听美国故事练听力 13

　　I arrived in America one sunny morning. But I did not feel I was hereyet. Flying on an airplane from Lagos, Nigeria to New York City, toLos Angeles, California¹ did not carry my mind with me right away. Ihad to catch up with my body. The United² States is where I had wantedto live for a long time. Now here I was. Driving through the desert ofLos Angeles. The land was cut through with long wide roads that weretoo smooth and flat to seem seam³ wheel. The roads had no holes orother blocks that I was used to at home. Outside my car window, thehigh, hard, grave⁴ rocks did not welcome me. Would this really be home?
During my first month, I liked to drive through well-known⁵ costlyareas of Los Angeles such as Sunset⁷ Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard andRodeo Drive. The buildings there were tall, shiny⁸ and in strangeshapes. The stores were filled with clothes and other costly⁶ things Icould not imagine buying or wearing. On my way home, I drove⁹ throughpoor areas of Los Angeles. People sat in the street asking for money.
The buildings were dirty and their windows had no glass. The areafilled me with fear.
Which side of America would I end up in, the rich or the poor? I cameto this country with nothing. But I believed I had a chance here. InAmerica, anyone could become rich, right? I was very lonely. I hadleft all my family behind in Nigeria. When I got tired of stayinginside the house, I took walks up some hills near my house. I wanna tofeel the sun, touch the warm earth and see the blue sky that was thesame as the one at home. There were no huge trees with thick spreadingbranches and heavy green leaves to protect me from the sun. The soilwas not dark brown and rich. It was light brown and dry like sand.
There were small stones everywhere and small brown bushes¹⁰ covered thehillsides.
Again, I had to face the fact that this was not home which was all Ihad known. Only the strong steady¹¹ shine of the sun was the same. Thatat least made me happy. The sun was my first friend.
MusicI decided¹² to join a walking group that I read about in a localnewspaper. I had been brave enough to leave my home thousands of milesaway. Surely¹³ I could meet new people and force myself to talk to them.
One late Saturday, we gathered at the bottom of the Outdina Hills,east of Los Angeles. It was slowly growing dark. Everyone was wearingblue jeans and T-shirts except me. It was as if someone had told themwhat to wear. Instead I wore a dress and walked alone behind familygroups. The children spoke¹⁴ in high American voices. I kept waiting forthem to speak normally¹⁵, that is, without an American accent. To me,normal meant Nigerian. Would my voice become American like theirs?
The leader of the walking group was a man who knew all about plantsthat grew in the Sima Desert. He talked about burroweed, chaparral andother plants. He kept on talking. Suddenly in the dark, firefliesappeared turning on and off like little lights. The small lights shonelike stars floating among us. All of us were silenced, including thegroup leader and the children. Then the children tried to catch themoving lights, laughing and running around. The parents smiled.
Suddenly I said: "We have lots of fireflies at home."My voice sounded strange even to me. I do not know what made me talk.
The others turned and asked, "Where is home?"I answered, "Nigeria."They were surprised and asked even more questions.
One boy shouted, "Africa. Do you have lions in your homes?"Another child asked, "Do you eat zebra meat? And please take me backwith you."Everyone laughed and I did too. They asked more questions as wereturned back down the hill. They were very friendly. What adifference it makes to talk to people? This warmed my heart and Idrove home smiling.
MusicI got a job as an administrative¹⁶ assistant at an oil company. I waspaid twelve dollars an hour. It was more money than I'd ever been paidin my life. I had a college degree. In Nigeria, I had worked for thegovernment but I had trouble paying all my expenses. So now in LosAngeles, I felt rich even if I was poor compared to other Americans.
What could I do but spend the money? I was too excited to save it.
I bought a car which I could pay for for over six years. That would beeasy. I bought a wide new bed with shiny gold designs on it. It was alarge queen-size bed just for me. I bought clothes too, of course.
Clothes for the office and clothes for church. Clothes for nightparties and afternoon parties even though I had not been invited toany parties yet. Now I needed shoes to match all those dresses,blouses and pants. At home I had one black pair of shoes for work andanother for church and parties. Now I could buy high heels¹⁷, boots,open toed shoes, leather and suede¹⁸ shoes, shoes in blue, red, greenand white. I, too, would wear new shoes only.
I bought a television, radio, computer, a music system and new thingsfor my kitchen. For once all these things were mine and they were allnew. I would not have to share them with ten other people. All I hadto do was give the salesperson¹⁹ my credit²⁰ card and she let me take whatever I wanted. It was as if no real money was involved. She also saidI did not have to pay right away. Imagine that!
My smaller apartment became full, boxes of all sizes now sat in myliving room. They did not move or talk to me. Shopping and unpackingand reorganizing my apartment took up all my time. But what else did Ihave to do? Things instead of people filled my life.
MusicMost of the people I worked with were much younger than I was. Theyhad just finished college. They all hoped to get other jobs doing whatthey really wanna to do. Michael wrote screenplays for movies, but hehad not sold any of his screenplays yet. John, Lily and Tuwana tookacting classes. They said someday they would act in movies or at leastin television. And what about me, they asked. Why did I come to LosAngeles? I said I was looking for a better life, to make more moneyand be independent. "And of course you have found it." Lily said.
"That's great!" Michael added²¹, "You are very lucky to be in the UnitedStates. Everybody wants to come here."Later that evening, I was having dinner alone with my boxes. I askedmyself, "Had I found a better life?" I realized that I had never eatena meal by myself before I came to America. My co-workers got used tome, and I got used to them. They often invited me to eat and drinkwith them after work. Lily, Michael and Peter talked about their bigplans for the future most of the time. They kept asking me, "What doyou really want?" "You mean if I had a choice." I asked. They laughed.
"Of course you have a choice." Lily said. "It's your life." They allsaid together. To tell the truth, I had not really thought about mylife that way. I'd always done what was necessary, not what I wanted.
Now I had nothing to stop me. What did I really want? I could go backto school and study nursing²², teaching²³, business management, or art. Icould read my secret poems in coffee shops all over the city. I couldget along to open a business for African hairstyling. I could startdreaming of a future that I could design. Imagine that......
MusicYou have just heard the American Story "Lost and Found in LosAngeles". Your storyteller was Gwen Outen. This story was written andadapted for Special English by Doreen Baingana. Listen again next weekat this time for another American Story in Special English on theVoice of America.

