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AMERICAN STORIES - A Brooklyn Christmas

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(单词翻译)

AMERICAN STORIES - A Brooklyn Christmas
By Betty Smith

Broadcast: Saturday, December 25, 2004

VOA Special English now presents a story for the Christmas holiday. The story is called "A Brooklyn Christmas". It is about Christmas in the Brooklyn part of New York City in the early 1900s. It was written by Betty Smith. K.Glat is the story teller1.

Christmas was a wonderful time in Brooklyn. But holiday was in the air long before it came. The first sure sign of it was the windows of the stores. You have to be a child to know the wonder of a store window filled with dolls, sleds and other playthings. And this wonder was free for a girl named Francy. How exciting it was for Francy to walk down the street and see another store all ready for Christmas. The clean shinning window was filled with cotton to look like snow. On this cotton snow, were boxes filled with dolls, dolls with golden2 hair, and other dolls which Fanrcy liked even better, their hair with the color of rich coffee with lots of milk in it, owned the deep blue eyes that looks straight into a little girl`s heart. Francy had never had such a doll. Her doll was a little one that costed only 5 cents. Then there were the sleds for sliding across the snow. One sled had a flower painted on it, a deep blue flower with bright green leaves. The sleds had a wonderful names painted on them too, Rose board, Megnolya, Snow King, The Flier. Francy thought if I could only have one of those, I would never ask god for another thing as long as I live. There were other beautiful toys in the store windows. And Francy felt weak from looking at so many wonderful things and thinking about them so hard.

A week before Christmas, evergreen3 trees began arriving in Francy`s part of Brooklyn. Christmas tree sellers5 tied ropes along the street. They put the green trees against the ropes and sold them to people who want to buy. All day, the sellers walked up and down their little street of trees. The air all around smelled of the sharp green branches, the smell of Christmas. A few people stopped to choose a tree. They would ask the seller4 to keep it for them until the day before Christmas. Then they will take their tree home and cover it with colorful paper, glass balls and lights. Some people stopped to ask the prices of trees. But most people came just to look at the trees, to touch them or break a tiny branch to release6 the wonderful smell. The air was full of the fresh green smell of the trees. The poor little street in Francy`s neighborhood was truly wonderful for a while. There was a cruel custom in Francy`s part of Brooklyn. It was about the Christmas trees that had not been sold by 12 o`clock midnight on Christmas Eve. A custom was this, after midnight, the sellers will give away the unsold trees to children, but getting one was not easy. The seller would throw a tree at a child who wanted it. If you caught it without falling down, you could keep it. But if you fell down, you gave up your chance for a free tree.

Before midnight on Christmas Eve, children will gather around the unsold trees. The men would throw each tree in turn starting with the biggest tree. Many children would try to catch a tree. But only the strongest, roughest8 boys would try to catch the big trees. The littlest children waited for the littlest trees. They screamed with happiness when they caught a Christmas tree. On this Christmas Eve, Francy was 10 years old. Her little brother Nily was nine. Mother agreed to let them have their first try to win a free tree. Francy had chosen her tree earlier in the day. She had stood near it all afternoon, hoping that no one would buy it. To her great happiness, the tree was still there at midnight. It was the biggest tree, more than 3 meters tall. The tree`s price was so high. No one could buy it. The tree man took this big tree out first and got ready to throw it. Before Francy could speak, a big rough7 boy, 18 years old, stepped forward. He demanded that the man throw the tree at him. The man hated the way the big boy was so sure of himself. He looked around and asked "anybody else wanna take a chance on it?" Francy stepped forward, "me, Mister9." The tree man laughed. So did the children, and a few grown-ups gathered to watch the fun. "Aha, go on," the man said, "You are too little." Francy argued, "me and my brother will not too little together." She pulled Nily forward. The man looked at the 2 of them, a thin girl of 10 who looked as if she did not get enough to eat, a thin little boy with light hair and round blue eyes. "Two catchers is not fair." shouted the big rough boy. "Shut your mouth." the tree man said. "These two kids got nerve10. Stand back the rest of youth. These kids is going to have a try of this tree." The other people stood in a line making a kind of path. Francy and Nily stood at one end. The man with big tree stood at the other end. The man raised his arms to throw the great tree. He saw how small the children looked. For the breathless moment of time, the man struggled within himself. "Oh Jes," he thought "why don`t I just give them the tree, say merry Christmas, and let them go. The tree means11 nothing to me. It is too late to sell it this year. And it will not last till next year." The children watched the tree man as he stood there in his moment of thought. But he said himself again. "If I did that, all the others will expect me to give them free trees, too. And next year, nobody would buy a tree from me. They would all wait until I gave them away. I`m not a big enough man to give away this tree for nothing. No, I am not big enough to do a thing like that. I have to think of myself and my own children." The tree man made his decision. "Oh, what the hell12, these 2 kids is got leaving this world. They`ve got understand it, they`ve got a learn to give and to take punishment. And bye god. It is nothing but take, take, take all the time in this world." He threw the tree with all his strength. And as he threw it, his heart scream to him "it is a dirty, wrong, lousy world."

