英语听力—环球英语 790 The Great Flood

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Mike Procter.
Voice 2
And I'm Nick Page. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand - no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
People in every culture of the world have their own special stories. These stories tell about things that happened at the very beginning of their history. These ancient stories have been kept alive because parents have told them to their children for many thousands of years.
Voice 2
Many traditions have a story about a great flood. Many of these stories tell about a good man who pleased God. When the flood came God saved this good man, his family and some animals.
Other stories talk about parents saving² their children and some stories say the flood was caused by the behaviour of the animals.
Voice 1
In China the story goes like this. The parents of Mahei and Manui cut down a huge tree. They hollowed³ out the inside of the tree trunk, leaving just a shell⁴. They put the two children inside it with some food and a knife. They covered the ends of the tree trunk with cow skin and fixed⁵ some bells to the tree on the outside. The parents told the children not to come out until the flood had gone.
When the flood came, the tree trunk floated on the water with the children safely inside it. After a long time, the children heard the bells ringing. This told them that they were safely on the ground at last. They cut a hole in the cow skin and came out. They were the only people to survive the great flood.
Voice 2
The people of Peru⁶ told their story in a different way. A farmer was looking after his llamas. These animals provide meat, and fur to make warm clothes. One month before the flood came, the llamas seemed very sad. They watched the stars at night and stopped eating. The farmer asked them what was wrong. They said the stars showed that a great flood was coming.
The farmer took his six children, the llamas and all the food he could carry. He went to the top of the highest mountain. As the flood water got higher, the mountain got higher too. When the flood water went down, the mountain returned to its usual size. The farmer and his children were the only human survivors⁷ of the great flood.
Voice 1
What do these stories tell us? Some scientists believe they show that a world wide flood really happened. These scientists point to the discovery of the remains⁸ of sea creatures - even at the top of the highest mountains. But most scientists disagree. They say that there are other reasons why those remains are there.
Voice 2
Some people believe there was a great flood but that it only covered part of the world. They say it probably happened in the Middle East. This is where scientists have discovered evidence⁹ of very early human settlements.
Whatever the truth about the size of the flood, a lot of the stories talk about the same things. They say people were very evil¹⁰ at that time and that was what caused the world to be destroyed. They say that people were warned¹¹ about what was going to happen but only a very few people survived. The present world population came from these few people.
The Christian¹³ Bible¹⁴ tells the story this way:
Voice 3
God created a perfect world. There was no evil anywhere in it. God created a man and a woman to live in the world and to enjoy everything he had made. Most of all he wanted them to enjoy being his friends. He knew that if they obeyed his simple rules, they would always be completely¹⁵ happy.
But the man and the woman rebelled¹⁶ against God. This evil spread from them to their children and from them to every human person who was born after them.
Later, God looked at the perfect world he had made and saw that it was ruined. He said, 'I will destroy all living things on the earth because humans have filled the earth with evil and violence¹⁷'.
But there was one man who was different. His name was Noah. Noah loved God and worshipped him. He obeyed God's rules. And God chose Noah for a special purpose...
God warned Noah that he would send a flood to destroy every living creature on the earth. But God had a plan to save Noah and his family.
'Build a huge boat and make rooms in it', God said. God told Noah exactly how to build the boat. He told him what size it should be, how many floors, and where to put the door. Noah did everything just as God had said.
When the huge boat was ready, God told Noah to put all kinds of food into it. Then he told Noah to bring a male and a female¹⁸ of every kind of animal and bird into the boat.
At last, Noah went into the boat also with his wife, his three sons and their wives. Then God shut the door. The rain started, and water also came up from the ground. The rain lasted for forty days and forty nights.
The water got higher and higher until it covered all the high hills under the whole heaven. Every living thing that breathed air died in the flood.
Noah and his family floated safely in the boat for many months waiting for the flood water to go down. At last the boat rested on the top of a mountain. But there was still no dry ground. Noah waited. After many more weeks he opened the window and sent out a bird. It came back to him with the green leaf of an olive¹⁹ tree in its mouth. Noah knew that the earth was almost dry but he still waited for God.
At last God said, 'Go out of the boat now. Bring out your family and all the animals. Fill the earth with people again'.
Voice 2
It was a fresh start in a clean world. But the Bible says that God knew that people would still be trapped²⁰ by evil. The answer to that problem would come much later - in the work of Jesus Christ¹². But the flood story finishes with God promising²¹ never to flood the whole world again. He said that when it rains he would put a rainbow in the sky. He would see the beautiful colours of the rainbow and remember his promise to the whole human race.
Voice 1
Flood stories from every continent in the world also tell about this promise of a rainbow. Does this prove that people in every nation remembered the same great flood? Or are the stories about different floods that happened at different times? Or were all the stories just invented to teach people about good and evil. What do you think?
 

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 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。

3 hollowed   

v.挖洞( hollow的过去式和过去分词 )；挖空（某物），挖出（孔、洞）

参考例句：

• His face was hollowed out to the point of emaciation. 他的脸瘦削到了憔悴的地步。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They hollowed out a tunnel through the mountain. 他们挖通了穿山隧道。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 shell   

n.贝壳，壳，外形；v.去壳，脱落；n.[计算机] DOS命令:安装备用的COMMAND.COM文件，并改变环境尺寸

参考例句：

• Please shell some peanuts for the cake.请为做点心剥点胡花生。
• This kind of beetles have hard shell.这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 Peru   

n.秘鲁(南美洲国家)

参考例句：

• Lima is the capital of peru.利马是秘鲁的首都。
• China and peru are friendly countries.中国和秘鲁是友好国家。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 evidence   

n.明显，显著，明白，迹象，根据，[物]证据，证物

参考例句：

• The first signs of spring are in evidence.春天的最初迹象已显然可见。
• From the evidence I must conclude that you are wrong.从证据看，我敢断定你错了。

10 evil   

n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的

参考例句：

• We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
• Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。

11 warned   

v.警告( warn的过去式和过去分词 )；提醒；告诫；预先通知

参考例句：

• Motorists have been warned to beware of icy roads. 已经提醒开车的人当心冰封的路面。
• I've warned her countless times. 我警告过她无数次了。

12 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。

13 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。

14 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。

15 completely   

adv.完全地，十分地，全然

参考例句：

• She never completely gave up hope.她从不完全放弃希望。
• I feel completely in the dark on this question.这件事使我感到茫然。

16 rebelled   

v.反抗政府( rebel的过去式和过去分词 )；反抗权威

参考例句：

• When the nobles rebelled, the king battled them. 当贵族谋反时，国王便出兵攻打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tribes rebelled against the government. 各部落反叛政府。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 violence   

n.暴力，暴虐，暴行，猛烈，强烈，强暴

参考例句：

• It was an absolutely senseless act of violence.这是毫无意义的暴力行为。
• They attacked with violence.他们猛烈攻击。

18 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

19 olive   

n.橄榄，橄榄树，橄榄色；adj.黄绿色的，黄褐色的，橄榄色的

参考例句：

• Have you eaten a kind of fruit called olive?你吃过橄榄这种水果吗？
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace.她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。

20 trapped   

adj. 捕获的，被困的，截留的 动词trap的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• Two passengers are still trapped in the wreck. 有两名乘客仍被困在失事的车辆里。
• The thief was trapped by the police in an old house. 小偷被警察困在一所旧房子里。

21 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。