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Lesson Fourteen: The
Listener
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I. Outline of
the Text
Part
1: (Para. 1)
Violinist Rudolf made a living by
giving concerts in small seaport towns.
Part 2: (Para.
2)
In various
towns in Iceland the audience didn't understand
his music.
Part
3: (Paras. 3-5)
He arrived at a lighthouse to seek
shelter from a coming storm.
Part 4: (Paras. 6-9)
Rudolf learned
all about the lighthouse keeper's simple life.
Part 5: (Paras.
10-20)
Rudolf
found an understanding listener for his music in
the lighthouse.
Ⅱ. text
Part 1: (Para.
1)
1 Once there
was a little concert violinist named Rudolf, who
lived in Sweden.
Once adv.
从前，曾经
…who lived in
Sweden 非限定性定语从句，修饰
Rudolf
Some
of
his
friends
thought
he
was
not
the
best
of
musicians
because
he
was
restless;
others thought he
was restless because he was not the best of
musicians.
译文：
他的一些朋友认为他之所以成不了一流乐手是因为他不安分，另一些朋友觉得，正
因为他
不是一流乐手，他才不安分。
musician n
At any rate, he hit upon a way of
making a living, with no competitors.
译文：无论是哪种情况，反正他想出了一个没有竞争对手的谋
生之路。
2 At any rate, he hit upon a way of
making a living, with no competitors--Whatever
the case may be, he came up with a way
of supporting himself; nobody else would want
to make a living this way.
Whether
by
choice
or
necessity,
he
used
to
sail
about
Scandinavia
in
his
small
boat,
all alone, giving
concerts in little seaport towns.
译文：或许是他乐意这样做，或许是没有别的办法，他常常独
自驾驶小舟到斯堪的纳维亚
地区海边小镇进行演出。
2 By choice
自愿
e.g. I should take this by choice.
used to do sth
.
过去常常
be used to doing sth
习惯于
If
he
found
an
accompanist,
well
and
good;
if
not,
he
played
works
for
unaccompanied
violin;
well and
good
那也不错
and
it
happened
once
or
twice
that
he
wanted
a
piano
so
badly
that
he
imagined
one,
and then he played whole sonatas for
violin and piano, with no piano in sight.
译文：有一两次他特别想有钢琴伴
奏，只好假想有，居然在眼前根本没有钢琴的情况下，
演奏了整部小提琴和钢琴协奏曲。
In
sight
被看到
Part 2: (Para. 2)
2
One
year
Rudolf
sailed
all
the
way
out
to
Iceland
and
began
working
his
way
around
that rocky coast from
one town to another.
译文：有一年，鲁道夫驾船一直抵达遥远的冰岛，开始艰难地环绕那岩石密布的海岸，从
一个城镇到另一个城镇巡回演出。
2 Work one's way
费力前进
e.g. He worked his way to the front of
the crowd.
It
was a hard, stubborn land; but people in those
difficult places do not forget
the law
of hospitality to the stranger- for their God may
decree that they too shall
become
strangers on the face of the earth.
译文：这是一片坚硬、难以开发的土地；不过那些艰苦地方的
人们对初来乍到的人并没有
忘记自己的待客之道
--
因为说不定哪天命运也会把他们带到陌生的地方。
…but people in
those difficult places do not forget the law of
hospitality to the
stranger--but
people
in
those
poor
places
are
very
kind
and
friendly
to
others
who
come
to their land.
order
The
audiences
were
small,
and
even
if
Rudolf
had
been
really
first-rate,
they
would
not have been very
demonstrative.
译文：听众不多，即便鲁道夫真是一流演奏家，他们也不会表露出多少热情／有多热烈的
表现。
first-class
…even if Rudolf had been really
first
-rate, they would not have been
very
demonstrative--even if Rudolf had
played very well, the audience would not have
shown
emotion.
From ancient times their energy had
gone, first of all, into earnest toil.
译文：自古以来，他们首先必须辛
勤劳动。（即：谋生是他们的首要活动，劳动之余，没
有多少精力去听音乐。）
Sometimes the local schoolteacher, who
reminded them of their duty to the names
of
Beethoven
and
Bach
and
Mozart
and
one
or
two
others
whose
music
perhaps
was
not
much
heard in
those parts, collected them.
译文：当地的那位教书先生有时让他们聚在一起，给他们演奏
一些曲子，让他们知道世界
上有伟大的音乐家贝多芬、巴赫、莫扎特以及其作品本地老百
姓不太熟悉的其他一两位音乐家。
Collected…本句谓语
Remind sb. of sth/to do sth
.
提醒某人某事
/
去做某事
Too
often people sat stolidly watching the noisy
little fiddler, and went home
feeling
gravely edified. But they paid.
译文：演奏时，听众常常是呆若木鸡地瞅着那唧唧喳喳的乐手
；散场回家时，他们觉得受
到深刻教育。不过钱他们总是付的。
Part 3: (Paras.
3-5)
3 As
Rudolf was sailing from one town to the next along
a sparsely settled shore,
the northeast
turned black and menacing.
along
沿着，顺着
Sparsely adv.
