自考0795综合英语(二)基础班课程讲义全下册Lessom14

Lesson Fourteen: The Listener打印本页

I. Outline of the Text

Part 1: (Para. 1)

Violinist Rudolf made a living by giving concerts in small seaport towns.

Part 2: (Para. 2)

In various towns in Iceland the audience didn't understand his music.

Part 3: (Paras. 3-5)

He arrived at a lighthouse to seek shelter from a coming storm.

Part 4: (Paras. 6-9)

Rudolf learned all about the lighthouse keeper's simple life.

Part 5: (Paras. 10-20)

Rudolf found an understanding listener for his music in the lighthouse.

Ⅱ. text

Part 1: (Para. 1)

1 Once there was a little concert violinist named Rudolf, who lived in Sweden.

Once adv.从前，曾经

…who lived in Sweden 非限定性定语从句，修饰 Rudolf

Some of his friends thought he was not the best of musicians because he was restless; others thought he was restless because he was not the best of musicians.

译文：他的一些朋友认为他之所以成不了一流乐手是因为他不安分，另一些朋友觉得，正因为他不是一流乐手，他才不安分。

musician n

At any rate, he hit upon a way of making a living, with no competitors.

译文：无论是哪种情况，反正他想出了一个没有竞争对手的谋生之路。

2 At any rate, he hit upon a way of making a living, with no competitors--Whatever the case may be, he came up with a way of supporting himself; nobody else would want to make a living this way.

Whether by choice or necessity, he used to sail about Scandinavia in his small boat, all alone, giving concerts in little seaport towns.

译文：或许是他乐意这样做，或许是没有别的办法，他常常独自驾驶小舟到斯堪的纳维亚地区海边小镇进行演出。

2 By choice 自愿

e.g. I should take this by choice.

used to do sth . 过去常常

be used to doing sth 习惯于

If he found an accompanist, well and good; if not, he played works for unaccompanied violin;

well and good那也不错

and it happened once or twice that he wanted a piano so badly that he imagined one, and then he played whole sonatas for violin and piano, with no piano in sight.

译文：有一两次他特别想有钢琴伴奏，只好假想有，居然在眼前根本没有钢琴的情况下，演奏了整部小提琴和钢琴协奏曲。

In sight被看到

Part 2: (Para. 2)

2 One year Rudolf sailed all the way out to Iceland and began working his way around that rocky coast from one town to another.

译文：有一年，鲁道夫驾船一直抵达遥远的冰岛，开始艰难地环绕那岩石密布的海岸，从一个城镇到另一个城镇巡回演出。

2 Work one's way 费力前进

e.g. He worked his way to the front of the crowd.

It was a hard, stubborn land; but people in those difficult places do not forget the law of hospitality to the stranger- for their God may decree that they too shall become strangers on the face of the earth.

译文：这是一片坚硬、难以开发的土地；不过那些艰苦地方的人们对初来乍到的人并没有忘记自己的待客之道--因为说不定哪天命运也会把他们带到陌生的地方。

…but people in those difficult places do not forget the law of hospitality to the stranger--but people in those poor places are very kind and friendly to others who come to their land.

order

The audiences were small, and even if Rudolf had been really first-rate, they would not have been very demonstrative.

译文：听众不多，即便鲁道夫真是一流演奏家，他们也不会表露出多少热情／有多热烈的表现。

first-class

…even if Rudolf had been really first-rate, they would not have been very demonstrative--even if Rudolf had played very well, the audience would not have shown emotion.

From ancient times their energy had gone, first of all, into earnest toil.

译文：自古以来，他们首先必须辛勤劳动。（即：谋生是他们的首要活动，劳动之余，没有多少精力去听音乐。）

Sometimes the local schoolteacher, who reminded them of their duty to the names of Beethoven and Bach and Mozart and one or two others whose music perhaps was not much heard in those parts, collected them.

译文：当地的那位教书先生有时让他们聚在一起，给他们演奏一些曲子，让他们知道世界上有伟大的音乐家贝多芬、巴赫、莫扎特以及其作品本地老百姓不太熟悉的其他一两位音乐家。

Collected…本句谓语

Remind sb. of sth/to do sth.提醒某人某事/去做某事

Too often people sat stolidly watching the noisy little fiddler, and went home feeling gravely edified. But they paid.

译文：演奏时，听众常常是呆若木鸡地瞅着那唧唧喳喳的乐手；散场回家时，他们觉得受到深刻教育。不过钱他们总是付的。

Part 3: (Paras. 3-5)

3 As Rudolf was sailing from one town to the next along a sparsely settled shore, the northeast turned black and menacing.