听播客学英语 135 流浪汉

 　　Two weeks ago, I made a podcast about immigration into Britain from Eastern Europe. Today’s podcast is also about an immigrant from Eastern Europe. His name was Josef Stawinoga. He was born in Poland. We do not know much about his early life. It seems that he was involved in the second World War. Perhaps he was taken prisoner during the Soviet¹ invasion of Poland in 1939. Or perhaps he served in the German army, as some people claim. He arrived in Britain some time after the war. He found a job working in a steel works. He married a woman from Austria, but it appears that he mistreated her, and she ran away.

　　Some time after his wife left him, Joseph stopped working at the steel works and dropped out of society. He became a tramp – he wandered the streets, with no proper home. For a time he seems to have lived in lodging² houses, but by the 1970s he had found a home – a home where he lived for the rest of his life. It was a makeshift tent on the grass strip in the middle of Wolverhampton ring road.

　　Let me explain about ring roads. In the 1960s and 1970s, many local authorities in England decided³ that what their towns needed above everything else was a new road, running in a circle, around the town centre. These roads are known as ring roads. They disfigure most towns in England outside London. They say to us that cars are more important than people. Many ring roads are dual⁴ carriageways – that means that there is an empty piece of land in the middle of the road, to separate the cars racing⁵ in one direction from the cars racing in the other direction. Wolverhampton – which is an important town to the west of Birmingham – has a ring road, and it was there that Joseph decided to make his home.

　　Perhaps you think that you would like to live in the middle of a ring road too. However, you are not legally allowed to do this. But the local authority in Wolverhampton decided that it was best to let Joseph stay. His experiences during the war had damaged him psychologically. He may have suffered from claustrophobia – that is, a fear of being in a confined space, like a room or a building. So it was difficult to force him to live in a normal house.

　　Over the years, Joseph became a well-known sight in Wolverhampton. People called him “Fred” most of the time, instead of Joseph. He was often seen with a brush, sweeping⁶ rubbish off the ring road. Some people in the Indian and Sikh communities in Wolverhampton regarded him as a sort of holy man, and from time to time they would bring him gifts and food. His tent – actually it was just a piece of plastic sheeting – started to fall to bits. But Joseph, or Fred, refused to move, so the army came and erected⁷ a new tent over the top of the old one.

　　Joseph was found dead in his tent last week, on the 28th of October. He was 86 years old. He had lived in his tent for over 30 years. A lot of people in Wolverhampton are quite sad that he is no longer in the middle of the ring road. There is even talk of erecting⁸ a permanent monument to him. Why should we remember him? He did not do anything to help other people, as far as I know. He simply refused to live his life in a normal way. And that is important, don’t you think?

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

3 decided   

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。

4 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

5 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

6 sweeping   

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？

7 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

8 erecting   

v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立

参考例句：

• Nations can restrict their foreign trade by erecting barriers to exports as well as imports. 象设置进口壁垒那样，各国可以通过设置出口壁垒来限制对外贸易。 来自辞典例句
• Could you tell me the specific lift-slab procedure for erecting buildings? 能否告之用升板法安装楼房的具体程序？ 来自互联网