美国学生世界地理教材 第125期:一英里高的一堆灰(3)

 No one knows when Vesuvius may do the same thing again, but the people in Naples never seem to think of such a thing; 没有人知道维苏威火山会在哪一天再次制造这样的悲剧，但是那不勒斯人似乎从不考虑这件事，

they don’t worry; they go about the streets singing happily; in fact, it’s one of the few cities in the World where people sing on the streets. 他们并不担心，他们高兴地唱着歌在大街上走着。事实上，世界上人们在街上唱歌的城市很少，那不勒斯是其中之一。

We may hear people whistling on the street in this country, but seldom, if ever, do we hear them sing on the streets.  在美国，也许会听到有人在街上吹口哨，但是我们几乎听不到有人在街上唱歌。

Singing may not be a sign of happiness at all, but people in Naples sing and sing, especially at night.  歌唱也许并不代表着快乐，但生活在那不勒斯的人们不停地唱着，尤其是在晚上。

Taxi drivers sing, ragged¹ street urchins³ sing, beggars⁴ sing, and they sing songs you hear at concerts or in the opera.  出租车司机在唱，路边衣衫褴褛的顽童在唱，乞丐也在唱。他们唱着那些你会在音乐会或歌剧中听到的歌曲。

One of the greatest singers that ever lived, who now is dead, but whom you can still hear singing on the phonograph, was once a street urchin² in Naples.  有一位已逝的大歌唱家，他曾是世界上最伟大的歌唱家之一，他的歌声你现在还可以从留声机中听到，他曾经就是那不勒斯街头的一个顽童。

Then he came to America. His name was Caruso. 后来他去了美国，他的名字叫卡鲁索。

The Italian language is the language of singing, the language of music.  意大利语是歌唱的语言，是音乐的语言。

Some one has said you can’t help singing if you speak Italian.  有人说过，当你说意大利语的时候，你会情不自禁地唱起来。

Even the sheet music we use in this country is usually written in Italian and the directions for playing are given in Italian.  在美国，乐谱常常用意大利语来谱写，演奏说明也是用意大利语。

In Italian almost every word ends in a vowel⁵, that is, in a, e, i, o, or u.  意大利语中的每一个单词几乎都是以元音结尾的，也就是以a,e,i,o,u结尾。

Piano and ’cello, soprano and alto are Italian words.  比如piano（钢琴），cello（大提琴），soprano（女高音）和alto（女低音）都是意大利语。

Even Naples ends in a vowel, for in Italian it is called Napoli. 甚至那不勒斯这个词也是以元音结尾的，因为它在意大利语中叫做Napoli。

The name “Goat” is neither pretty nor musical and it wouldn’t sound well in a song,  “山羊”（Goat）这个单词并不美妙，也不悦耳。

but across the Bay of Naples is an island the name of which in English is goat;  但在那不勒斯海湾对面有一座岛屿，它的英文名字叫“goat”（山羊），

but in Italian it is “Capri,” and songs are sung about “Bella Capri”—the beautiful Capri—the beautiful Goat Island. 但在意大利语中它叫“Capri”（卡布里）。有一首歌叫《美丽的卡布里》——美丽的卡布里——美丽的山羊岛。

In the rocky shore of Capri there is a sea cave which you can only enter in a rowboat through a low opening.  在卡布里岛布满岩石的岸边，有一个海上的洞穴，你只能从一个低矮的洞口乘划艇进入。

The opening is so low you have to duck your head, and if the waves are high you can’t go through at all.  那个洞口实在是太小了，你不得不低下头才能进去，并且，如果海浪高一点，你根本就无法通过。

The cave is called the Blue Grotto⁶, for inside this rocky cave the water is such a beautiful clear blue  这个洞穴被称作“蓝洞”，因为在这个岩石构成的洞穴中，海水的蓝色是那样的美丽明净，

that it seems almost as if your boat were floating on sky instead of on water.  你似乎觉得自己的小船好像是在天空中漂浮而不是在水上。

What makes it so blue?  是什么使它如此的蓝呢？

If you dip some of the water up in a bottle to take home as a souvenir 如果你用瓶子在这里装点带回家作纪念品

—as I have known people to do—the water is just as colorless as the water in your own bathtub. ——就像我所知道的，人们通常都会这样做——瓶里的水就会像你家浴缸里的水一样，是无色的。

1 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

2 urchin   

n.顽童；海胆

参考例句：

• You should sheer off the urchin.你应该躲避这顽童。
• He is a most wicked urchin.他是个非常调皮的顽童。

3 urchins   

n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆

参考例句：

• Some dozen barefooted urchins ganged in from the riverside. 几十个赤足的顽童从河边成群结队而来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• People said that he had jaundice and urchins nicknamed him "Yellow Fellow." 别人说他是黄胆病，孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

4 beggars   

乞丐( beggar的名词复数 )； 家伙

参考例句：

• The rubbish left behind by the Cup Final crowd beggars description. 观看决赛的观众们丢下的垃圾实非笔墨所能描述。
• To give money to beggars sometimes amounts to encouraging begging. 给乞丐钱，有时就等于鼓励行乞。

5 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

6 grotto   

n.洞穴

参考例句：

• We reached a beautiful grotto,whose entrance was almost hiden by the vine.我们到达了一个美丽的洞穴，洞的进口几乎被藤蔓遮掩著。
• Water trickles through an underground grotto.水沿着地下岩洞流淌。