英语听力—环球英语 463：Angel Tree

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Adam Navis.
Voice 2
And I’m Christy VanArragon. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Mary Kay Mahaffey had a bad family life. Her father drank alcohol³ all the time. And he was violent towards Mary Kay. He treated her badly. She did not have any money but she knew she had to get away from him.
Voice 2
Her solution was a man named Paul. Only nine days after meeting him, they were married. But soon she found out he was a gambler⁴. He risked money on games of chance. He had been to prison for stealing. Mary did not want to judge him by his past. She believed people could change. But Paul had not changed. And she was pulled into his life of crime.
Voice 1
Finally, Paul left Mary Kay. But she did not leave her life of crime. She started working with some friends, Ed and Joe. Once, Joe refused to give Mary her share of the money. So she shot him in the leg. Ed told her, “You are insane⁵ woman! You really do not care about anything.” Mary Kay later said,
Voice 3
“He was right. My only reasons for doing anything were anger and to get back at people. I did not care about anything. Life had been nothing but a series of regrets and disappointments.”
Voice 2
For five years, Mary Kay Mahaffey kept moving across the United States. She travelled around robbing banks and avoiding the police. But finally, she was caught and locked away in prison.
Voice 1
One day, Mary Kay decided⁶ to start attending the prison church services. She thought she had done too many bad things to become a Christian⁷. Then she read in the Christian Bible⁸,
Voice 4
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Voice 1
The words gave her a hope that she had never felt before. Mary Kay prayed,
Voice 3
“Ok, God, my life is in complete disorder⁹. If you mean what you say here in the Bible, please change my heart.”
Voice 2
God changed her heart and her life too. After six years in prison, Mary Kay was released¹⁰ early for good behaviour. Soon after, she began working for an organization called Prison Fellowship¹¹.
Voice 1
Prison Fellowship works¹² to help prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. They base their work on a verse¹³ in the Christian Bible where Jesus said,
Voice 4
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed¹⁴ me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me ... I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of these, you did for me.”
Voice 1
Prison Fellowship believes that by serving other people, especially the poor, they serve Jesus Christ².
Voice 2
Mary Kay’s job was to create a program that would serve prisoners at Christmas. As in many places, Christmas in the United States is celebrated¹⁵ by Christians¹⁶ to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. But it is also celebrated by non-Christians as a time of family, friends, and gift-giving.
When Mary Kay was in prison Christian groups would bring in small tubes of toothpaste, bars of soap, and bottles of shampoo as gifts for the prisoners. The women who never went to church services always went to get these things.
Voice 3
“I thought these women were greedy. But they would divide the things into groups. Each group was for one of their children. That is all they had to give their children as Christmas gifts. I thought, ‘Just because she’s a prisoner does not mean she does not love her children. It does not mean she is a bad mother.’ ”
Voice 1
Mary Kay wanted to help the prisoners provide better gifts for their children.
Voice 3
“We made paper angels - red for girls and green for boys - and on each angel we wrote the name and age of a child. And then we put them on a tree, an Angel Tree! That’s how we got the name.”
“Children are the real victims of crime. They are not responsible for what their parents do and yet they suffer. Children who have one adult in prison are six times more likely to get into trouble as other children. I hoped we could get gifts for two or three hundred [200-300] children. I had no idea what God would do.
“At the end of that first Angel Tree Project, over five hundred and fifty [550] children had received up to four different gifts.”
“Angel Tree was not my project, it was not even my idea. It was God’s idea. He just permitted me to be the instrument that He used.”
Voice 1
One woman, named Tracy, tells this story about Angel Tree.
Voice 5
"My brother, Jose, is serving thirty two [32] years in prison. He signed up his children for Angel Tree. He used my telephone number as the contact.
Before Christmas, I received a call from a woman saying she had chosen Jose’s children. We set a meeting time for her to bring the gifts to my house on Christmas morning.
On Christmas Day, I opened the door to find a woman with gifts in her hands. I invited her in and we began to talk about Jose. I was able to share with her how he had accepted Christ and how he is building a relationship with God. She said to me,
Voice 6
"I need to tell you something, I know you and Jose. I saw you the day he was sentenced. I am part of the victim’s family.”
“Last month my family was at church, and our son went up to choose the names of the children we would buy gifts for. When I read the name, I could not believe it. I wanted to put it back,”
“Then I remembered my prayer on the day of sentencing. After seeing Jose in person I understood that his own family were also victims in this terrible situation.”
Voice 5
"The woman said that she cried when her son gave her that Angel Tree paper. But she knew this was not an accident. God was answering her prayers.
We cried together. She is a wonderful woman who loves God and wants to be used by Him. And God answered her prayer by using Angel Tree to make this happen.”
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 Christ   

n.基督，救世主，耶稣

参考例句：

• I regarded him as the Christ.我把他当作救世主。
• Christ preached that we should love each other.基督在布道中说人们应该互爱。

3 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

4 gambler   

n.赌博者；赌徒

参考例句：

• The gambler sponged a cigarette from the man sitting next to him. 那个赌徒向坐在他旁边的人讨支烟抽。
• He was notorious as a gambler. 他是臭名昭著的赌徒。

5 insane   

adj.蠢极的，荒唐的，精神错乱的，疯狂的

参考例句：

• Insane people are sometimes dangerous.精神病人有时非常危险。
• The letter made her insane with jealousy.那封信使她妒忌得发疯。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

10 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

11 fellowship   

n.伙伴关系，团体，奖学金，研究员职位

参考例句：

• You'll lose your fellowship if you do that.你如果做那件事就会丧失研究员职位。
• It looks that they'll be admitted to the fellowship.看来他们要被吸收入会了。

12 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

13 verse   

n.诗，韵文，诗行

参考例句：

• He is good at verse.他善于作诗。
• His book was in parts written in verse.他的书有许多地方是用韵文写的。

14 clothed   

v.clothe的过去式和过去分词；穿…；授以adj.穿…衣服的；覆盖著…的

参考例句：

• a man clothed in black 黑衣男子
• Her partially clothed body was found in woods nearby. 在附近的小树林里发现了她半裸的尸体。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

16 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。