时间:2018-12-11 作者:英语课 分类:听美国故事练听力


英语课

  One day, our neighbor Keno Carter 1 rode his horse over to our house. Hehad another horse with him. He rode to me and said: "You have helpedme a lot during the year. You've been a good boy. Now, here is thehorse I promised. It is yours."At first, I just stood with my mouth open and looked. The horse was awhite female 2. A mare 3 with brown spots. I have never seen anything sobeautiful and she was mine, all mine.

"What's wrong?" asked Keno Carter, "Don't you like her. She is as fastand brave as a wild horse. And she has a sense of fun."I did not hear a word he said. The only thing I could say was, "Gee 4!

Thanks, thanks." Keno Carter got down from his horse. My new horsejumped and lifted her front feet high in the air. Then she put hernose into his coat pocket and took a piece of sugar.

"She knows me," Said Keno Carter with a wide smile, "I am the onlyperson who has touched her. She is a kind animal. Remember this, boy.

You can lose her love easily. If you become angry, if you hurt her,she will never obey or love you. You should teach her very gently. Itis your job to feed her, clean her and give her water. Put her at theend of a long rope and let her play. Call her name and gently pull onthe rope. She will soon learn to come to you when she wants water orfood." He talked for half an hour telling me how to train my horse.

When he finished, I said: "Can I have her now? I want to begin rightaway."He left me and went to town with my father. I walked away with myhorse. The first thing I did was to give her a name. She was so proudand carried her head so high. I named her Queen. She liked me, I knewit because she obeyed me and seemed to enjoy it.

Later, when Keno Carter came home with my father, he asked me aboutQueen. "You should not train her hard today," He warned 5, "She haswalked all the way from my farm and (/she) is tired. You must thinkfor her. Be kind to her as kind as you are to your sisters."Sisters, I thought, and felt guilty 6. I never tried to be especiallykind to my sisters. I did not like girls very much. I did not saythat. But Keno Carter laughed as if he knew what I was thinking. Hetold me that the horse and I had to be like one animal. I was thebrains and the horse was the body. I liked that. Queen and metogether.

From then on, I was with my horse every day. I taught her to runaround in a circle, to go one way then turn around and go another. Ibroke a piece of wood from a tree and used it as my training stick. Mysmall sisters wanted to help me. I let them do some little things butI gave the orders. One sister put the rope around Queen's neck and ledher around and around. When I lifted the stick, Queen turned and wentthe other way. She was a quick horse and learned 7 fast.

A week later, I started to teach her to carry me. This was slow work.

I began by gently putting my arm on her back. If she did not like it,I slowly moved my arm away. When she let me leave my arm there, Iplaced the cloth on her back. I slowly got up and sat on the cloth,then got down again. I did this hundreds of times. I wanted to hurryand ride her, but I remembered what Keno Carter said about being slowand gentle. I learned how to wait. At last, she let me ride her, justfor a few minutes at first, then for a longer time. When she got tiredand started to jump, I got off. One thing about Queen, she was myhorse and she did not let my sisters or anyone else ride her. It wasalways like that, just Queen and me.

One day, the circus came to town. Day and night, we could hear thehappy circus music. There were many things to see: elephants, lions,men who flew through the air on swinging bars and funny men calledclowns. I wanted to see only one thing, the horses. I went to the tentwhere the trainer lived. I talked to him. He let me watch him trainthe circus horses. I learned a lot. I trained Queen until she wasbetter than all of them. She could soon stand up on her back legs, godown on her front legs and even lie down and roll over.

The big day came at last when I rode Queen into town. The circus mantold me that horses liked to look pretty. So I put a colored blanketon Queen's back and a red flower behind her ear. She loved it. She didnot walk. She danced to the circus music. Everyone stopped to look andsmile at us. We were happy, my horse and me. It was a day we wouldnever forget.

I started to teach Queen another trick, a difficult and dangeroustrick. But I was sure I could do it. I saw the circus horse do itfirst. He stepped over a clown 8 who lay on the ground. He ran back andforth and did not touch the clown with his feet. The trainer told mehow to teach Queen. First, I got pieces of wood and put them on theground. I led Queen over them. If she touched one of them, I told herit was wrong and did not give her any sugar. When she learned how todo this, I was ready to let her step over a clown. I did not have aclown. But I did have two sisters. They were happy to be part of mycircus act. They lay down on the ground and let Queen step over them.

My Queen did it like the circus horses.

This act was our secret. We did not tell anyone about it, not even mymother. It would be a surprise. We decided 10 to show my parents thatSaturday night. I cleaned Queen until she shone. I fixed 11 her hair likethey do in the circus with the bright blanket across her back and aflower behind her ear. Queen was ready. My sisters put on their bestdresses. We were all ready.

Saturday evening, when dad came home from work, we showed him ourtrick. A soft summer wind blew the circus music over to our farm. Whendad saw the act, he stopped and looked. His eyes grew wide, his faceturned white. My mare was running back and forth 9, her head highjumping over the bodies of my two sisters lying on the ground. I wasstanding proudly, nearby was the trainer stick in my hand. I thoughtthe look on my father's face was surprise, but it was not. It was fearand anger.

