听美国故事练听力 27

　　(MUSIC)Our story today is called "To Build a Fire." It was written by JackLondon. Here is Harry² Monroe with the story.
(MUSIC)Storyteller: The man walked down the trail³ on a cold, gray day. Purewhite snow and ice covered the Earth for as far as he could see. Thiswas his first winter in Alaska. He was wearing heavy clothes and furboots. But he still felt cold and uncomfortable.
The man was on his way to a camp near Henderson Creek⁴. His friendswere already there. He expected to reach Henderson Creek by sixo'clock that evening. It would be dark by then. His friends would havea fire and hot food ready for him.
A dog walked behind the man. It was a big gray animal, half dog andhalf wolf. The dog did not like the extreme⁵ cold. It knew the weatherwas too cold to travel.
The man continued to walk down the trail. He came to a frozen⁶ streamcalled Indian Creek. He began to walk on the snow-covered ice. It wasa trail that would lead him straight to Henderson Creek and hisfriends.
As he walked, he looked carefully at the ice in front of him. Once, hestopped suddenly, and then walked around a part of the frozen stream.
He saw that an underground spring flowed under the ice at that spot.
It made the ice thin. If he stepped there, he might break through theice into a pool of water. To get his boots wet in such cold weathermight kill him. His feet would turn to ice quickly. He could freeze todeath.
At about twelve o'clock, the man decided⁷ to stop to eat his lunch. Hetook off the glove on his right hand. He opened his jacket and shirt,and pulled out his bread and meat. This took less than twenty seconds.
Yet, his fingers began to freeze.
He hit his hand against his leg several times until he felt a sharppain. Then he quickly put his glove on his hand. He made a fire,beginning with small pieces of wood and adding larger ones. He sat ona snow-covered log⁸ and ate his lunch. He enjoyed the warm fire for afew minutes. Then he stood up and started walking on the frozen streamagain.
A half hour later, it happened. At a place where the snow seemed verysolid, the ice broke. The man's feet sank into the water. It was notdeep, but his legs got wet to the knees. The man was angry. Theaccident would delay⁹ his arrival¹⁰ at the camp. He would have to build afire now to dry his clothes and boots.
He walked over to some small trees. They were covered with snow. Intheir branches were pieces of dry grass and wood left by flood watersearlier in the year. He put several large pieces of wood on the snow,under one of the trees. On top of the wood, he put some grass and drybranches. He pulled off his gloves, took out his matches, and lightedthe fire. He fed the young flame with more wood. As the fire grewstronger, he gave it larger pieces of wood.
He worked slowly and carefully. At sixty degrees below zero, a manwith wet feet must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire.
While he was walking, his blood had kept all parts of his body warm.
Now that he had stopped, cold was forcing his blood to withdraw¹¹ deeperinto his body. His wet feet had frozen. He could not feel his fingers.
His nose was frozen, too. The skin all over his body felt cold.
Now, however, his fire was beginning to burn more strongly. He wassafe. He sat under the tree and thought of the old men in Fairbanks.
The old men had told him that no man should travel alone in the Yukonwhen the temperature is sixty degrees below zero. Yet here he was. Hehad had an accident. He was alone. And he had saved himself. He hadbuilt a fire.
Those old men were weak, he thought. A real man could travel alone. Ifa man stayed calm, he would be all right. The man's boots were coveredwith ice. The strings¹² on his boots were as hard as steel. He wouldhave to cut them with his knife.
He leaned¹³ back against the tree to take out his knife. Suddenly,without warning¹⁴, a heavy mass of snow dropped down. His movement hadshaken the young tree only a tiny bit. But it was enough to cause thebranches of the tree to drop their heavy load. The man was shocked. Hesat and looked at the place where the fire had been.
The old men had been right, he thought. If he had another man withhim, he would not be in any danger now. The other man could build thefire. Well, it was up to him to build the fire again. This time, hemust not fail.
The man collected more wood. He reached into his pocket for thematches. But his fingers were frozen. He could not hold them. He beganto hit his hands with all his force against his legs.
After a while, feeling came back to his fingers. The man reached againinto his pocket for the matches. But the tremendous¹⁵ cold quickly drovethe life out of his fingers. All the matches fell onto the snow. Hetried to pick one up, but failed.
The man pulled on his glove and again beat his hand against his leg.
Then he took the gloves off both hands and picked up all the matches.
He gathered them together. Holding them with both hands, he scratchedthe matches along his leg. They immediately caught fire.
He held the blazing¹⁶ matches to a piece of wood. After a while, hebecame aware that he could smell his hands burning. Then he began tofeel the pain. He opened his hands, and the blazing matches fell on tothe snow. The flame went out in a puff¹⁷ of gray smoke.
The man looked up. The dog was still watching him. The man got anidea. He would kill the dog and bury his hands inside its warm body.
When the feeling came back to his fingers, he could build anotherfire. He called to the dog. The dog heard danger in the man's voice.
It backed away.
The man called again. This time the dog came closer. The man reachedfor his knife. But he had forgotten that he could not bend hisfingers. He could not kill the dog, because he could not hold hisknife.
The fear of death came over the man. He jumped up and began to run.
The running began to make him feel better. Maybe running would makehis feet warm. If he ran far enough, he would reach his friends atHenderson Creek. They would take care of him.
It felt strange to run and not feel his feet when they hit the ground.
He fell several times. He decided to rest a while. As he lay in thesnow, he noticed that he was not shaking. He could not feel his noseor fingers or feet. Yet, he was feeling quite warm and comfortable. Herealized he was going to die.
Well, he decided, he might as well take it like a man. There wereworse ways to die.
The man closed his eyes and floated into the most comfortable sleep hehad ever known¹⁸.
The dog sat facing him, waiting. Finally, the dog moved closer to theman and caught the smell of death. The animal threw back its head. Itlet out a long, soft cry to the cold stars in the black sky.
And then it tuned¹⁹ and ran toward²⁰ Henderson Creek…where it knew therewas food and a fire.
(MUSIC)Announcer: You have just heard the AMERICAN STORY called "To Build aFire." It was written by Jack¹ London and adapted for Special Englishby Dona de Sanctis. Your storyteller was Harry Monroe. For VOA SpecialEnglish, this is Shep O'Neal.
(MUSIC)

