美国英语听力80篇3 Lesson52

[00:07.94]The girl who became known as Phillis Wheatley was born about 1753 in Senegal, Africa.
[00:22.86]She was kidnapped and brought to the New England colonies¹ in North America on a ship that carried slaves.
[00:31.40]The ship's name was Phillis.
[00:34.48]The girl was between seven and eight years old.
[00:39.13]She was weak and sickly.
[00:41.61]So her price was not very high.
[00:44.90]She was sold in a Slave market in the city of Boston, Massachusetts in August, 1761.
[00:53.37]John Wheattey, an international Businessman,bought her to serve his wife, Susannah.
[01:01.41]Phillis came from a culture that was very different from that of The Wheatleys.
[01:07.87]She found the food, customs and beliefs to be new and strange.
[01:13.25]The other slaves in the house taught her many things about America.
[01:18.89]Phillis quickly learned² the rules of slavery.
[01:22.65]She learned that Slaves could not beat drums because slave owners
[01:27.95]feared that secret messages were being passed to slaves on other farms.
[01:33.44]She learned that in southern states it was a crime to teach a slave to read and (write).
[01:40.36]In northern states in the 1700s, black slaves were treated better than they were in the southern states.
[01:49.56]Restrictions against the education of slaves were not as severe as they were in the south.
[01:57.00]Many of the slaves in New England were even urged to learn to read, especially the Bible³,
[02:05.00]the major book of the Christian⁴ religion.
[02:08.18]Many people thought that slaves should read the Bible so they could become better believers of the Christian religion.
[02:16.88]In New England, blacks were free to meet with each other in groups,
[02:22.34]Many times male slaves were accepted as members of the Community for special projects.
[02:30.07]These included gatherings⁵ to clean corn or to build a farmhouse⁶.
[02:35.90]Female slaves cooked for the groups.
[02:39.35]From her earliest days as a slave, Phillis was a happy,busy person.
[02:45.72]She liked to keep busy.
[02:47.99]She especially liked to do things with her hands.
[02:51.70]She quickly learned how to clean around the Wheatley house and how to dry the dishes.
[02:58.91]But her mind seemed to move even faster than her hands.
[03:02.86]She wanted to do everything.
[03:05.55]Phillis's new family had unusual beliefs for the times.
[03:10.75]John Wheatley and his wife were educated people.
[03:14.69]Susannah Wheatley believed that all human beings, including African slaves, could learn if given the chance.
[03:23.26]She believed that all people, of any skin color, should love and respect each other.
[03:29.50]She treated Phillis more as a daughter than as a slave.
[03:34.00]Mrs. Wheatley said, "You're my black child. You're my Phillis."
[03:39.87]Susannah Wheatley soon recognized Phillis's intelligence and desire to learn.
[03:46.09]Mrs. Wheatley observed how Phillis loved books and the care she took with them.
[03:52.39]At times, Phillis would smell the pages of the Books and hold them close to her.
[03:59.44]One day, one of the slaves in the Wheatley home found Phillis writing on the wall of Mrs.Wheatley's room with a piece of coal.
[04:09.99]Phillis had been cleaning the dust from a book.
[04:14.41]She decided⁷ to copy the letters from the cover of the book.
[04:18.80]The slave brought Mrs.Wheatley to inspect the marks on the wall.
[04:23.60]But Susannah Wheatley did not get angry.
[04:27.49]Instead,she smiled.
[04:30.52]Mrs.Wheatley gave Phillis a pencil and paper and a little table on which to write.
[04:37.19]She showed the writing on the wall to her daughter Mary.
[04:41.63]Mary was as surprised as her mother at how well Phillis had copied the letters.
[04:48.65]Mary told Phillis she would teach her to write--on paper, not on walls.
[04:55.39]Mary Wheatley began to teach Phillis to read and write English,She also taught Phillis the Christian religion.
[05:04.80]Phillis learned quickly.
[05:07.02]She learned the English alphabet in a few weeks.
[05:10.88]In a year and one-half after she arrived in America,Phillis could read English.
[05:17.36]And she could read and understand difficult parts of the Bible.
[05:22.09]Phillis loved to learn new words.
[05:26.03]She enjoyed the new feelings that went with the sounds.
[05:29.87]She especially liked writing and creating new ways of saying things.
[05:34.99]Mary taught Phillis about writings from other countries.
[05:39.80]America was a young nation.
[05:43.28]It had not yet produced writers and poets like older nations.
[05:48.37]So Phillis studied the writings of EuroPean Writers.
[05:52.60]She read the work of the Greek poet Homer,
[05:56.78]the English poets Keats and Pope⁹ and the plays and poetry of Shakespeare.
[06:04.30]She read and re-read the Bible.
[06:08.17]Phillis was about twelve years old when she began to write poetry.
[06:13.94]One of her earliest poems was about her religious faith.
[06:18.91]It questioned how a person could not believe in God.
[06:23.24]"Thou who dost daily feel his hand, and rod⁸.
[06:28.18]Darest thou deny the essence¹⁰ of a God!

1 colonies   

n.殖民地( colony的名词复数 )；（侨民等）聚居区；（动植物的）群体；（来自同一地方，职业或兴趣相同的）聚居人群

参考例句：

• They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small farms and self-sufficiency. 但就整个殖民地来说，人们主要依靠小型农场，过着自给自足的生活。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

3 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

4 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。

5 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

6 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 rod   

n.钓竿，杆，棒

参考例句：

• Pass me a bamboo rod.递给我一根竹竿。
• He heated the iron rod and bent it into a right angle.他将铁棒烧热，将其弯成直角。

9 pope   

n.（罗马天主教的）教皇

参考例句：

• The Pope is the spiritual leader of many Christians.教皇是众多基督徒的宗教领袖。
• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。

10 essence   

n.本质，实质，精华，精粹

参考例句：

• We must try to get to the essence of things.我们必须想法抓住事物的本质。
• The two things are the same in outward form but different in essence.这两件东西外表形式一样，但实质不同。