"Stop," he shouted, "stop that."He ran to me and pulled the stick from my hand. He hit me on the seatof my pants. The girls got up and brushed the dirt from their dresses.

We tried to tell him how we had trained the horse. But dad was tooangry to listen.

"Don't you know that is dangerous?" He said breathing fast, "You mighthave killed your sisters." And he hit my bottom good and hard.

I learned something useful from the punishment I got for that horsetrick. I learned about the pain in my heart when people did notunderstand me. I learned that some mothers and fathers do not traintheir boys as carefully as I trained my horse. Perhaps, they do nothave the time. Perhaps, they do not have any reasons.

When dad finished hitting me, he explained to mother why he hadpunished me. Then, I told my story. I told both of them how long andcarefully I had taught my horse to walk over the girls. I showed myfather that I could really control Queen. Then, I said something thathurt him very much.

"I taught my mare that trick," I said, "I have taught her all sheknows and I never hit her, not once."Mother gave dad one of her special looks. There was a long silence. Istood there in the middle of the yard gently touching 12 the seat of mypants. I wondered why my dad suddenly looked like a small boy.

You have just heard "Lessons from a pony 13" written by Lincoln Steffens.

The story is from the book "My favorite stories" published by * andCompany in 1957. It was read for you in Special English by ShepO'Neal. The Voice Of America will bring you another American storynext week. This is Susan Clark.

林肯·斯蒂芬斯(Lincoln Steffens,1866-1936)美国作家, 黑幕揭发运动的代表人物。曾经担任《麦可卢尔》、《美国》、《人人》等杂志的记者与编辑,他系统地揭露市、州一级政府的腐败行为,其代表作为《城市的耻辱》(Shameof the Cities)。



1 carter
n.运货马车夫,赶大车的人;卡车司机
  • Although fatigue shows readily on Carter, he bounces back quickly. 卡特虽然容易显出疲劳的样子,但他恢复得很快。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 female
adj.雌的,女(性)的;n.雌性的动物,女子
  • We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
  • The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。
3 mare
n.母马,母驴
  • The mare has just thrown a foal in the stable.那匹母马刚刚在马厩里产下了一只小马驹。
  • The mare foundered under the heavy load and collapsed in the road.那母马因负载过重而倒在路上。
4 gee
n.马;int.向右!前进!,惊讶时所发声音;v.向右转
  • Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
  • Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇!我们会赚好多钱啦!
5 warned
v.警告( warn的过去式和过去分词 );提醒;告诫;预先通知
  • Motorists have been warned to beware of icy roads. 已经提醒开车的人当心冰封的路面。
  • I've warned her countless times. 我警告过她无数次了。
6 guilty
adj.犯罪的;有罪的;内疚的
  • There wasn't enough evidence to prove him guilty.没有充分的证据证明他有罪。
  • Really honest people are ofter made to feel guilty.真正老实的人常被弄得感到犯了罪似的。
7 learned
adj.有学问的,博学的;learn的过去式和过去分词
  • He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
  • In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里,他被视为有学问的人。
8 clown
n.小丑;丑角
  • Doesn't the clown look funny!这小丑看上去真是滑稽!
  • A clown's job is to amuse the spectators.小丑的工作就是娱乐观众。
9 forth
adv.向前;向外,往外
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
10 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。
11 fixed
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
12 touching
adj.动人的,使人感伤的
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
13 pony
adj.小型的;n.小马
  • His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
  • They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。
学英语单词
a bee mite
a fat lip
adaptive man-machine nonarithmetic information processing
anticold
arianist
artificial intraocular lens
auditory information
authentic surveyer
axle tilt
big-bath accounting
bond investment account
book
Bourget, Aéroport de Le
broad ocean
burst into laughter
cespi
chilidium
cochain complexes
Codeinism
Condong-kecil, Sungai
consummations
contemporaneities
corps
cuntwardly
database key
deckle frame
deducible
dirty weekend
domestic storage financing
Ebringen
electrooptic(al) modulator
emission vacuum spectrometer
Epipactis mairei
erythroblastotic
estate at sufferance
esthesioneure
evidence-based-practice
fission yield characteristic
flitted
furanilide
generally accepted accounting practice
Gestalgar
gingival curvature
great grey owls
ground duty
guilts
hacking into
hatch boat
hazelgrove
Hsp72
iconizing
involument
isotrihydroxycholine
jig concentrate
jury instructions
keen price
Kocher's symptom
koco
ligialty
Londonderry District
lowfield
maintenance free operation
Messinese
mixed coal
monometer
N-noramepavine
objicient
offensive play
oilway
onioned
osmeterium
palloid gear
Phenethiurn
phosphate absorption coefficient
piano player
picture reproducer
preliminary interview
psychrometres
retriangulated
right-and-left-hand chart
rotary broom-slat sweeper
rotating dipole method
row-by-row system
savoy alps
saxhorn contrebasse
Shihan
simultaneous variables
sixth
squaring up machine
stepped diameter auger
stoneware clay
technical magnetization
train control line
trigeminal cough
trimonthlies
ulti
vietti
vSphere Replication
Vǔlchidol
well-given
yarn reinforced elastomer
zygosporangium