大学英语综合教程 第一册 unit 4a

英语听力 2019-07-16 06:12:34 134
[00:00.00]The American Dream means different things to different people.
[00:05.69]But for many,particularly immigrants,
[00:12.36]it means the opportunity to make a better life for themselves.
[00:18.81]For them the dream is that talent and hard work
[00:24.40]can take you from log cabin to White House.
[00:29.96]Tony Trivisonno did not rise quite so high,
[00:35.71]yet he managed to make his own dream come true.
[00:41.06]TONY TRIVISONNO\'S AMERICAN DREAM
[00:46.71]He came from a rocky farm in Italy,somewhere south of Rome.
[00:53.47]How or when he got to America,I don\'t know.
[00:59.72]But one evening I found him standing in the driveway,behind my garage.
[01:07.08]He was about five-foot-seven or eight,and thin.
[01:13.93]"I mow your lawn,"he said.It was hard to comprehend his broken English.
[01:22.08]I asked him his name. "Tony Trivisonno,"he replied.
[01:29.16]"I mow your lawn."I told Tony that I couldn\'t afford a gardener.
[01:37.49]"I mow your lawn,"he said again,then walked away.
[01:43.52]I went into my house unhappy.
[01:49.17]Yes,these Depression days were difficult,
[01:54.31]but how could I turn away a person who had come to me for help?
[02:00.87]When I got home from work the next evening,the lawn had been mowed,
[02:07.43]the garden weeded,and the walks swept.
[02:12.47]I asked my wife what had happened.
[02:18.14]"A man got the lawn mower out of the garage and worked on the yard,"she ansered.
[02:24.98]"I assumed you had hired him."
[02:29.94]I told her of my experience the night before.
[02:35.22]We thought it strange that he had not asked for pay.
[02:41.38]The next two days were busy,and I forgot about Tony.
[02:47.34]We were trying to rebuild our business
[02:51.78]and bring some of our workers back to the plants.But on Friday,
[02:59.04]returning home a little early,I saw Tony again,behind the garage.
[03:06.98]I complimented him on the work he had hone.
[03:12.34]"I mow your lawn,"he said.
[03:16.26]I managed to work out some kind of small weekly pay,
[03:22.48]and each day Tony cleaned up the yard and took care of any little tasks.
[03:30.34]My wife said he was very helpful
[03:34.78]whenever there were any heavy objects to lift or thing to fix."
[03:41.26]Summer passed into fall,and winds blew cold.
[03:47.32]"Mr.Craw,snow pretty soon,"Tony told me one evening.
[03:55.78]"When winter come,you give me job clearing snow at the factory.
[04:03.23]Well,what do you do with such determination and hope?
[04:09.18]Of course,Tony got his at the factory.
[04:15.43]The months passed.I asked the personnel department for a report.
[04:21.96]They said Tony was a very good worker.
[04:27.83]One day I found Tony at our meeting place behind the garage.
[04:34.31]"I want to be prentice,"he said.
[04:40.56]We had a pretty good apprentic school that trained laborers.But I doubted
[04:48.10]whether Tony had the capacity to read blueprints and micromters
[04:54.87]or do prcision work.Still how could I turn him down?
[05:02.81]Tony took a cut in pay to become an apprentice.
[05:08.38]Monthls later,I got a report that he had graduated as a skilled grinder.
[05:16.63]He had learned to read the millionths of an inch one the micrometer
[05:23.29]and to shape the grinding wheel with an instrument set with a diamond.
[05:30.45]My wife and I were delighted with what we felt was a satisfying end of the story
[05:38.60]A year or two passed,and again I found Tony in his usual waiting place.
[05:46.78]We talked about his work,and I asked him what he wanted.
[05:52.42]"Mr.Craw,"he said, "I like a buy a house.
[05:58.45]"On the edge of town,he had found a house for sale,a complete wreck.
[06:06.60]I called on a banker friend."Do you ever loan money on character?"I asked.
[06:14.15]"No,"he said. "We can\'t afford to.No sale."
[06:21.91]"Now,wait a minute,"I replied.
[06:26.17]"Here is a hard-working man, a man of character,I can promise you that.
[06:34.81]He\'s got a good job.
[06:38.79]You\'re not getting a damn thing from your lot.It will say there for years. 

