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美国故事 SENEWS-2007-0915-FEATURE

时间:2007-10-10 01:51来源:互联网 提供网友:方易速   字体: [ ]
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Now, the Special English program American Stories. Our story today is called "Luck". It was written by Mark Twain. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.

I was at a dinner in London given an honor of one of the most celebrated1 English military men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant2 General Lord Arthur Scoresby. I can not describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with metals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness, his fame had no effect on him. The hundreds of eyes watching him, the worship of so many people did not seem to make any difference to him.

Next to me sat the clergyman who was an old friend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he leaned toward me and whispered, "Privately3, he is a complete fool!'' He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner. This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at my friend. I could not have been more surprised if he had said the same thing about Napoleon or Socrates or Solomon. But I was sure of two things about the clergyman: he always spoke4 the truth and his judgment5 of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.

Some days later, I got a chance to talk with the clergyman and he told me more. These are his exact words.

About forty years ago, I was an instructor6 in the military academy at Woolwich when young Scoresby was given his first examination. I felt extremely sorry for him. Everybody answered the questions well, intelligently, while he, why dear me! He did not know anything, so to speak. He was a nice pleasant young man. It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles of stupidity. I knew of course that when examined again, he would fail and be thrown out. So I said to myself, "It would be a simple harmless act to help him as much as I could."

I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Caesar's history, but he did not know anything else. So I went to work and tested him and worked him like a slave. I made him work over and over again on a few questions about Caesar which I knew he would be asked.

If you will believe me, he came through very well on the day of the examination, he got high praise too while others who knew a thousand times more than he were sharply7 criticized. By some strange lucky accident, he was asked no questions but those I made him study. Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years. Well, all through his studies I stood by him with the feeling a mother has for a disabled child. And he always saved himself by some miracle. I thought that what in the end would destroy him would be the mathematics examination. I decided8 to make his end as painless as possible, so I pushed facts into his stupid head before hours. Finally I let him go to the examination to experience what I was sure would be his dismissal from school. Well sir, try to imagine the result! I was shocked out of my mind – he took first prize and he got the highest praise!

I felt guilty day and night. What I was doing was not right, but I only wanted to make his dismissal a little less painful for him. I never dreamed it would lead to such strange laughable results. I thought that sooner or later one thing was sure to happen. The first, real test once he was through school would ruin him. Then the Crimean War broke out. I felt that set for him that there had to be a war, peace would have given this donkey a chance to escape from ever being found out as being so stupid. Nervously9 I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an officer – a captain of all things! Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such weak shoulders as his!

I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this, I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could. So I joined up with him and away we went to field. And there—oh dear it was terrible! Mistakes! Tearful mistakes! Why? He never did anything that was right. Nothing but mistakes! But you see. Nobody knew the secret of how stupid he really was! Everybody misunderstood his actions. They saw his stupid mistakes as words of great intelligence. They did, honestly. His smallest mistakes made a man in his right mind cry and shout and scream too. To himself of course. And what kept me in a continued fear was the fact that every mistake he made increased his glory and fame. I kept saying to myself that when at last they found out about him it will be like the sun falling out of the sky.

Emm, he continued to climb up over the dead bodies of his superiors. Then in the hardest moment of one battle down went our colonel10, my heart jumped into my mouth for Scoresby was the next in line to take his place. Now we are in for it, I said. The battle grew harder, the English and their allies11 were stably retreating all over the field. Our regiment12 occupied of position that was extremely important. One mistake now would bring total disaster. And what did Scoresby do this time? He just mistook his left hand for his right hand. That was all. An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved forward and went over the hill to the left. We were over the hill before this insane13 movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find?--A large and unsuspected Russian army waiting. And what happened?—were we all tilt14? That was exactly what would have happened in 99 cases out of 100. But no. those surprised Russians thought that no one regiment by itself would come around there at such a time.

"It must be the whole British army!" They thought. They turned tail, away they went over the hill and down into the field in wild disorder15 and we after them. In no time there was the greatest turnaround you ever saw. The allies turned defeat into a sweeping16 and shining victory!

The allied17 commander looked on, his head spinning with wonder, surprise and joy. He sent right off for Scoresby and put his arms around him and hugged him on the field in front of all the armies. Scoresby became famous that day as a great military leader, honoredest throughout the world. That honor will never disappear while history books last.

He is just as nice and pleasant as ever. But he still does not know enough to come in out of the ring. He is the stupidest man in the universe. Until now, nobody knew it but Scoresby and myself. He has been followed day by day, year by year by a strange luck. He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for years. He has filled his whole military life with mistakes. Every one of them brought him another honorary title. Look at his chest, flooded with British and foreign medals. Well, sir, every one of them is the record of some great stupidity or other. They are proof that the best thing that can happen to a man is to be born lucky! I say again as I did at the dinner: Scoresby is a complete fool!

You have just heard the story "Luck". It was written by Mark Twain and adapted for Special English by Harold Berman. Your narrator was Shep O'Neal. Listen again next week at the same time for another American story told in Special English on The Voice of America. This is Susan Clark.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 celebrated iwLzpz     
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
参考例句:
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
2 lieutenant X3GyG     
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员
参考例句:
  • He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
  • He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官,递上了一张简短的便条进去。
3 privately IkpzwT     
adv.以私人的身份,悄悄地,私下地
参考例句:
  • Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
  • The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
4 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • 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。
5 judgment e3xxC     
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见
参考例句:
  • The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
  • He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
6 instructor D6GxY     
n.指导者,教员,教练
参考例句:
  • The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
  • The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。
7 sharply UiRziL     
adj.锐利地,急速;adv.严厉地,鲜明地
参考例句:
  • The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
  • Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。
8 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • 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。
9 nervously tn6zFp     
adv.神情激动地,不安地
参考例句:
  • He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇,努力忍着不哭出来。
  • He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
10 colonel iWUyO     
n.(英国陆军、美国陆空军及海军陆战队)上校
参考例句:
  • It's a pity we didn't mend our fences with the colonel.可惜我们还没有和上校先生调整好关系。
  • An army major ranks between a captain and a colonel.陆军少校的军阶在上尉与中校之间。
11 allies 0315fa8e6410a54cc80a4eb2babcda27     
联盟国,同盟者; 同盟国,同盟者( ally的名词复数 ); 支持者; 盟军
参考例句:
  • The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。
  • A number of the United States' allies had urged him not to take a hasty decision. 美国的一些盟友已力劝他不要急于作决定。
12 regiment JATzZ     
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制
参考例句:
  • As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活,所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
  • They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。
13 insane nbVzG     
adj.蠢极的,荒唐的,精神错乱的,疯狂的
参考例句:
  • Insane people are sometimes dangerous.精神病人有时非常危险。
  • The letter made her insane with jealousy.那封信使她妒忌得发疯。
14 tilt aG3y0     
v.(使)倾侧;(使)倾斜;n.倾侧;倾斜
参考例句:
  • She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
  • The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平,有点儿歪.
15 disorder Et1x4     
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调
参考例句:
  • 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。
16 sweeping ihCzZ4     
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的
参考例句:
  • The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
  • Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗?
17 allied iLtys     
adj.协约国的;同盟国的
参考例句:
  • Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
  • Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。
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