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英语音频杂志:收藏

时间:2013-07-02 08:50来源:互联网 提供网友:mapleleaf   字体: [ ]
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   Collecting things - My Grandmother's elephant

  By Chris Wilson
  My grandmother had a beautiful elephant carved out of sandalwood on her dressing1 table which I secretly used to covet2. I wanted it more than anything in the world. It was about the size of a football and had a cheeky smile. It was inlaid with tiny circular mirrors and mother of pearl, and had real ivory tusks3 and toenails. One day my sister said “Oh Grandma, please can I have it?” and, to my fury and disbelief, she just gave it to her! I immediately made two resolutions: 1) never to speak to either of them ever again.  2) To find another elephant just like it.
  Ever since I have been scouring4 the world. I have rummaged5 round junk shops and antique shops all over Europe, I have been to garage sales and flea6 markets in America, I have hung about in Arab souks and Indian bazaars7, but I have never seen anything quite the same.
  Along the way, however, I have acquired all sorts of other elephants and my collection has grown and grown. I have got  black ebony elephants from Malawi, and a couple of ivory – all, I hasten to add, made a long time ago, before  the ebony trees were chopped down and the ivory trade was made illegal. I also have soap stone elephants from Zimbabwe, and an exotic  Congolese one carved out of bright green malachite. I have a whole family of wooden Thai elephants marching along the top of my piano – sometimes when I sit and play  I could swear they are marching in time to the music. I have two very heavy, long legged elephants which I bought in Khan el Khalili, in Cairo, which I use as bookends, and an enormous fat one from the Sudan which I use as a coffee table. My search goes on, but it gets more and more difficult to find really good pieces. On recent trips to Africa I have noticed how the quality of the workmanship has deteriorated8. In craft markets all over the continent you can find thousands of elephants, but they are nearly all shoddily made, churned out for tourists by people who probably have never seen a real elephant in their lives.
  Why do people collect things? Probably many, like me, don’t set out to do so. You just acquire something, then another and another and then, once you’ve got a small collection you just keep adding to it. I have an uncle who collects key rings – he has hundreds of them from all over the world – but he can’t remember how it started. Other people collect stamps, stones,  beer cans, beer mats, match boxes, all sorts of things. For some it can become a total obsession9 and they will go to any lengths to get something. One of my colleagues collects Royal memorabilia, which to me is the ultimate in bad taste! Her house is crammed10 full of kitsch things like Coronation mugs, ashtrays11 with pictures of Charles and Diana, British flags, tea towels printed with Windsor Castle and even a toilet seat cover with Prince Andrew grinning widely up at you. What is this urge to possess all these things?
  I recently discussed this question with a group of students in Mozambique and what rapidly became evident was that few of them had such an urge. “Why not?” I asked. “I don’t know” said Anotonio. “It’s just not in our culture”.“Does that mean you’re not as materialistic12 as Europeans?”Antonio laughed. “No way! We want cars and houses and fancy things just like anyone else, but we don’t collect knick knacks, things we can’t use”.“I think it’s because of our recent war” said Maria “and the state of the economy. For many years there was nothing to collect, except shells off the beach perhaps”.“? collect shoes” said Teresa, who comes from Angola. “I have over seventy pairs. But I buy them to wear, not just for the sake of having them”.“Oh come on!” laughed Antonio. “Anything you don’t actually need you have for the sake of having it, and you can’t possibly need seventy pairs!”“I do, I need every single pair!” she insisted.“So you are a collector!”“No I’m not!”“Yes you are!” shouted the whole class.
  Paula stuck up her hand. “I’m a collector” she said. “? am a fan of  Julio Iglesias and I have all his CD’s, every  one, even the latest  which, I have to admit, isn’t very good at all”. “So why did you buy it?” I asked. “Well, because I’ve got all the others of course” she said. “And my son collects those little plastic dinosaurs13 you find inside cereal packets. He’s only got to get T Rex and then he’s got the whole set.”“They are exploiting you” said Antonio. “They encourage children to become collectors so that you keep buying more and more. This is something new in our country. Soon we will all be fanatically collecting things, just like everyone else in the world”.
  Harshill, who is of Indian origin, had been silent all this time. He cleared his throat. “One good reason to collect things is that a collection is worth more - how do you say in English? More than the sum of its parts. If you sold your elephants one by one you wouldn’t get nearly as much as if you sold the whole collection. So it is a way of saving money, a good investment.”
  On the way back to my hotel a young boy was selling a badly carved elephant by the side of the road. I didn’t want it but I bought it because I felt sorry for him. Later I thought I should just have given him some money and let him try to sell it to someone else. It would never be part of my collection, each in its own special place in a different part of my house. I imagined walking round looking at them all and thought about what Harshill had said – it’s a way of increasing the value of what you already have - but as usual there was that niggling feeling that my collection, not matter how valuable, would never be complete. Not without my Grandmothers elephant! What a waste for it to be with my sister when it could be, should be,  with me!“Oh well, never mind, try not to be obsessed” I told myself.
  Ever since though, I have been lying awake at night, thinking of it standing14 there on a brass15 table in her hallway, next to the window she always leaves open  for her cat. Her dogs know me, so they won’t be a problem when I climb over the wall in my gloves and balaclava. The whole operation will be over in less than five minutes. The only problem is, having acquired it, what will I do when my sister comes barging in to nose around, as she periodically does, and sees it in pride of place in my house? I’ll have to keep it hidden and then what will be the point of having it? Oh dear. Perhaps I could have a special alarm that would only ring when my sister is on her way. No that’s silly. I’ll just have to move. To another country, under another name, far, far away. But even then, knowing her, she’ll track me down. Oh  – dear Reader, what would you do if you were me?

