时间:2018-12-11 作者:英语课 分类:听美国故事练听力


英语课

  Captain Benito Cereno hurried aboard his ship. It was ready to sail. Abright sun in a soft breeze promised good weather ahead. The ship’sanchor was raised and the San Dominick, old but still seaworthy, movedslowly out of the harbor of Valparaiso on the west coast of Chile. Itwas carrying valuable products and slaves up the Pacific Coast toCallao, another Spanish colonial port near Lima Peru.

The slaves both male and female slept on deck. They were not chainedbecause their owner Don Alessandro said they were peaceful.

The San Dominick moved steadily 1 forward under a clear sky. The weathershowed no sign of change. Day after day, the soft breeze kept the shipon course toward Peru.

Slave traffic between Spain’s colonial ports in this year of 1799 hadbeen steady. But there were few outbreaks of violence. What happenedtherefore on board the San Dominick could not have been expected.

On the seventh day out, before daybreak, the slaves rose up inrebellion. They swept through the ship with handspikes and hatchets,moving with the fury of desperate men. The attack was a completesurprise. Few of the crew were awake. All hands, except the twoofficers on the watch, lay in a deep, untroubled sleep. The rebelssprang upon the two officers and left them half dead.

Then, one by one, they killed 18 of the sleeping crew. They threw someoverboard, alive, a few hid and escaped death. The rebels tied upseven others but left them alive to navigate 3 the ship.

As the day began to break, Captain Cereno came slowly, carefully upthe steps toward the chief rebel leader, Babo, and begged for mercy.

He promised to follow Babo’s commands if he would only put an end tothe killings 4. But this had no effect. Babo had three men brought up ondeck and tied, then the three Spaniards were thrown overboard. Babodid this to show his power and authority. That he was in command.

Babo, however, promised not to kill Captain Cereno. But everything hesaid carried a threat. He asked the captain if in these seas, therewere any Negro countries. "None." Cereno answered. "Then take us toSenegal or the neighboring island of St Nicolas."Captain Cereno was shaken. "That is impossible." He said, "It wouldmean going around Cape 2 Horn. And this ship is in no condition for sucha voyage and we do not have enough supplies, or sails or water." "Takeus there anyway," Babo answered sharply, showing little interest insuch details. "If you refuse, we will kill every white man on board."Captain Cereno knew he had no choice. He told the rebel leader thatthe most serious problem in making such a long voyage was water. Babosaid they should sail to the island of St. Maria, near the southernend of Chile. He knew that no one lived on the island. But water andsupplies could be found there. He forced Captain Cereno to keep awayfrom any port. He threatened to kill him the moment he saw him startto move toward any city, town or settlement on shore.

Cereno had to agree to sail to the island of St. Maria. He still hopedthat he might meet along the way or at the island itself a ship thatcould help him. Perhaps, who knows, he might find a boat down theisland and be able to escape to the nearby coast of Arucal. Hope wasall he had left and that was getting smaller each day.

Captain Cereno steered 5 south for St. Maria. The voyage would takeweeks. Eight days after the ship turned south, Babo told CaptainCereno that he was going to kill Don Alessandro, owner of the slaveson board. He said it had to be done. Otherwise he and the other slavescould never be sure of their freedom. He refused to listen to thecaptain's appeals and ordered two men to pull Don Alessandro up frombelow and kill him on deck. It was done as ordered. Three otherSpaniards were brought up and thrown overboard. Babo warned Cereno andthe other Spaniards that each one of them would go the same way if anyof them gave the smallest calls for suspicion.

Cereno decided 6 to do everything possible to save the lives of thoseremaining. He agreed to carry the rebels safely to Senegal if theypromised peace and no further bloodshed. And he signed a document thatgave the rebels ownership of the ship and its cargo 7.

Later, as they sailed down along the coast of Chile, the wind suddenlydropped. The ship drifted into a deep calm. For days, it lay still inthe water. The heat was fierce, the suffering intense. There waslittle water that made matters worse. Some of those on board weredriven mad. A few died. The pressure and tension made many violent andthey killed a Spanish officer.

After a time, a breeze came up and set the ship free again and itcontinued south. The voyage seemed endless. The ship sailed for weekswith little water on board. It moved through days of good weather andperiods of bad weather. There were times when it sailed under heavyskies and times when the wind dropped and the ship lay becalmed inlifeless air. The crew seemed half dead.

