英语听力：Beethoven 贝多芬 - 15

 This sonata¹ Hammerklavier Op 106 is widely accepted as one of the greatest works by Beethoven. It’s, it always presented in my mind that this perhaps signified his graduation from telling us about his material experience and going into the world of total spirit, and maybe this is the border where he starts telling us about his spiritual experience of his life from the spiritual point of view. I don’t know if there are any words to describe this, tune², and indeed they call it a bashre. It's beyond description. Some people say it’s final acceptance of something, maybe. But it’s from the part of it. But it’s in a different world.

 

I think it's the slow movement that is the most tragic³, the slow movement that Beethoven wrote. Openly tragic that it is words, it is words of tragedy? Absolutely, in a kind of extrovert⁴ way. He could no longer hear himself play the piano, and that must have been something very hard to take. Up to then, he could always hear just a little bit .

 

Beethoven’s ear trumpets⁵ are painful testament⁶ to the fact that he never gave up the struggle to hear his music.

 

There’s a story about Beethoven holding a pencil or a piece of wood between his teeth, and touching⁷ it to the keyboard at one point, because if he did that when he was playing, it would enhance his hearing.

 

Profoundly deaf for the last 9 years of his life, Beethoven supplied notebooks to people so they could communicate with him in writing. The gossip, malice⁸ and humor in these conversation books revealed that Beethoven’s final years were not all isolation⁹ and misery¹⁰. 

 

After about 1818, Beethoven became a much more reclusive figure, a much more obviously eccentric character. He paid much less attention to his dress, to his external appearance even to his cleanliness, even being arrested as a tramp around 1820.

 

Er, there's one rather nice anecdote¹¹ about his appearance towards the end of his life. He normally appeared very very unkempt. But apparently¹² in this case he appeared beautifully turned out, everything in place. And somebody said that he’s really looking extraordinary well today and he says, ah yes but, what just happened is that, from time to time his friends really feel something should be done about it. And they take away when he is asleep all his old clothes. And they lay out new ones. And Beethoven just gets into them, you know he isn't aware that there’s been any change.

1 sonata   

n.奏鸣曲

参考例句：

• He played a piano sonata of his own composition.他弹奏了一首自作的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• The young boy played the violin sonata masterfully.那个小男孩的小提琴奏鸣曲拉得很熟练。

2 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

3 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

4 extrovert   

n.性格外向的人

参考例句：

• A good salesman is usually an extrovert,who likes to mingle with people.一个好的推销员通常很外向，喜欢和人们交往。
• Do you think you're an extrovert or introvert?你认为你是个性外向的人还是个性内向的人？

5 trumpets   

喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花

参考例句：

• A wreath was laid on the monument to a fanfare of trumpets. 在响亮的号角声中花圈被献在纪念碑前。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

6 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

7 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

8 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

9 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

10 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

11 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。