新概念英语第三册 less37_new

[by:英语听力网|http://yingyu.chazidian.com||查字典英语网]
[00:00.00]喜欢chazidian.com，就把chazidian.com复制到QQ个人资料中！Lesson 37 The Westhaven Express
[00:03.15]37 开往威斯特海温的快车
[00:06.30]Listen to the text and answer this question
[00:11.57]听录音回答问题。
[00:16.85]What was the mistake the author made?
[00:21.24]作者犯了什么错误?
[00:25.63]We have learnt to expect that trains will be punctual
[00:28.85]我们已经习惯相信火车总是准点的
[00:32.08]After years of conditioning,
[00:33.96]经过多年的适应,
[00:35.84]most of us have developed an unshakable faith in railway timetables
[00:39.17]大多数人对火车时刻表产生一种坚定的信念
[00:42.50]Ships may be delayed by storms;
[00:44.56]轮船船期可能因风暴而推延,
[00:46.63]flights may be cancelled because of bad weather;
[00:48.90]飞机航班可能因恶劣天气而取消,
[00:51.17]but trains must be on time.
[00:53.21]唯有火车必然是准点的.
[00:55.25]Only an exceptionally heavy snow fall
[00:57.57]只有非同寻常的大雪
[00:59.90]might temporarily dislocate railway services.
[01:02.54]才可能暂时打乱铁路运行.
[01:05.18]It is all too easy to blame the railway authorities
[01:07.60]人们便不假思索地责备铁路当局
[01:10.03]when something does go wrong.
[01:12.02]一旦铁路上真出了问题,
[01:14.00]The truth is that when mistakes occur,
[01:16.19]事实上，问题的出错
[01:18.37]they are more likely to be ours than theirs.
[01:20.89]更可能在于我们自己而非铁路当局
[01:23.41]After consulting my railway timetable,
[01:25.59]我查看了列车时刻表,
[01:27.77]I noted with satisfaction that there was an express train to Westhaven
[01:31.15]满意地了解到有一趟去威斯特海温快车
[01:34.54]It went direct from my local station
[01:36.72]这是趟直达车,
[01:38.90]and the journey lasted a mere hour and seventeen minutes.
[01:41.77]旅途总共才需1小时17分
[01:44.65]When I boarded the train,
[01:46.53]上车后,
[01:48.41]I could not help noticing that a great many local people got on as well
[01:51.74]我不禁注意到许多当地人也上了车.
[01:55.07]At the time,this did not strike me as odd.
[01:57.41]一开始,我并不感到奇怪,
[01:59.75]I reflected that there must be a great many people besides myself
[02:02.63]我想除我之外,也一定有许多人
[02:05.52]who wished to take advantage of this excellent service.
[02:08.14]想利用快车之便，
[02:10.77]Neither was I surprised when the train stopped at Widley
[02:13.66]火车在威德里停下来,我也不觉奇怪,
[02:16.54]a tiny station a few miles along the line.
[02:18.87]威德里是火车开出不久就到的一小站
[02:21.19]Even a mighty express train can be held up by signals
[02:24.07]因为即便是特别快车也可能被信号拦住
[02:26.94]But when the train dawdled at station after station,
[02:29.58]但是,当火车一站接一站往前蠕动时
[02:32.22]I began to wonder.
[02:33.80]我便产生了怀疑.
[02:35.38]It suddenly dawned on me
[02:34.88]我突然感到
[02:34.38]that this express was not roaring down the line at ninety miles an hour,
[02:37.71]这趟快车并没以时速90英里的速度呼啸前进
[02:41.04]but barely chugging along at thirty.
[02:43.41]而是卟哧卟哧地向前爬行,时速仅30英里
[02:45.79]One hour and seventeen minutes passed
[02:47.87]1小时17分过去了
[02:49.95]and we had not even covered half the distance.
[02:52.43]走了还不到一半路程.
[02:54.91]I asked a passenger if this was the Westhaven Express,
[02:57.64]我问一位乘客,这是不是开往威斯特海温的那趟
[03:00.37]but he had not even heard of it.
[03:02.44]他说从未听说过有这么一趟快车.
[03:04.52]I determined to lodge a complaint as soon as we arrived.
[03:07.09]我决定一到目的地就给铁路部门提意见.
[03:09.67]Two hours later,I was talking angrily to the station master at Westhaven
[03:13.05]两小时后，我生气地同威斯特海温站站长说起此事
[03:16.43]When he denied the train's existence,
[03:18.46]他说根本没有这趟车.
[03:20.48]I borrowed his copy of the timetable.
[03:22.66]于是我借了他本人的列车时刻表,
[03:24.84]There was a note of triumph in my voice
[03:27.03]我带着一种胜利者的调子
[03:29.21]when I told him that it was there in black and white
[03:31.78]告诉他那趟车白纸黑字印在时刻表上.
[03:34.35]Glancing at it briefly,he told me to look again.
[03:37.08]他迅速地扫视了一眼,让我再看一遍.
[03:39.81]A tiny asterisk conducted me to a footnote at the bottom of the page