英语听力—环球英语 1240 John Milton: Writing of Paradise

 　　Voice 1

 

　　Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Anne Muir.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　And I’m Colin Lowther. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　“Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

 

　　Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal² taste

 

　　Brought Death into the World, and all our woe³,

 

　　With loss⁴ of Eden, till one greater Man

 

　　Restore⁵ us, and regain⁶ the blissful Seat.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Today we look at the life and work of John Milton. John Milton wrote one of the most famous poems in the English language. Many experts consider him to be the most important English poet after William Shakespeare⁷.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　John Milton was born in 1608. He lived through a very difficult period of English history. Members of the government rebelled⁸ against the king and cut off his head! Milton worked for the government and for a time his life was in danger. He also had many troubles in his private life. His first two wives died. And he became blind when he was only 43 years old. But he continued writing until he died at the age of 65.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Milton had weak eyes even as a child. But he loved to learn and he spent much of his time reading and studying. In his working life, he wrote important letters for the government. He also translated letters and documents going to and coming from foreign governments. Milton spoke⁹ seven languages and could write poetry in four of them.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　But it would be wrong to imagine that he spent all his time studying and working. Milton had a great sense of humour¹⁰ and he enjoyed having many friends. He had a good singing voice too. And he played music on the organ very well.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　But he often worked late into the night. And so in time, years of reading damaged his weak eyes. At the age of 43, he became completely¹² blind. This did not stop him working for the government or from writing poetry. He prepared in his mind what he wanted to say. Then a helper¹³ wrote it down for him.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　This was the method he used to write his most famous poem. Milton got up at four o’clock every morning. He prepared 50 lines of his poem in his mind. His helper came at eleven o’clock and wrote the lines down for him. The poem is called ‘Paradise¹⁴ Lost’. We read the beginning of Paradise Lost at the start of this program.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Most English speaking people have heard of Paradise Lost, but very few have read it. One reason for this is that it is a very long poem! It is divided into 12 books. Altogether, there are more than 10,500 lines! Another reason is that the poem uses some words that are no longer part of normal English speech. It is not easy for people to understand it today.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Milton was born in London and lived most of his life there. But in 1665 there was a terrible disease¹⁵ in London. About 75,000 people died from the disease. Milton and his family moved away from London to a village in the country.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Milton finished writing Paradise Lost while he was living in the village. Now, people travel from all over the world to see the house where he stayed. It still looks the same as it did almost 400 years ago. Today the house is full of his books and papers¹⁶. It is the perfect place to study his work and to see paintings of Milton.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The disease in London stopped spreading when a great fire broke out. The fire was the worst in the whole history of London. It burned a large part of the city. But it stopped the disease and the Milton family moved back to London.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The great poem, Paradise Lost, was published the year after Milton returned to London. It tells the story of a perfect world and how it came to be ruined. There was no disease, hunger, pain or death in this world. And there were only two people: Adam and Eve. They lived in a beautiful garden where they looked after the plants and animals. God had made just one rule for their lives. They were not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil¹⁷. Adam and Eve were very happy. But, best of all, they were friends with God.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　But the poem does not begin by describing the paradise where Adam and Eve lived. It starts with Satan. It tells how he rebelled against God and how God banned him from heaven. Satan was very angry. He looked for ways to ruin the perfect world God had made.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Satan discovered Adam and Eve living in the garden. He persuaded Eve to disobey¹⁸ that one rule that God had made. Eve persuaded Adam to do the same. This caused them to lose the special friendship they had with God. It also opened the door for sin¹¹ to enter their perfect world.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The punishment for this act was death. But the Son of God felt very sad for them. He offered to die in their place. God accepted his offer. God let Adam and Eve live but he sent them away from the beautiful garden. Their lives became difficult. Sin brought with it disease, hunger and pain. Adam and Eve knew they had let all these bad things into the world. They knew that every person living after them would suffer because of what they had done.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The poem ends at the time when Adam and Eve left the garden. But it is not a completely sad ending. Before they left, an angel¹⁹ told Adam what would happen in the future. The Son of God would come to earth. He would be called Jesus. He would be born as a human being so that he could die. He would suffer the punishment of death instead of Adam and Eve. But the angel said that after Jesus was killed he would rise again to life. His sacrifice would make it possible for Adam and Eve and all people on earth to be friends with God again.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　John Milton was a Christian²⁰. He said his reason for writing Paradise Lost was ‘to explain the ways of God to man’. The main idea for his poem came from the Bible²¹. It tells what Christians²² believe about God and the results of sin. ‘Paradise Lost’ ends with what Christians believe is good news. Jesus took the punishment for sin in his own body. People everywhere can be friends with God again because of what Jesus did.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The writer of this program was Joy Smith. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United²³ Kingdom. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at http://www.radioenglish.net This .program is called, ‘John Milton: Writing of Paradise’.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

 

　　You can read the whole text of Paradise Lost at Dartmouth College’s website.

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 mortal   

adj.终有一死的，致命的，不共戴天的；n.人

参考例句：

• He received a mortal wound soon after the battle began.战争开始后不久，他就受到了致命的重伤。
• They are our mortal enemies.他们是我们不共戴天的仇敌。

3 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

4 loss   

n.损失，遗失，失败，输，浪费，错过，[军]伤亡，降低

参考例句：

• His death was a great loss to the country.他的逝世对这个国家是一大损失。
• Because of the continued loss,the factory closed down.由于连续亏损，工厂关闭了。

5 restore   

vt.把…恢复原状；归还，交还

参考例句：

• A good rest will restore you to health.好好休息一下可使你恢复健康。
• His recent success has helped to restore his faith in his own ability.他最近取得的成功使他恢复了对自己能力的信任。

6 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

7 Shakespeare   

n.莎士比亚(16世纪英国剧作家、诗人)

参考例句：

• Shakespeare is a giant among writers.莎士比亚是作家中的巨擘.
• He read Shakespeare to help his English.他阅读莎士比亚的作品以提高自己的英语水平。

8 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》

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 humour   

n.幽默，诙谐，情绪，体液；vt.使满足，迁就

参考例句：

• We can't always humour the child the way we do.不能总是顺着孩子。
• His new play is a mixture of saddness and humour.他的新剧本融悲哀和幽默于一体。

11 sin   

n.罪，罪孽，过失；vi.犯罪，违反

参考例句：

• It's a sin to waste food.浪费食品是一种罪过。
• It's a sin to be indoors on holiday.假期中待在家里实在是罪过。

12 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。

13 helper   

n.帮助者，帮手，助手

参考例句：

• The cook is in charge of the kitchen helper.这位厨师负责管理厨工。
• She was a voluntary helper.她是自愿帮忙的。

14 paradise   

n.伊甸乐园，天堂

参考例句：

• My house had a small backyard,the paradise of children.我那幢房子有一个小后院，那是孩子们玩耍的乐园。
• On a hot day a dip in the sea is sheer paradise.热天洗个海水澡是十分令人惬意的事。

15 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

16 papers   

n.文件，纸币，论文

参考例句：

• I want to check with my secretary before I sign the papers.在签署这些文件前，我要与我的秘书商议。
• The lawyer read all the papers relating to the case.律师阅读了与该案有关的全部文件。

17 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。

18 disobey   

v.不服从；不听命令

参考例句：

• Soldiers must never disobey.军人必须服从。
• I recommend you not to disobey your officers.我劝你不要不服从你的长官。

19 angel   

n.天使，守护神，可爱的人

参考例句：

• The angel of death's in the house!死神在屋里呢！
• I can say without exaggeration that she is an angel.我可以毫不夸张地说她是个天使。

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 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。

22 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。

23 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。