Lesson32 John Henry
John Henry is one of the famous heroes of American folklore. He worked on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad toward the end of the nineteenth century.
John Henry was very strong. He made his mark in history because he could work harder and faster than any other man on the railroad. Curious people came from far and wide to see him hammer steel spikes through the hard earth. When the Big Bend Tunnel was started, trouble began. The mountain seemed impossible to get through. The men who were building the railroad bought a new invention, a drilling machine, to try to speed up the tunneling. The other railroad workers welcomed the machine, but not John Henry. He stubbornly insisted he could work harder and faster than any machine. "I'll die with a hammer in my hand, before I let a machine make a fool out of me," he said.
And so a competition was planned. It would last for 45 minutes, or until one of the competitions gave up. The winner would be the man or machine who had drilled fartherest into the rock. Hundreds of people went to Big Bend to watch this great attraction.
After 30 minutes, the machine broke down, but John Henry kept right on working for 45 minutes. The machine had drilled only nine feet. John Henry, 15 feet. He had won a great victory, but the effort had been too much. As the song goes, "He died with the hammer in his hand, Lord, Lord ... died with the hammer in his hand."
约翰亨利
约翰亨利是美国民间传说中一位著名的英雄人物。他于19世纪末在切萨皮克和俄亥俄铁路上工作。
约翰亨利非常强壮。他之所以名垂史册是因为他比铁路上的任何其他人工作更努力更快。好奇的人们从四面八方赶来看他用锤子把铁钎打入坚硬的土地。
大本德隧道开始修建的时候遇到了困难。看起来没有可能打通大山了。将新发明的钻机买了回来，以加快开凿隧道的速度。其他的铁路工人都很欢迎这种机器，但是亨利不喜欢。他固执地认为自己工作起来比任何机器更努力更快。“我宁可手拿锤子死去，也不愿受机器的愚弄。”他说。
于是，人们策划了一场比赛。比赛将持续45分钟，或者到比赛的一方放弃为止。胜者将是在岩石上开凿距离最远的机器或人。成百上千的人来到大本德观看这场引人注目的比赛。
30分钟后，机器因故障停了下来，但约翰亨利没有停，他一直工作了45分钟。机器仅开凿了9英尺，而约翰亨利开凿了15英尺。他大获全胜。然而这个努力的代价太大了，正如歌中所唱，“他手拿锤子死去了，主呀，主呀，他手拿锤子死去了。” |