稀疏地
,
稀少地
Menacing
险恶的
A storm was
bearing down upon Iceland.
译文：一场暴风雨就要袭击冰岛了。
2 Bear down
on/upon
向…迅速逼近
e.g. An enemy warship was
bearing down upon ours.
approach
Rudolf
was rounding
a bleak, dangerous cape, and his map
told him that the nearest
harbor was
half a day's journey away.
译文：此时鲁道夫正在一处荒凉、险要的海角行驶，据地图所
示，他离最近的港口也有半
天的航程。
deserted
He was starting
to worry when he saw, less than a mile off shore,
a lighthouse on
a tiny rock island.
off
shore
离岸，在近海处
Lighthouse
灯塔
At the base of the lighthouse was a
deep, narrow cove, protected by cliffs.
译文：灯塔的底部旁边是一个水深
面窄的小海湾，四周有峭壁环抱着。
With some difficulty, in
the rising seas, he put in there and moored to an
iron
ring that hung from the cliff.
译文：风急浪高，他好不容易靠岸
，把船系泊于悬挂在峭壁上的铁环上。
rough
A flight of stairs, cut in
the rock, led up to the lighthouse.
译文：在岩石上开凿出来的节节台阶一直通到灯塔。
On top of the
cliff, outlined against the scudding clouds, stood
a man.
译文：在翻滚乌云的衬托之下，悬崖顶上站着一个人。
2 Lead up to:
渐渐引向
e.g. His flattering words led up to a
request for money.
Lead to: result in
导致
e.g. This will lead to trouble in the
future.
Lead
sb. by the nose:
完全控制某人
e.g. The mother
always wants to lead her child by the nose.
Lead sb. to the
altar/lead sb. astray:
把某人引入歧途
e.g. The girl's father
blamed her boyfriend for leading her astray.
4
You
are
welcome
!
voice
boomed
over
the
sound
of
the
waves
that
were
already
beginning to break
over the island.
译文：
欢迎光临！
有人说，那低沉的声音在天空回响，盖过拍击小岛的海浪的轰鸣声。
5 Darkness fell
quickly.
The
lighthouse keeper led his guest up the spiral
stairs to the living room on the
third
floor, then busied himself in preparation for the
storm.
译文：灯塔看守
人带着客人上了螺旋型楼梯，到了三层的起居室，然后就忙着准备应付暴
风雨的来临。<
/p>
lighthouse
2 Busy oneself in/with
使忙于
e.g. The profess sor busied himself
with scientific research.
be busy doing sth
Above
all,
he
had
to
attend
to
the
great
lamp
in
the
tower,
that
dominated
the
whole
region.
译文：压倒一切的任务是，他要负责照管好塔顶上的那盏统帅
着全区的巨灯。
It was a continuous light, intensified
by reflectors, and eclipsed by shutters at
regular intervals. The duration of
light was equal to that of darkness.
译文：那是一盏持续发光的灯，反射器使其更亮，百叶窗定时
开合，使其时亮时暗，亮与
暗的时间相等。
at intervals
相隔一定距离，不时
Part 4:
（
Paras.
6-9
）
6 The lighthouse keeper was a huge old
man with a grizzled beard that came down
over his chest.
译文：灯塔看守人是个大个子的老人，苍白的胡子一直搭拉到
胸前。
gray
Slow,
deliberate,
bearlike,
he
moved
without
wasted
motion
about
the
limited
world
of which he was the
master.
译文：他像一只
熊，行动缓慢、沉着稳重，在自己主宰的那个小天地里，活动自如，没有
一个动作是多余
的。
calm
He spoke little, as if words had not
much importance compared to the other forces
that comprised his life. Yet he was
equable, as those elements were not.
译文：他话不多，好像话语没有构成他生活的大自然的力量重
要，不过他很稳定，平和，
而那些力量却并非如此。
constitute
2 Yet he was
equable, as those elements were not--
But unlike those forces of
nature he lived with all around him---the wind,
storm
and thunder, he was kind, calm
and gentle.
7
After the supper of black bread and boiled
potatoes, fish, cheese and hot tea,
which they took in the kitchen above
the living room,
which
they
took
in
the
kitchen
above
the
living
room
非限定性定语从句，修饰
supper
the two men sat
and contemplated each other's presence.
译文：两人相对而坐，琢磨着因何在此不期邂逅。
Above them
was the maintenance room, and above
that the great lamp spoke majestic,
silent messages of light to the ships
at sea.
译文：他们的
上面是维修室，再往上是那盏巨灯，它用其光芒向海上的船只庄重而默默地
发出信号。<
/p>
The
storm hammered like a battering ram on the walls
of the lighthouse. Rudolf
offered
tobacco, feeling suddenly immature as he did so.
译文：暴风雨像古代的攻城槌一样
撞击着灯塔的墙壁。鲁道夫拿出烟叶给老人递过去，此
时他突然感到自己稚气未脱。
The
old man smiled a little as he declined it by a
slight movement of the head;
it
was
as
if
he
knew
well
the
uses
of
tobacco
and
the
need
for
offering
it,
and
affirmed