AMERICAN STORIES - Riverman

AMERICAN STORIES - Riverman
By Stewart Edward White

Broadcast: Saturday, September 25, 2004

Now the VOA Special English Program American Stories. Our story today is the Riverman, it was written by Stewart Edward White. Here is Shep O'Neal with our story.

I first met him in a small lumber¹ town; I was sitting in front of a hotel watching people pass by. It was a warm day, now and then a group of laughing rivermen marched by. One group especially caught my eye, they wore bright red shirts and heavy boots. Suddenly one of them came up to me, "Say, Mister²," he said," You look mighty³ interested. Are we your long lost friends?" His voice was friendly enough, but he seemed ready for any answer, trouble if I wanted it or help if I needed it.

"Can you tell me where all these people are going?" I asked. He pushed his little cap farther⁴ back on his head. "Burling match," he said, "come on." I joined him and we followed the crowd to the river. There we saw 6 men running toward⁵ a river with the peaveys they used to control logs⁷. They used the round metal hooks⁸ on the end of the peaveys to push a heavy log⁶ into the water. Then one of the men took a long leap and landed on the end of the log. The force of his jump pushed the log out into the middle of the river. The man, arms folded over his chest, stood straight up like a statue of bronze. The crowd roared¹⁰ its approval¹¹.

The man's name was Darrell. He was a small man, but he had wide shoulders and long arms. He walked to the center of the long heavy log and turned to face the crowd. Then slowly he began to walk, not forward or backward, but in the same place, in the center of the log. The log began to turn under his feet. His folded arms, his straight back did not move only his legs and feet. Soon the log was spinning. Suddenly the man jumped up in the air, he came down on the log with both feet, the log stopped turning. It rested under him like a great moving animal. The man on the log then dropped his arms and stood still for a moment, he jumped into the air again, but this time he turned completely over in the air then landed on the log with both feet. The crowd roared again. Someone then pushed a long pole out toward the log. The log with Darrell on top was pulled toward shore. Another man then ran to the river and jumped on the log with Darrell. They stood facing each other. Then they began to walk, slowly at first, then faster. The log began to turn around under them, spinning faster and faster, soon it became clear that the other man could not keep up with Darrell. The man was being forced off the top of the log. Suddenly the man fell backward into the water.

"Cling¹² burl." my friend said. 12 other men one after the other tried to get Darrell to fall into the water, but none of them could move their feet as fast as he could. The crowd now shouted for someone to stop Darrell. It wanted the best and began to shout," We want Powers." Jimmy Powers was my new friend. He got up and ran to the river and jumped onto the log with Darrell. At first the two men just stood looking at each other waiting for the first move. Suddenly Darrell burled the log three times quickly then jumped up and down to stop it. The log shook under Powers but he kept his balance. The battle started. Sometimes the log rolled left to right, then right to left. They moved their feet together, faster and faster. At every move the crowd shouted for Powers to throw Darrell into the water. Suddenly there was a big splash¹³. There was Powers swimming toward shore. I walked over to him.

"How did he do it?" I asked. He turned to me and I saw the anger in his red face. "Ah, it's you, well that's how he did it." and he showed me a row of holes in his boot, blood was running from the holes. He jumped on my foot with his boots and pushed the metal spikes¹⁴ right through. "Why didn't you say something?" I asked. "Look, Mister," he said. "I am big enough to take care of myself. Don't lose any hair over this, I'll stop Darrel on next time."

The following year, I visited the old lumber town again. But this time, the town was empty. "Everybody has gone to see the logjam." said an old woman. The jam was up the hill above the town. When I got there, everybody was looking down at the river. There in the middle of the water was a mountain of logs, thousands of them, one on top of the other, blocking the river. About 50 men were using peaveys to free the logs. Sometime one would break loose and 10 others followed, all floated down the river away from the jam. At noon the men came to shore for lunch.

"Hello, Powers," I said," Do you remember me?" "Sure," he said," aren't you a little bit early this year?" "No," I said, "this is better than a burling match, it will be a great sight when the logs break loose." "You bet¹⁵ it well." he said. We talked of many things and finally I asked, "Did you ever get a chance to burl Darrell off a log?" "Mister, " he said, "those little marks are still on my foot. Just you remember this, Dick Daral will get his from me."

