时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:2018年NPR美国国家公共电台8月


英语课

The hardworking blacksmith 1 Jones used to work all day in his shop and so hard working was he that at times he would make the sparks fly from his hammer. The son of Mr. Smith, a rich neighbor, used to come to see the blacksmith everyday and for hours and hours he would enjoy himself watching how the tradesman worked.

琼斯是个非常勤劳的铁匠,常常一整天都在店里工作。他工作非常努力,有时候火花会从他的锤子下飞舞而出。邻居史密斯先生很有钱,他的儿子常常每天都来看铁匠工作。他喜欢观看这位工匠工作,并且一看就是连续几个小时。



"Young man, why don't you try your hand to learn to make shoe tacks 2, even if it is only to pass the time?" said the blacksmith. "Who knows, one day, it may be of use to you." The lazy boy began to see what he could do. But after a little practice he found that he was becoming very skilled and soon he was making some of the finest tacks.

“年轻人,为什么不亲自尝试一下如何制作鞋钉呢,哪怕只是为了消磨时间而已?”铁匠说,“说不准,有一天它会对你有用的。” 懒懒的孩子开始想看看自己到底能做什么。然而,仅仅经过很短的练习,他便发现自己非常熟练起来,很快他就做出了最好的鞋钉。



Old Mr. Smith died and the son on account of the war lost all his goods. He had to leave home and was forced to take up residence in another country. It so happened that in this village there were numerous shoemakers who were spending a lot of money to buy tacks for their shoes and even at times when they paid high prices they were not always able to get what they wanted, because in that part of the country there was a high demand for soldiers' shoes.

老史密斯先生去世了,而他的儿子则因为战争的缘故失去了所有的财产。他不得不离开家园,在另外一个国家住了下来。巧的是,这个国家的这个地区,急需大量军鞋,所以这个村子里有很多鞋匠,他们总是花费很多钱购买鞋钉。有时,即使付了很高的价钱,也买不到他们想要的鞋钉。



Our young Mr. Smith, who was finding it difficult to earn his daily bread, remembered that once upon a time he had learned the art of making tacks and had the sudden idea of making a bargain with the shoemakers. He told them that he would make the tacks if they would help to get him settled in his workshop. The shoemakers were only too glad of the offer. And after a while, Mr. Smith found that he was soon making the finest tacks in the village. "How funny it seems," he used to say, "even making tacks can bring a fortune. My trade is more useful to me than were all my former riches."

在这食不果腹的困难时刻,年轻的史密斯记起自己曾学过制鞋钉这门手艺,便突发奇想,想和这些鞋匠们做一个交易。他对他们说,如果他们可以帮助他成立一个店铺,他就可以做鞋钉。鞋匠们对他的这一提议欣喜若狂。很快,史密斯发现他做的鞋钉是村里面最好的。“看起来可真有趣,”他常常会说,“即便是做鞋钉也会带来财富。与我以前所有的财富相比,我现在的生意更有用,更有益。”



1 blacksmith
n.铁匠,锻工
  • The blacksmith is hammering the red-hot metal.铁匠正在锤烧红的铁。
  • The blacksmith forged a bar of iron into a hook.铁匠把一根铁条锻造成一个钩子。
2 tacks
大头钉( tack的名词复数 ); 平头钉; 航向; 方法
  • Never mind the side issues, let's get down to brass tacks and thrash out a basic agreement. 别管枝节问题,让我们讨论问题的实质,以求得基本一致。
  • Get down to the brass tacks,and quit talking round the subject. 谈实质问题吧,别兜圈子了。
学英语单词
'Arad
a man and a brother
agent of carrier
alarm signal
all weather liquefied petroleum gas
annihilation gamma quantum
anuerobic respiration
arteria frontalis medialis
ascent rate
beat frequency meter
bloodthirsties
blower sprayer
body scoring
body searches
central oscillating cylinder linkage
chante
Cheneyville
cherry gum
chrysops flavescens
circular behavior
cold junciton
composition of conductor
converted journal entry
coshocton
digit significant
dishabituations
distillation with steam
Dolgaya Kosa
dotted crotchet
enthalpy of desalting
equilibrium reflux boiling point
extensive operations in farming
factory-worker
fast feathering
fiber bush
file allocation tables
film studio
float wheel
floating point base
gorge-walking
grandmozzer
gravity brake
haemoglobinopathy
hot-head
hydraulic-controlled bulldozer
Ifergane
insect endocrinology
intermediate speed pinion
iron(ii) metavanadate
joint effort
Ladies' Gallery
lakhdars
late release
line controller
mahanta
maukish
monodictys putredinis
motor repair
multipath signal
munchy
N star N
new-metal
newley
nickel(ii) nitrate ammoniated
nonprison
oblique speech
Oil Sample
oppressors
papier
peer entity authentication
personal liability policy
promotion activities
protection setting
radio telemetering
rated d.c. output current
red lead anticorrosive primer
red-mouth
reference stress
repine
revolver loan
ride easy
Ring of the Nibelung, The
rood-lofts
Sales Oliveira
schemies
screenings wrapping
seerhand
shirt dress
Sinemurian Stage
spasmodic cholera
spreadsheet package
stagnation line
storage utilization
style book
superkids
syndrome of stirring wind due to blood deficiency
Teeswaters
Tottori
turn our back on
urocyclid
VLAP
world legal order