1 California   

n.加利福尼亚(美国)

参考例句：

• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。
• We were driving on a California freeway.我们正沿着加利福尼亚的一条快车道驾车行驶。

2 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

3 seam   

n.缝，接缝；vt.用缝缝，接缝；vi.有裂缝

参考例句：

• The seam of his coat is pulled.他外套的线缝被撕开了。
• His shirt ripped at the seam.他的衬衣缝口撕开了。

4 grave   

n.墓穴，坟墓，雕刻工，抑音；adj.庄重的，严肃的，重大的，低沉的；vt.雕刻

参考例句：

• Marriage is the grave of love.婚姻是爱情的坟墓。
• This is a very grave matter indeed.这问题的确非常严重。

5 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 sunset   

n.日落；衰落时期(尤指人的晚年)

参考例句：

• They'll work on till sunset.他们将继续工作，直到日落。
• The sunset was a very beautiful sight.那落日真是一幅美景。

8 shiny   

adj.有光泽的，发光的，辉煌的

参考例句：

• What shiny shoes you're wearing!你穿的鞋子擦得真亮啊！
• All the cups are clean and shiny.所有的杯子都很干净明亮。

9 drove   

vbl.驾驶，drive的过去式；n.畜群

参考例句：

• He drove at a speed of sixty miles per hour.他以每小时60英里的速度开车。
• They drove foreign goods out of the market.他们把外国货驱逐出市场。

10 bushes   

n.灌木（丛）( bush的名词复数 )；[机械学]（金属）衬套；[电学]（绝缘）套管；类似灌木的东西（尤指浓密的毛发或皮毛）

参考例句：

• There was someone skulking behind the bushes. 有人藏在灌木后面。
• The boy chased his sister in and out among the bushes. 那个男孩在灌木丛里跟着他姐姐追过来追过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 steady   

adj.稳定的，不动摇的，沉着的，稳固的，坚定的，可靠的；vt.使稳定

参考例句：

• She has a steady income.她有固定的收入。
• He is a steady young man.他是一个稳重的年轻人。

12 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。

13 surely   

adv.确实地，无疑地；必定地，一定地

参考例句：

• It'should surely be possible for them to reach an agreement.想必他们可以达成协议。
• Surely we'll profit from your work.我们肯定会从你的工作中得到益处。

14 spoke   

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。

15 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

16 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

17 heels   

n.高跟鞋；紧随某人；跟捬；飞奔逃跑；（袜子等的）后跟( heel的名词复数 )；足跟；有…后跟的；女高跟鞋

参考例句：

• Her heels clacked on the marble floor. 她的鞋后跟在大理石地面上发出咔嗒咔嗒的响声。
• The dogs yapped at his heels. 几只狗跟在他后面汪汪乱叫。

18 suede   

n.表面粗糙的软皮革

参考例句：

• I'm looking for a suede jacket.我想买一件皮制茄克。
• Her newly bought suede shoes look very fashionable.她新买的翻毛皮鞋看上去非常时尚。

19 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。

20 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

21 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

22 nursing   

n.看护，养育，授乳

参考例句：

• She takes up nursing as a career.她以看护为职业。
• They trained her for nursing.他们培训她做护理工作。

23 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。