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 dressing 1uOzJG     
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料
参考例句:
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
2 covet 8oLz0     
vt.垂涎;贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)
参考例句:
  • We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
  • Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。
3 tusks d5d7831c760a0f8d3440bcb966006e8c     
n.(象等动物的)长牙( tusk的名词复数 );獠牙;尖形物;尖头
参考例句:
  • The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
  • Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分(高一)
4 scouring 02d824effe8b78d21ec133da3651c677     
擦[洗]净,冲刷,洗涤
参考例句:
  • The police are scouring the countryside for the escaped prisoners. 警察正在搜索整个乡村以捉拿逃犯。
  • This is called the scouring train in wool processing. 这被称为羊毛加工中的洗涤系列。
5 rummaged c663802f2e8e229431fff6cdb444b548     
翻找,搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 ); 已经海关检查
参考例句:
  • I rummaged through all the boxes but still could not find it. 几个箱子都翻腾遍了也没有找到。
  • The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods. 海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。
6 flea dgSz3     
n.跳蚤
参考例句:
  • I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话,我就要对他不客气了。
  • Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。
7 bazaars 791ec87c3cd82d5ee8110863a9e7f10d     
(东方国家的)市场( bazaar的名词复数 ); 义卖; 义卖市场; (出售花哨商品等的)小商品市场
参考例句:
  • When the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars. 如果天公有意,昌德拉卜的集市也会大放光彩。
  • He visited the shops and bazaars. 他视察起各色铺子和市场来。
8 deteriorated a4fe98b02a18d2ca4fe500863af93815     
恶化,变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化,不久便去世了。
  • His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化,日甚一日。
9 obsession eIdxt     
n.困扰,无法摆脱的思想(或情感)
参考例句:
  • I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
  • She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。
10 crammed e1bc42dc0400ef06f7a53f27695395ce     
adj.塞满的,挤满的;大口地吃;快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满;填入;临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)
参考例句:
  • He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
  • All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。
11 ashtrays 642664ae8a3b4343205ba84d91cf2996     
烟灰缸( ashtray的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • A simple question: why are there ashtrays in a no-smoking restaurant? 问题是:一个禁止吸烟的餐厅为什么会有烟灰缸呢?
  • Avoid temptation by throwing away all cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays. 把所有的香烟,打火机,和烟灰缸扔掉以避免引诱。
12 materialistic 954c43f6cb5583221bd94f051078bc25     
a.唯物主义的,物质享乐主义的
参考例句:
  • She made him both soft and materialistic. 她把他变成女性化而又实际化。
  • Materialistic dialectics is an important part of constituting Marxism. 唯物辩证法是马克思主义的重要组成部分。
13 dinosaurs 87f9c39b9e3f358174d58a584c2727b4     
n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 );守旧落伍的人,过时落后的东西
参考例句:
  • The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
15 brass DWbzI     
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器
参考例句:
  • Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
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