美国故事 SENEWS-2007-1013-FEATURE
Of the VOA Special English program, American Stories.
Our story is called Jacob Have I Loved ,by Katherine Paterson. It received the Newbery Award for the best book written for young people in the United 1 States. The story takes place on Rass Island in the Chesapeake Bay 2 along the eastern coast of the United States, near Maryland and Virginia. The story is told by Sara Louise Bradshaw, a 13-year-old girl who lives with her parents and her twin sister Caroline. Here is Gwen Outen with the story.
Rass Island lies as low as the back of a turtle on the dark green water of the Chesapeake Bay. We Bradshaws have lived here for more than two hundred years. I love Rass Island although for much of my life I did not think I did.
During the summer of 1941, every morning McCall Purnell and I would get my small boat and go out to catch shellfish called crabs 4. Watermen on our island sell crabs and eat crabs. Call and I were right smart crabbers and we could always come home with a little money as well as crabs for dinner. My mother was pleased with money I made.
"My!" she said, "that was a good morning. By the time you wash , we'll be ready to eat!" I like the way she did that. She never said I was dirty or that I smelled bad. Just by the time you wash up.
She was a real lady my mother, she had come to teach in the island school and fell in love with my father. What my father needed more than a wife was sons. What my mother gave him was girls--twin girls! I was older than my sister by a few minutes. I always treasure the thought of those minutes. They were the only time in my life when I was the center of everyone's attention. From the moment Caroline was born, she took all the attention for herself. When my mother and grandmother told the story of our births, it was mostly of how Caroline had refused to breathe.
"But where was I?" I asked my mother.
"In the basket," she said, "Grandma dressed you and put you in the basket."
Caroline's true gift was her voice. Our teacher, Mr. Rice, said she should have singing lessons. I was proud of my sister, but something began to hurt me under the pride.
One day, Mama and Caroline came back to the island on a boat after Caroline’s singing lesson. There was an old man on the boat whom I'd never seen before. Our island held few secrets or surprises beyond the weather. But all the old people agreed that he was Hiram Wallace . My friend Call and I started visiting Hiram Wallace. We decided 5 simply to call him the Captain.
The Captain stayed at our house when the big storm hit in 1942. Afterward 6, we took my little boat heading 7 straight for the Captain's house. But nothing was left at the spot where the Captain's house had stood the night before. Even with his white beard the Captain looked like a little boy trying not to cry.
Not long after that, the Captain married Trudy Braxton who lived on the island. She was not well and did not live long. Soon the Captain came up the path to our house, his face red with excitement. He told my mother and me that Trudy left a little money. ''There is enough for Caroline to go to boarding school in Baltimore, Maryland and continue her music.'' said the Captain.
I sat there as surprised as if he had thrown a rock in my face! ''Caroline!''
My grandmother came up close behind me. I stiffened 8 at the sound of her hoarse 9 whisper 10. ''Romans 9-13,'' she said. She repeated the saying from the Christian 11 Bible 12 about the competition between two brothers for their father's love. ''Jacob Have I Loved, but Esau have I hated''.
I had always believed the Captain was different. But he, like everyone else, had chosen Caroline over me.
In the autumn I left school, I spent the winter catching 13 oysters 14, another kind of shellfish, with my father. That strange winter with my father on his boat was the happiest of my life. I was, for the first time, deeply 15 satisfied 16 with what life was giving me. Part of it was the things I discovered. Who would have believed that my father sang while catching oysters! My quiet father whose voice could hardly be heard in church sang to the oysters! It was a wonderful sound!
I did not want to go back to school, so my mother taught me at home. I passed the test for graduation with the highest grades recorded from Rass Island.
The war in Europe ended in 1945. At the end of crab 3 season Call came home from the war. The body of a large man in uniform was filling the door.
''Call,'' I cried, ''Oh my blessed Call, you have grown up!'' ''That's what the navy 17 promised,'' he said.
Call told the Captain he had stopped to see Caroline. His face burned with happiness when he told the Captain ''She said YES to me,'' he said softly 18, ''I guess it is hard for you to think someone like Caroline might like me.''
I went back to the crab house. Soon after Call and Caroline were married, the Captain said to me, ''This is hard for you, isn't it? What is it you really want to do?''
I was totally empty. What was it I really wanted to do?
''Your sister knew what she wanted,'' said the Captain, ''so when the chance came she could take it. Do not tell me no one ever gave you a chance, Sara Louise. You can make your own chances. But first you have to know what you are after, my dear.''
''I would like to see the mountains,'' I said, and then my dream began to form along with the sentence, ''I might, I want to be a doctor.''
''So what is stopping you?'' the Captain asked.
I realized that under all my dreams of leaving home, I was afraid to go. My mother had told me that she had chosen to leave her people and build the life for herself somewhere else. ''I certainly would not stop you from making the same choice,'' my mother said to me now, ''but all we will miss you, your father and I.''