About 3 o'clock that afternoon, the logjam began to break up, there was no warning just a loud cracking sound that got louder and louder as the rows of logs began to hit each other. At first a few hundred broke loose and fell into the swift¹⁶ water. Others quickly followed, the rivermen separated, they raced away in all directions, leaping and hopping¹⁷ from log to log to get to shore. One man fell into the water and started to swim to shore. It was Darrell, he was caught in the river. A thousand logs were rushing toward him. Suddenly another riverman raced across the floating logs, seized Darrell by the coat collar and started to climb up the mountain of logs, pulling Darrell with him. It was an exciting rescue. The logs were falling and rolling down toward them, but they finally got to the top of the pile. Without stopping for thanks or shaking hands, the two men immediately went to work. They pushed and pulled the logs on top to keep the others moving. 40 other men attacked the logs. Then with a mighty roar⁹, the mountain broke free. The falling logs leaped forward like animals down into the swift water. The logjam was broken.

One by one, the town people left. The sun moved down behind the trees. A cool evening breeze¹⁸ came up to the river. Jimmy Powers walked toward me. "And now," he said," the owner of the largest lumber mill¹⁹ saw me work today and offered me a job as a boss. Imagine that, me, a boss." There was a strange look on his face. "Well," I said, "You earned it. I'm not going to call you a hero because you wouldn't like that. But what you did this afternoon showed courage. It was a brave act. But it was better because you saved your enemy. You are a leader of men." I stopped. Jimmy kept looking at me. "Mister," he said, "if you are going to hang stars on my Christmas tree, just start right now. I didn't rescue Darrell because I had a Christian²⁰ feeling for him. I was just saving²¹ him. For the burling match next fourth of July.

1 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

2 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

3 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

4 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

5 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

6 log   

n.记录，圆木，日志；v.伐木，切，航行

参考例句：

• They log for a living.他们以伐木为生。
• And then what do you do with that log?然后你要拿那些记录做什么呢？

7 logs   

n.练习用球瓶；原木，木材，木料( log的名词复数 )；航海[飞行]日志

参考例句：

• logs for the fire 烧火用的木材
• The logs were knocked together as they floated down the stream. 圆木顺流而下时互相碰撞着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 hooks   

钩拳( hook的名词复数 )； 挂钩； 转弯处； 曲线球

参考例句：

• I want to buy the hams hanging on the hooks. 我想买挂在钩子上的火腿。
• This dress hooks at the back, not at the side. 这件衣服是在背后而不是在旁边扣钩。

9 roar   

n.吼，咆哮，轰鸣，喧闹；vi.吼叫，大声说出，喧闹；vt.呼喊，使轰鸣

参考例句：

• He began to roar when I took the chocolate away. 当我把巧克力拿走时，他大哭起来。
• The machines roar incessantly during the hours of daylight.机器在白天隆隆地响个不停。

10 roared   

v.咆哮( roar的过去式和过去分词 )；大笑；大哭；熊熊燃烧

参考例句：

• A log fire roared in the open hearth. 柴火在敞开着的壁炉里熊熊燃烧。
• Vroom! A sports car roared past. 呜的一声，一辆跑车疾驶而过。

11 approval   

n.赞成，同意；批准，认可

参考例句：

• The audience has expressed its approval.观众已经认可。
• The teacher signed his approval.老师做了手势表示同意。

12 cling   

vi.缠住，粘住，依恋，依靠，坚信，坚持

参考例句：

• Wet clothes cling to the body.湿衣服贴身。
• Members of a family should cling together in times of trouble.一家人应该患难与共。

13 splash   

v.溅，泼；n.溅泼声，溅出的水等，斑点

参考例句：

• I fell into the water with a splash.我跌入水中，激起水花四溅。
• There's a splash of paint on the white wall.白墙上溅上了一片油漆。

14 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 bet   

v.打赌，以(与)...打赌；n.赌注，赌金；打赌

参考例句：

• I bet you can't do this puzzle.我敢说，你解决不了这个难题。
• I offered to bet with him.我提出与他打赌。

16 swift   

n.雨燕，大滚筒；adj.迅速的，快的，敏捷的，立刻的；adv.迅速地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He is swift to hear,but slow to speak.他听力敏锐，但不善言辞。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery.他康复得相当快。

17 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

18 breeze   

n.微风；轻而易举的事；vi.来去匆匆，急速走

参考例句：

• A little breeze is blowing in from the window.微风从窗户里吹进来。
• The clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing.云淡风轻。

19 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

20 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

21 saving   

n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款

参考例句：

• Energy saving is term strategic policy of our country.节约能源是我国长期的战略国策。
• Old-fashioned housewives were usually very saving.旧时的家庭主妇通常都很节俭。