nothing. Now let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea.'

 

　　New words and expressions 生詞和短語

 

　　equal

 

　　v.   等于

 

　　vicar

 

　　n.   牧師

 

　　raise

 

　　v.   募集，籌（款）

 

　　torchlight

 

　　n.   電筒光

 

　　參考譯文

 

　　我們教區的牧師總是為各種各樣的事籌集資金。但始終未能籌足資金把教堂的鐘修好。教堂的鐘很大，以前不分晝夜打點報時，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無聲無息了。

 

　　一天夜里，我們的牧師突然被驚醒了，大鐘又在“打點”報時了！他一看表，才1點鐘，可是那鐘一邊敲了13下才停。牧師拿著一支電筒走上鐘樓想去看看究竟發生了什么事情。借著電筒光。他看見一個人，馬上認出那是本地雜貨店主比爾.威爾金斯。

 

　　“你究竟在這上面干什么，比爾？”牧師驚訝地問。

 

　　“我想把這口鐘修好，”比爾回答說。“好幾個星期了，我天天夜里到鐘樓上來。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚。”

 

　　“你確實使我大吃了一驚！”牧師說，“也許同時你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。不過，鐘又能報時了，我還是很高興的。”

 

　　“問題就在這里，牧師，”比爾回答說。“不錯，鐘能報時了，但是，恐怕每到1點鐘，它總要敲13下，對此我已無能為力了。”

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    Lesson 3

 

　　An unknown goddess 無名女神

 

　　How did the archaeologists know that the statue was a goddess?

 

　　Some time ago, an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean island of Kea. An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory1 of Ayia Irini. The city at one time must have been prosperous, for it enjoyed a high level of civilization. Houses -- often three storeys high -- were built of stone. They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls. The city was equipped with a drainage system, for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets.

 

　　The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains3 dating from the fifteenth century B.C. It's missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hips4. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful5 indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.

 

　　New words and expressions 生詞和短語

 

　　goddess(tile)

 

　　n.   女神

 

　　archaeologist

 

　　n.   考古學家

 

　　Aegean

 

　　adj. 愛玲海的

 

　　explore

 

　　v.   考察，勘探

 

　　promontory

 

　　n.   海角

 

　　prosperous

 

　　adj. （經濟上）繁榮的，昌盛的

 

　　civilization

 

　　n.   文明

 

　　storey

 

　　n.   樓層

 

　　drainage

 

　　n.   排水

 

　　worship

 

　　n.   祟拜

 

　　sacred

 

　　adj. 宗教的，神圣的

 

　　fragment

 

　　n.   碎片

 

　　remains

 

　　n.   遺物，遺跡，廢墟

 

　　classical

 

　　adj. （希臘和羅馬）古化的

 

　　reconstruct

 

　　v.   修復

 

　　rest

 

　　v.   倚放，放置

 

　　hip2

 

　　n.   屁股，臀部

 

　　full-length

 

　　adj. （裙衣）拖地長的

 

　　graceful

 

　　adj. 優雅的

 

　　identity

 

　　n.   身份

 

　　參考譯文

 

　　不久之前，在愛琴海的基亞島上，考古工作者有一項有趣的發現。一個美國考古隊在阿伊亞.依里尼海角的一座古城里考察了一座廟宇。這座古城肯定一度很繁榮，因為它曾享有高度的文明，房子一般有3層樓高，用石塊修建。里面房間很大，墻壁裝飾華麗。城里甚至還敷設了排水系統，因為在狹窄的街道底下發現了許許多多陶土制作的排水管道。

　　考古工作者考察的這座廟宇從公元前15世紀直到羅馬時代一直是祭祀祈禱的場所。在廟中最神圣的一間殿堂里發現了15尊陶雕像的碎片。每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上過色。其中有一尊雕像，她的軀體是在公元前15世紀的歷史文物中發現的，而她那身異處的腦袋卻碰巧是在公元前5世紀的文物中找到的。她的腦袋一定是在古希臘羅馬時代就為人所發現，并受到精心的保護。卻使在當時，它也屬歷史悠久的珍奇之物。考古工作者把這些碎片重新拼裝起來后，驚奇地發現那位女神原來是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。她身高3英尺，雙手叉腰。身穿一條拖地長裙，盡管上了年紀，但體態確實優美。不過，考古工作者至今未能確定這位女神的身份。

 

2020年全國新東方在線新概念英語第三冊聽力材料【lesson1-lesson3】。復習背誦的時間用得越多，記住的效果就越佳。例如，早晨背誦過的課文或知識，晚上睡前以及第二天起床后，應進行一次復背，并在每周六或周日再作適當的溫習背誦，以后過一個月再復背一次。這樣，可保證很長一段時期不會遺忘。