英语听力精选进阶版 7075（在线收听）

Background:住在法国阿尔卑斯山脚下的美丽田园一位农民最近被自己的邻居告上了法庭，原因是这位农民师傅家的牛群身上带的铃铛叮叮作响吵的邻居晚上无法入睡。然而牛群身上的这些铃铛的响声只是法国乡村生活里各种各样声响的一部分。

Michel Deronzier grazes 放牛 his herd （牛）群 of 70 dairy cattle 乳牛 on fields just outside the village of Villaz, in the pastoral bliss 美丽的田园 of a French Alpine 阿尔卑斯山的 mountainside.

Several of the animals wear cow-bells 牛铃铛 - not for decoration, he insists, but for the very practical 实际的，实用的 reason that they can be more easily located 找到 if they stray 走丢了，迷路了.

But several of Monsieur Deronzier's neighbours have had enough 受够了. They say that the constant chiming 响声 of the cow-bells is stopping them sleeping, and now one of them has filed a suit 上告 at the courts demanding that the herd be kept away.

Monsieur Deronzier is naturally 当然 furious, but he might be comforted if he knew that his case is far from unique 一点儿都不罕见. In recent years across France there's been a series of lawsuits over such rustic 乡下的 nuisances as the crowing 啼叫 of cocks 公鸡, the quacking (鸭子) 呷呷叫声 of ducks or the clanging 叮当声 of church bells.

It's a reflection of the changing sociological 社会学的 face of the French provinces 省. Most of the lawsuits are filed by a new type of rural inhabitant 农村的住户: former town-dwellers 曾经的城市居民 who've come in search of the silence and instead find life in the countryside disquietingly 令人心烦的 loud.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

grazes 放牛

herd （牛）群

dairy cattle 乳牛

pastoral bliss 美丽的田园

Alpine 阿尔卑斯山的

cow-bells 牛铃铛

practical 实际的, 实用的

located 找到

stray 走丢了，迷路了

had enough 受够了

chiming 响声

filed a suit 上告

naturally 当然

far from unique 一点儿都不罕见

rustic 乡下的

crowing 啼叫

cocks 公鸡

quacking (鸭子) 呷呷叫声

clanging 叮当声

sociological 社会学的

provinces 省

rural inhabitant 农村的住户

former town-dwellers 曾经的城市居民

disquietingly 令人心烦的

Questions and Answers

1. How many cows does Michel Deronzier own?

He has a herd of 70 cattle – so he owns 70 cows.

2. Why do his cows wear bells?

They wear bells so that they can be more easily found if they wander away.

3. Is this the first court case of this kind?

No, this case is ‘far from unique’. There have been other court cases over noisy animals and church bells.

4. What sort of people have been complaining about noise in the countryside?

A new type of resident has been complaining – ‘former town-dwellers’, so people who used to live in towns.