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 trail   

n.踪迹，痕迹，一串，尾部，小径，尾，持枪姿势；vt.拖，尾随，追踪，落后于

参考例句：

• The car raised a trail of dust.汽车掀起了一股尘土。
• The hound found the trail of the rabbit.猎狗发现了兔子的踪迹。

4 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

5 extreme   

adj.末端的，尽头的；极度的，极端的；n.极度，最大程度

参考例句：

• She lived on the extreme edge of the forest.她住在森林的最边缘。
• His views are rather extreme.他的见解相当偏激。

6 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

7 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。

8 log   

n.记录，圆木，日志；v.伐木，切，航行

参考例句：

• They log for a living.他们以伐木为生。
• And then what do you do with that log?然后你要拿那些记录做什么呢？

9 delay   

v./ n.拖延，延误，延迟，延期；耽搁

参考例句：

• The strike caused a great delay in the delivery of the mail.这次罢工严重地延误了邮件的投递。
• I couldn't judge whether the delay was good or bad.我不能断定这样延迟是好还是坏。

10 arrival   

n.到达，达到，到达者

参考例句：

• She's impatient for her father's arrival.她急切地盼望着父亲的到来。
• The new arrival was none other than the President.刚到的不是别人，正是总统。

11 withdraw   

vt.收回，撤消，撤退；vi.缩回，退出，撤退

参考例句：

• I want to withdraw a statement I made earlier.我想收回我早些时候发表的一项声明。
• The general decided to withdraw his soldiers.那位将军决定撤军。

12 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

13 leaned   

v.（使）倾斜，屈身( lean的过去式和过去分词 )；倚；依赖；使斜靠

参考例句：

• He leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly together. 他俯身向前，双手十字交错地紧握着。
• He leaned back, exulting at the success of his plan. 他向后一靠，为自己计划成功而得意扬扬。

14 warning   

n.警告，告诫，训诫，警戒，警报

参考例句：

• The other side paid no attention to our warning.对方不重视我方的警告。
• He realized that his doctor was warning him off drink.他意识到医生在告诫他戒酒。

15 tremendous   

adj.巨大的，极大的；很好的，非常好的

参考例句：

• This book was the outcome of a tremendous amount of scientific work.这本书是大量科学研究工作的成果。
• There is a tremendous difference between them.他们之间有着极大的差别。

16 blazing   

a.强烈的，燃烧的，炫目的

参考例句：

• A huge fire was blazing in the fireplace. 壁炉中火烧得正旺。
• a blazing hot day 大热天

17 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

18 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

19 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。