With the smallest part of second, time and space have no meaning to Francy. The world stood still as something dark and terrible came through the air toward13 her. The tree blocked every memory of her life. There was nothing, nothing, but the sweet smelling darkness. And something that grew larger and larger as it flew at her. Francy almost felt as the tree struck them. Nily fell to his knees. But she pulled him up fiercely14 before he could go down completely15. There was a powerful16 swishing sound as the tree settled17 around them. Everything was dark, green, and sharp. Then Francy felt pain at the side of her head where the tree had hit her.

When some of the older boys pull the tree away, they found Francy and her brother standing18 up holding hands. Blood was coming from cuts on Nily`s face. But Francy and Nily were smiling. They had won the biggest tree. Some of the boys shouted "Great." Some people clapped their hands. And the tree man shouted "Now, get the hell out of here with your tree. You damn19 lousy kids." Francy had her rough words like those all the life. Such words had no special meaning to her or the other people on the street. The hash words came from people who had few ways to express their feelings. Such words could mean many different things. It depended on the way they were spoken. And the sound of the speaker`s voice. So now, when Francy heard the tree man called her and Nily damn lousy kids, she smiled. She knew he was really saying, "goodbye, god bless you."

You have been listening to a special story for the Christmas holiday. It is called "A Brooklyn Christmas". Your story teller was K.Glat. Our story was written by Betty Smith and appeared in her book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". It was adapted for Special English by Carolin Viver, by permission of Harper and Roll publishers.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 teller yggzeP     
n.银行出纳员;(选举)计票员
参考例句:
  • The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
  • The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。
2 golden 9fcxo     
adj.金的,含金的,可贵的,金色的,贵重的,繁盛的
参考例句:
  • My teacher is an Englishman with golden hair.我的老师是一个金黄色头发的英国人。
  • It's a balmy evening,the golden time for lovers.这是一个暖和的夜晚,是恋人们的黄金时光。
3 evergreen mtFz78     
n.常青树;adj.四季常青的
参考例句:
  • Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的,被叫做常青树。
  • There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
4 seller Rzrwv     
n.售货者,畅销品
参考例句:
  • I hope for this book to become a best seller.我希望这本书会成为一本畅销书。
  • She drove a hard bargain with the seller.她狠杀卖主的价。
5 sellers d396cebb1f0e0c0f7cee9aead79c553e     
n.卖者( seller的名词复数 );卖方;销售者;销售商
参考例句:
  • buyers and sellers transacting business 进行交易的买方和卖方
  • All manner of hawkers and street sellers were plying their trade. 形形色色的沿街小贩都在做着自己的买卖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 release iVhxh     
vt.发布,发表,发行;释放,放开
参考例句:
  • After my examination I had a feeling of release.考完试后我有如释重负之感。
  • This medicine will give you release from pain.这药吃后会解除你的疼痛。
7 rough BXRxI     
adj.粗糙的;粗略的,大致的;粗野的,粗暴的
参考例句:
  • It's just a very rough translation.这只是一篇非常粗糙的译稿。
  • His reply was a bit rough.他的答复过于粗鲁了一点。
8 roughest 28e5c6064fb57c4bd3113cf1a9b5e193     
adj.粗糙的( rough的最高级 );粗鲁的;不幸的;粗制的
参考例句:
  • He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even in the roughest toil. 遇到邻居要他帮忙,即使最繁重的工作,他也从来不会拒绝。 来自辞典例句
  • The English Channel is ordinarily one of the roughest places in the world. 英吉利海峡,平时是世界上风浪最大的海峡之一。 来自辞典例句
9 mister rnQzwB     
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”。
10 nerve Q1lyX     
n.神经;勇气,胆量,沉着,果断
参考例句:
  • Did he have the nerve to say that?他竟有脸说这话吗?
  • He never got up enough nerve to meet me.他从没有足够的胆量来见我。
11 means 9oXzBX     
n.方法,手段,折中点,物质财富
参考例句:
  • That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
  • We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。
12 hell Tduzg     
n.地狱,阴间;用以咒骂或表示愤怒,不满
参考例句:
  • It's a hell of a hike from Sydney to Perth.从悉尼到珀斯的徒步旅行简直苦死了。
  • The boss really gave me hell today.老板今天着实数落了我一通。
13 toward on6we     
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。
14 fiercely xtczTQ     
adv.猛烈地,厉害地
参考例句:
  • He knocked the tiger about fiercely until it lay dead.他挥拳痛击老虎,直到把它打死在地。
  • They brushed aside every difficulty and pushed on fiercely.他们不顾一切困难,向前推进。
15 completely lvmzzZ     
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 powerful E1Zzi     
adj.有力的,有权力的,强大的
参考例句:
  • The UN began to get more and more powerful.联合国开始变得越来越强大了。
  • Such are the most powerful voices of our times!这些就是我们时代的最有力的声音!
17 settled 4iszma     
a.固定的;稳定的
参考例句:
  • The dispute was settled without acrimony. 没有唇枪舌剑,这场纠纷就解决了。
  • a settled way of life 安定的生活方式
18 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
19 damn jnyzC     
int.该死,他妈的;vt.指责,贬斥,诅咒
参考例句:
  • Damn this useless typewriter!这台破打字机真该死!
  • I knew damn well what he was going to say.我非常清楚他要说什么。

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