时间:2019-01-02 作者:英语课 分类:名人轶事


英语课

Halloween is a good time to celebrate the stories of Edgar Allan PoeWritten by Shelley Gollust




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VOICE ONE:




I’m Steve Ember.




VOICE TWO:




And I’m Faith Lapidus with PEOPLE IN AMERICA from VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Edgar Allan Poe, a nineteenth century American writer. His stories and poems were some of the most frightening and strange ever written.




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VOICE ONE:




Americans celebrate Halloween on October thirty-first. It is mostly a holiday for children, who like to be frightened. Yet many grown people observe Halloween, too. Those who love the writings of Edgar Allan Poe think Poe is most famous for his stories and poems of strangeness, mystery and terror.




VOICE TWO:




Edgar Allan Poe     




Edgar Allan Poe died in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in eighteen forty-nine. Now, in that city, an unusual party takes place every Halloween. In the dark of night, visitors go to the grounds of Westminster Presbyterian Church where Poe is buried. Everything is quiet. Then a voice calls out. It is Poe!  No, it is just an actor, reading Poe's work.




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VOICE ONE:




Reading stories was one of the most important forms of enjoyment 1 in Edgar Allan Poe's time. Poe created many of these "short stories.” They appeared in different publications.




Horror stories already were popular when Poe began writing. Critics say he wrote the perfect horror story. Poe also wrote detective stories. These were mysteries about crimes, such as murder. An investigator 2 called a detective solves the mysteries. The detective is able to find important, hidden meanings in facts. The horror and detective stories Poe created remain popular in books and movies.




VOICE TWO:




Edgar Allan Poe's work is not easy to read. His language is difficult to understand today. And most of his writing describes very unpleasant situations and events. His story "The Pit and the Pendulum," for example, is about the mental torture of a prisoner. Each time the prisoner saves himself from death, a new and more horrible form of death threatens him.




Another story is "The Masque of the Red Death." In it, a terrible disease -- the Red Death -- has killed half the population of a country. The ruler of the country shuts his castle against the disease. He and his wealthy friends are inside. They pass the time by having parties. They believe the Red Death will not find them. But it does.




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VOICE ONE:




Edgar Poe was born in eighteen-oh-nine in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were actors. At that time, actors were not accepted by the best society. Edgar was a baby when his father left the family. He was two years old when his mother died. He was taken into the home of a wealthy businessman, John Allan. He then received his new name -- Edgar Allan Poe. John Allan never officially made Edgar his son. In fact, he came to dislike him strongly.




Poe Medallion 




Edgar attended schools in England and in Richmond, Virginia. As a young man, he attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He was a good student. He was a member of the Jefferson Literary Society. But he liked to drink alcohol and play card games for money. Edgar was not a good player. He lost money he did not have.




John Allan refused to pay Edgar's gambling 3 losses. He also refused to let Edgar continue at the university. So, Edgar went to Boston and began working as a writer and editor for monthly magazines. He also served in the army for two years.




VOICE TWO:




Edgar Allan Poe worked hard. He became a successful editor. He published three books of poetry. He also began writing stories. Five of his stories were printed in a publication in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in eighteen thirty-two. Yet he was not well paid. His life was difficult. He was poor, and he was troubled by sicknesses of the body and mind. Poe suffered from depression. He feared he was insane. He drank alcohol to escape his fears. The alcohol had a very bad effect on him.




VOICE ONE:




In eighteen thirty-five, Poe began editing the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia. The following year, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Virginia Clemm. She was the daughter of his father's sister. She was only thirteen years old.




Poe and his wife moved often as he found work at magazines and newspapers in Philadelphia and New York.




For a time, it seemed that Poe would find some happiness. But his wife was sick for most of their marriage. She died in eighteen forty-seven. After his wife’s death, Poe’s problems with alcohol increased. He died two years later, at the age of forty. He was found dead in Baltimore after days of heavy drinking.




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VOICE TWO:




Through all his crises, Edgar Allan Poe produced many stories, poems, and works of criticism. Some of his stories won prizes. Yet he did not become famous until eighteen forty-five. That was when his poem "The Raven 4" was published.




There is no question that Poe suffered from emotional problems. One critic said Poe's spirit was torn. He said Poe's stories were often about his own divided nature. Each person in his stories showed a different side of the writer. There is a question, however, about Poe's importance. Some critics said he was one of America's best writers. Others disagreed.




VOICE ONE:




One critic said Poe discovered a new artistic 5 universe -- a universe of dreams. It was a place where the line between reality and unreality is extremely thin.




Even those who praised Poe agreed that there are many difficulties in his work. These difficulties place Poe's writing outside the main body of American literature. Most American writing is realistic. Poe's interests and way of writing were not realistic at all.




