英语听力：2012-01-11 穿越阿尔匹斯山 Alps-14

 Ok, now, I can easily make a shelter tucked under this little spruce tree here, really, with a minimum of effort. And what I’m gonna do is take this rucksack parachute off. What I’ve got to do is clear a bit of a platform, clear the snow away, break off some of these branches and insulate the bottom with a load of pine, and put some more spruce branches above again to insulate me from above. This will make a perfectly¹ good shelter. It’s easy to cut and thread the supple² pine branches to make a shelter to protect you from the worst of the weather. 

 

And now it’s time to make a fire. But don’t leave it too late. Out here, you should allow plenty of time to do this. The most important thing about making a fire, especially when you are cold and you are tired at the end of the day, is preparation. It’s no good spending a lot of effort to get a little of tinder going and then realize you’ve got no kindling³ to fuel that fire. So what I’ve got here is a really good base of quite damp wood. This is gonna support it and also let some air get to it. I’ve got a bank of snow around here. This is gonna act as a reflector to reflect heat back to me. I’ve got my tinder, some kindling and some bigger wood. And the first thing I need to do is try and get some of this tinder going. And the way I’m gonna do that, I’ve got, it was cool, just a strike and a flint. And I always carry this with me. Obviously not when I’m at home because that would just be weird⁴. But whenever I’m outside, this is the one thing I always have hanging around my neck. That means, whatever the situation I should be able to get a fire going. Or so the theory goes. 

 

And this is a critical time. They always say if you invest the effort early on in a fire, that’s the time that really matters. Now, to make some drinking water. But what I can do now is a little trick, what they call Finnish marshmallows. And if I just get a bit of wood like this, then grab a bit of snow, jam that onto the end of a bit of a stick, stick it into this, get on that, stay on, and put this underneath⁵ it, and the heat of the fire will slowly melt that. It will drip into the cup. And when I’m relaxing, I should have a glass of water in the not-too-distant future. I can now boil some water for a cup of spruce tea.

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 supple   

adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺

参考例句：

• She gets along well with people because of her supple nature.她与大家相处很好，因为她的天性柔和。
• He admired the graceful and supple movements of the dancers.他赞扬了舞蹈演员优雅灵巧的舞姿。

3 kindling   

n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• There were neat piles of kindling wood against the wall. 墙边整齐地放着几堆引火柴。
• "Coal and kindling all in the shed in the backyard." “煤，劈柴，都在后院小屋里。” 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

4 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

5 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。