听播客学英语 224 霍比特人

 　　Are you less than 170cm tall? Do you have hairy feet and toes? You do? Then there may be a job for you.

　　Let me explain. You have probably heard of the writer JRR Tolkien. He wrote the Hobbit and Lord¹ of the Rings, and a number of other books. His books have been translated from English into many other languages. Perhaps you have read some of them. Or perhaps you have seen the Lord of the Rings films, or played Lord of the Rings computer games.

　　Over four years ago, theatre producer Kevin Wallace decided² to turn Lord of the Rings into a musical – a theatre show with music. In March this year the show opened in Toronto in Canada. By that time it had cost about $25million, which makes it one of the most expensive theatre shows ever. Unfortunately the show was not a great success in Canada. Next year the show will open in London. The theatre in London wants to find 20 people to act the parts of Hobbits. But if you are interested you will need to hurry. The auditions³ are next week.

　　Incidentally⁴, when JRR Tolkien was a child, he lived less than 2 kilometers from where I live now. Some people say that places near here gave him the idea for some of the places in his books. I find this difficult to believe. I am afraid also that I consider that Tolkien’s books are rather tedious⁵. He often writes in long and complicated⁶ sentences. The characterisation in his books is poor (“Characterisation” means the way he describes and develops his characters). His books are about fantasy worlds; but in my view they are less interesting than the real world in which we all live.

　　You may not agree with me. JRR Tolkien has a huge number of fans across the world. If, despite my poor opinion of them, you still wish to buy his books, you can do so from Amazon.co.uk.

　　Artwork by Luis Corte Real.

1 lord   

n.上帝，主；主人，长官；君主，贵族

参考例句：

• I know the Lord will look after him.我知道上帝会眷顾他的。
• How good of the Lord not to level it beyond repair!上帝多么仁慈啊，竟没有让这所房子损毁得不可收拾！

2 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。

3 auditions   

n.（对拟做演员、歌手、乐师等人的）试听，试音( audition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Find modeling auditions, casting calls& acting auditions, all in one place. 找一个立体感试听，铸造呼叫和表演试听一体的地方。 来自互联网
• We are now about to start auditions to find a touring guitarist. 我们现在准备找一个新的吉他手。 来自互联网

4 incidentally   

adv.附带地，顺便提及

参考例句：

• Incidentally,I think you still owe me some money.顺便说一句，我想你还欠我一些钱。
• Incidentally,here's a good piece of news.附带告诉你一个好消息。

5 tedious   

adj.冗长的，沉闷的，乏味的

参考例句：

• The tedious job simply ate me up.那单调乏味的工作简直把我烦死了。
• He was not used to the tedious of life in a small country town.他不适应这种乡村小镇的单调生活。

6 complicated   

adj.错综复杂的，麻烦的，结构复杂的

参考例句：

• The poem is so complicated that I cannot make out its meaning.这首诗太复杂，我理解不了它的意思。
• This is the most complicated case I have ever handled.这是我所处理过的最为复杂的案子。