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
absolute judgement
acrolejeunea pusilla
all right on the day
alsek
as easy as falling off a log
average kilometrage per vehicle-day
blood-borner
Brown-Eye
Buckingham 2,George Villiers
busting a gut
center coupled loop
charmlike
civil wrong
count up to
counter thrust
create jobs in every possible way
Curtis stage
delay thermal over-current relay
desert ecosystem
Detonieren
dissected
drylayup
EFPW
epitomization
Expected return-beta relationship
Experince
external meaning
fast recovery silicon rectifier
firm-to-firm variation
fleshlight
gantry-type robot
gas-off
guidemember
guitarist
harmotomic
hasparren
heat bodied oil
Hippocampinae
Homaliodendron
hwits
interstitiated
Kamikochi
Kirkaig, Loch
Komarom
Kushkopola
land smoothing machine
lincomycinum
longitudinal static-stability augmentation system (lssas)
Lopphavet
loss torque
Lusophile
maximum degree
maximum non-dimensional damage length
Middle Precambrian
mnla
Mordvinian
MRAN
muhak
nested type reduction gear
network discovery
offshore tug supply ship
orifice equation
orthosomatic
overscreen
ox-bot
parameter analysis
Phillipsastraea
power take off shifter shaft
precision tools
pseudo wet-bulb temperature
pulmonary gangrene
reactive agent
remote-control circuit breaker
rib-tickler
Rowell
sagaxes
scheduler module
scotch (whisk(e)y)
selective receiving circuit
set type (in network model)
short-stressed mill housing
Siemens-Halske process
single-fire
single-phase induction shifter
slow in
splay end
spot speed
start statement
sulfamidobarbituric acid
sum of square of deviation
tetradecyl mercaptan
tetrahydrofurfuryl propionate
the mid-atlantic states
toilet roll cutter and perforator
transmission finished
ulcerated carcinoma
validation study
vibrionic abortion
virtual trade shows
well-conditioned vehicles
winding us up
Zapata County