Poe's work has been praised most in France. He had a great influence on many French writers.




Poster representing a play based on Poe's "The Raven."      




VOICE TWO:




Poe's best-known poem is "The Raven."  Some people love it. They say it is like music. Others hate it. They say it sounds forced and unnatural 6 -- like bad music.




"The Raven" is about a man whose great love, Lenore, has died. She is gone forever. But the man cannot accept that all happiness is gone. He sits alone among his books late at night. He hears a noise at the window. Here is the beginning of the poem:




READER:




Once upon a midnight dreary 7, while I pondered, weak and weary,




Over many a quaint 8 and curious volume of forgotten lore 9 --




While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,




As of some one gently rapping -- rapping at my chamber 10 door.




"This some visitor,” I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door --




Only this and nothing more."




VOICE TWO:




The man looks out the window and sees only blackness.




READER:




Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,




Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;




But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,




And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"




This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"




Merely this and nothing more.




VOICE TWO:




But there is something at the window. It is a large black bird -- a raven. It comes into the room like the spirit of death and hopelessness. It sits on a small statue above the door. The raven can speak just one word:  “nevermore” -- meaning “never again”. 




READER:




But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid 12 bust 13, spoke 11 only




That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.




Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered --




Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before –




On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."




Then the bird said, "Nevermore."




VOICE TWO:




The man becomes frightened. He does not know if the raven is just a bird or an evil spirit. We know the raven will never leave the man's room.




READER:




And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting -- still is sitting




On the pallid 14 bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;




And his eyes have all the seeming of a Demon 15 that is dreaming,




And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;




And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor




Shall be lifted – nevermore!




[Pause]




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VOICE ONE:




This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Our poetry reader was Richard Rael. I'm Steve Ember.




VOICE TWO:




And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for People in America from VOA Special English

 



n.乐趣;享有;享用
  • Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同,我们这次访问更加愉快了。
  • After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话,这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。
n.研究者,调查者,审查者
  • He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
  • The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。
n.赌博;投机
  • They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
  • The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。
n.渡鸟,乌鸦;adj.乌亮的
  • We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
  • Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
adj.不自然的;反常的
  • Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗?
  • She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的
  • They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
  • She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的
  • There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里,有很多小巷。
  • They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。
n.传说;学问,经验,知识
  • I will seek and question him of his lore.我倒要找上他,向他讨教他的渊博的学问。
  • Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend.早期人类通过传说传递有关植物和动物的知识。
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
  • For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
  • The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
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
  • 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。
adj.安静的,平和的
  • He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
  • You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部
  • I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
  • She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。
adj.苍白的,呆板的
  • The moon drifted from behind the clouds and exposed the pallid face.月亮从云朵后面钻出来,照着尸体那张苍白的脸。
  • His dry pallid face often looked gaunt.他那张干瘪苍白的脸常常显得憔悴。
n.魔鬼,恶魔
  • The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
  • He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。
学英语单词
-s
5'-Deoxyadenosyl-B12
acid fast red
Aegerita
albumin milk
almeida pilosa
amoralists
amphoteric ion-exchangeresin
anti-impact gear
batouti
blast furnace smelting
bunss
cabinetmaker
cauliflora
CD Video
Churumuco
COBOL transaction program
collapsible keel block
corecipients
dihydropyrimidinase
direct exporttrade
draw-
drip-drying
escrowing
esterifiable
Ethydan
ethyl cyanamide
filtered signal
fire bricks
flamdoodle
Florence crystals
foam solution
folded potential
forestry production statistics
fully arisen sea
general fixed assets group of accounts
genus Hamamelis
genus irenas
Grecian nose
groaners
Guengant
Haskins
hcb
ill-humo(u)redly
in conjunction with
input/output stream control
inseminating catheter
insured risk
joint buying office
Kentish fire
lande's g factor
Lincolnshire
look-at-me signal
magon
managed economies
merphenyl
metropolitan broadband network
mobile control room
Muncimir
national switching network
network for arc welding
non-metered tap
not the done thing
nuclei cochleares
Oetinghausen
pastures newer pastures
Pelargonium limoneum
pen lid
penetration method
permeably
Ping Pong buffer
powerful radio-frequency cable
pump for sludge tank
punctuation space
Quinalspan
redalder
reduced flange
regulating error
requirement for tax exemption
self-skill
shape straighten
shelf front
ST_including-and-excluding_covering-and-adding-layers
suele
taper-reamer
taste acuity
technico-
telecommunication route
throw up one's hat
transiliac
travel card
triatic
uncountry
variation in testing temperature
vibroplatform
Villaputzu
Virtual File Allocation Table
vision distance
well-illuminated
what are we waiting for
yester-morrows
z transform inverse