I wanted so to believe her, ''As much as you miss Caroline?''
''More,'' she said.
I was so grateful 19 for that one word. It allowed me to leave the island and build myself separate 20 from the long long shadow of my twin.
I started out that spring, shiny 21 as a new crab pot all set to capture 22 the world. I became a nurse-midwife – the person who helps deliver babies. Small towns in the Appalachian mountains needed nurse-midwives and I went to a town called Truitt , my father's first name. People there are usually slow to accept outsiders, but they needed my skills for all their medical problems.
A farmer named Joseph Wojtkiewicz asked me to treat his son for a high fever. Joseph had three children. Their mother had been dead for several years.
He asked me where I came from. No one had ever invited me to talk about home before, and the longer I talked the more I wanted to talk. At last I stopped, I even apologized.
''No, no,'' Joseph said, ''I asked because I wanted to know. I've kept wondering ever since you came. Why would a woman like you who could have anything she wanted come to a place like this? Now I understand. God in Heaven has been raising you for this place from the day you were born.'' And then he smiled. I guess from that moment I knew I was going to marry Joseph Wojtkiewicz for when he smiled he looked like the kind of men who would sing to the oysters.
My work did not end with my marriage to Joseph, or even with the birth of our son Truitt.
One night, I was helping 23 with a birth and I suspected twins. The first baby, a boy, came easily. But the second baby, a girl, came head first and blue as death. The kitchen was slightly warmer than the bedroom, so I laid the second baby on some cloths on the door of the oven 24.
Then I suddenly asked, ''Where is the other twin?'' In my concern for his sister, I had completely 25 forgotten him.
''He's sleeping in the basket,'' said the grandmother.
''You should hold him,'' I said, ''and let his mother nurse him.''
Hours later I walked home in the snow. I bent 26 my head backward 27 to drink in the stars, and clearly I heard a song so sweet and pure I had to hold myself to keep from breaking.
You have just heard the American story ''Jacob Have I Loved''. Your storyteller was Gwen Outen. The producer was Lawan Davis. This story was adapted for Special English by Karen Leggett from the book written and copyrighted 28 by Katherine Paterson. The book was published by Harper Collins in 1980. All rights reserved 29. Listen again next week for another American story in VOA Special English. This is Steve Ember.
- 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。
- I enjoy the view of the bay in the starlight.我喜欢星光下的海湾风景。
- Dogs sometimes bay at the moon.狗有时会朝着月亮吠叫。
- I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
- The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了,就象螃蟹的壳似的。
- As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- 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。
- Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
- Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
- The heading was in large letters.标题是用大号字母印刷的。
- He realized that he was heading in the wrong direction.他意识到走错了方向。
- He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去,这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
- She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。
- He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
- He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动,嗓子都喊哑了。
- Their voices fell to a whisper.他们的话音低到成了耳语。
- I've heard a whisper that he's going to resign.我听到了一个传闻说他准备辞职。
- 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。
- 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。
- There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
- Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
- We don't have oysters tonight, but the crayfish are very good. 我们今晚没有牡蛎供应。但小龙虾是非常好。
- She carried a piping hot grill of oysters and bacon. 她端出一盘滚烫的烤牡蛎和咸肉。
- I do feel deeply the strength of the collective.我确实深深地感到了集体的力量。
- We're deeply honoured that you should agree to join us.您能同意加入我们,我们感到很荣幸。
- She's never satisfied with what she's got. 她对自己的所得从不感到满足。
- He had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. 他脸上挂着得意扬扬的笑容。
- My brother is in the navy.我兄弟在海军服役。
- He has transferred from the army to the navy.他从陆军转到海军。
- He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻,她听不见。
- She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。
- If you will help us, we shall be very grateful.如果你愿意帮助我们,我们会很感激你。
- He closed his letter with expression of grateful thanks.他在那封信的结尾表达了自己的感激之情。
- Are they joined together or separate?它们是合在一起还是分开的?
- Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering.洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。
- What shiny shoes you're wearing!你穿的鞋子擦得真亮啊!
- All the cups are clean and shiny.所有的杯子都很干净明亮。
- The company is out to capture the European market.这家公司希望占据欧洲市场。
- With the capture of the escaped tiger,everyone felt relieved.逃出来的老虎被捕获后,大家都松了一口气。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
- You put food inside an oven to cook it.你把食物放进烤箱里热一下。
- She baked bread in an oven.她用烤炉烤面包。
- 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。
- He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
- We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
- Because of his long illness,Tom is backward in his studies.因为汤姆长期生病,所以在学习中成绩落后。
- The rainy season is backward this year.今年雨季来得晚。
- That magazine usurped copyrighted material. 那杂志盗用了版权为他人所有的素材。
- Why is it common for students to download copyrighted music? 为什麽学生下载有版权的音乐如同家常便饭?