At last, one evening in the month of August, the San Dominick reachedthe lonely island of St Maria. It moved slowly toward one of theisland’s bays to drop anchor. Not far off lay an American ship andthe sight of the ship caught the rebels by surprise.

The slaves became tense and fearful. They wanted to sail away quicklybut their leader Babo opposed such a move. Where could they go? Theirwater and food were low. He succeeded in bringing them under controland in quieting their fears. He told them they had nothing to fear.

And they believed him. Then he ordered everyone to go to work, toclean the decks and put the ship in proper and good condition so thatno visitor would suspect anything was wrong. Later he spoke 8 to CaptainCereno, warning him that he would kill him if he did not do as he wastold. He explained in detail what Cenero was to do and say if anystranger came on board. He held a dagger 9 in his hand, saying it wouldalways be ready for any emergency.

The American vessel 10 was a large trade ship and seal hunter, commandedby Captain Amasa Delano. He had stopped at St. Maria for water. On theAmerican ship shortly after sunrise, an officer woke captain Delanoand told him a strange sail was coming into the bay. The captainquickly got up, dressed and went up on deck. Captain Delano raised hisspyglass and looked closely at the strange ship coming slowly in. Hewas surprised that there was no flag. A ship usually showed its flagwhen entering a harbor where another ship lay at anchor. As the shipgot closer, Captain Delano saw it was damaged. Many of its sails wereripped and torn, a mast was broken and the deck was in disorder 11.

Clearly, the ship was in trouble. The American captain decided to goto the strange vessel and offer help. He ordered his whaleboat putinto the water and had his men bring up some supplies and put them inthe boat. Then they set out toward the mystery ship.

As they approached, Captain Delano was shocked at the poor conditionof the ship. He wondered what could have happened and what he wouldfind.

That will be our story next week.

You have heard part one of the American story "Benito Cereno". It waswritten by Herman Melville. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. Listenagain next week at this time when we continue the American story"Benito Cereno" in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klian.



1 steadily
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
2 cape
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
3 navigate
v.航行,飞行;导航,领航
  • He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
  • Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。
4 killings
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发
  • His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
  • The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
5 steered
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导
  • He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
  • The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • 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。
7 cargo
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物
  • The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
  • A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。
8 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
  • 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。
9 dagger
n.匕首,短剑,剑号
  • The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
  • The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。
10 vessel
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管
  • The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
  • You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。
11 disorder
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调
  • When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后,他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
  • It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。
学英语单词
abreactive therapy
adrenal-cortical insufficiency
aerobicize
age group
anagraph
anaphothrips sudanensis
anchoritesses
Antilipoxygenase
asphalting
assweed
attillas
bahia piassavas
balanced anesthesia
barn yard
bestead 2,bested
borrowing area
budget amendment
callen-symanzik equation
cickness
Clematis platysepala
closed shelf
contact-glass
converging polarized light
counterfeit note
dead hang position
diatonicisms
electric locomotive crab reel
electronic contactor
Etna Volcano
fiber-optic ring
garland crabs
genus epidendrums
Geoffrey Chaucer
hand-knitting yarn
horizontal-direction formation
impetigo contagiosa
islandly
Italophile
jacor
juzgado
Krasnyy Chikoy
labour agreement
law-abidding
Lezoux
ligusticumic acid
link line equipment
liquid solid chromatography
loans on actual estate
magic-bullet
management scientist
mesogenacerores
metallgesellschafts
microcrystallization analysis
mirchi
mnila hawser
Mons (Bergen)
Myosotidium
net rent
newly industrializing country
no protest
nowra
numbness of lower lip
on home ground
onerarious
opposite sense
Orbignya spesiosa
outpoises
Pasirlaja
perfunctoriously
phasing control
phobist
pricky
professional class
protoaetioporphyrin
pseudohallucinations
radiometric techology
Radoszyce
reasonest
reciprocating positive displacement pump
recommondation
rectifier relay
resegregation
roxi
self-exited oscillation
skar
Slurpee
soft material
special handling considerations
spotted dogs
spurring on
St. Crispin
stonebench
submultisets
teef
to dismast
transcondylar amputation
uncontinuous change
vaso-occlusive crisis
vernicles
whip line
wiluite
Yos Sudarso, Pulau