[06:46.65]At least he will pay your interest."
[06:51.90]Reluctantly,the banker wrote a mortgage for$2,000
[06:58.56]and gave Tony the house with no down payment.
[07:03.73]Tony was delighted.From then on,
[07:08.98]it was interesting to see that any discarded odds and ends around our place
[07:16.43]a broken screen,a bit of hardware,boards from packing-
[07:23.48]Tony would gather and take home.
[07:27.84]After about two years,I found Tony in our familiar meeting spot.
[07:34.79]He seemed to stand a little straigher.
[07:39.96]He was heavier.He had a look of confidence.
[07:46.13]"Mr.Craw,I sell my house!"he said with pride. "I got$8,000."
[07:55.09]I was amazed. "But,Tony,where are you going to live without a hourse?"
[08:03.55]"Mr.Craw,I buy a farm."
[08:09.01]We sat down and talked.Tony told me that to own a farm was his dream.
[08:17.84]He loved the tomatoes and peppers
[08:22.20]and all the other vegetables important to his Italian diet.
[08:29.05]He had sent for his wife and son and daughter back in Italy.
[08:36.10]He had hunted around the edge of town
[08:40.46]until he found a small,abandoned piece of property with a house and shed.
[08:47.91]Now he was moving his family to his farm.
[08:54.02]Sometime later,Tony arrived on a Sunday afternoon,
[09:00.26]neatly dressed.He had another Italian man with him.
[09:06.90]He told me that he had persuaded his childhood friend to move to America.
[09:14.27]Tony was sponsoring him.
[09:19.31]With an amused look in his eye,
[09:23.57]he told me that when they approached the little farm he now operated,
[09:30.93]his friend stood in amazement and said, "Tony,you are a millionaire!"
[09:39.29]Then,during the war,a message came from my company,Tony had passed away.
[09:48.75]I asked our people to check on his family and see that everything was properly handled
[09:56.61]They found the farm green with vegetables,the little house livable and homey.
[10:04.34]There was a tractor and a good car in the yard.
[10:11.58]The children were deucated and working,and Tony didn\'t owe a cent.
[10:20.04]After he passed away,I thought more and more about Tony\'s career.
[10:26.99]He grew in stature in my mind.
[10:32.63]In the end,I think he stood as tall,and as proud,a as the greatest American industrialists
[10:42.51]They had all reached their success by the same route
[10:48.07]and by the same values and principles:
[10:53.71]vision,determination,self-control,optimism,self-respect and above al,integrity
[11:04.66]Tony did not begin on the bottom rung of the ladder.
[11:09.99]He began in the basement.Tony\'s affairs were tiny:
[11:17.64]the greatest industrialists\'affairs wre giant.
[11:22.68]But,after all,the balance sheets were exactly the same.
[11:29.95]The only difference was where you put the decimal point.
[11:36.32]Tony Trivisonno came to Americca seeking the American dream.
[11:43.16]But he didn\'t find it-he created it for himself.
[11:50.24]All he had were 24precious hours a day,and he wasted none of them.
[11:57.51]driveway/  mow/  comprehend/ lawn
[12:09.26]turn a away/  weed/ assume/ compliment
[12:21.54]work out/  weekly/  clean up/  helpful
[12:33.79]do with/ determination/  personnel/  apprentice
[12:45.65]capacity/ micrometer/  precision/  turn down
[12:58.66]graduate/ skilled/  grinder/ grind
[13:11.54]instrument/  for sale/  wreck/ call on
[13:22.59]banker/  loan/  character/  damn
[13:34.73]reluctantly/ mortage/  discard/  odds and ends
[13:49.28]screen/  hardware/  spot/  confidence
[14:01.95]amaze/  amazement/  pepper/  italian
[14:15.82]diet/ send for/  hunt/ abandon
[14:27.68]property/ shed/ sometime/ sponsor
[14:39.15]amuse/  approach/ millionaire/ pass away
[14:51.38]handle / livable/   homey/  tractor
[15:05.64]stature/  industrialist/ route/ principle
[15:17.50]vision optimism/ self-respect/ above all
[15:30.35]integrity/  rung/   basement/  giant
[15:41.53]balance/ balance sheet/ decimal 大学英语教材第一册 大学英语第一册答案 大学英语 大学英语2 大学英语1 大学英语教材 大学英语4答案 大学英语答案 大学英语听力
版权声明

本文来自投稿,不代表本站立场,转载请注明出处。

分享:

扫一扫在手机阅读、分享本文