大学英语精读听力预备级 less9

[00:00.00]Lesson 9   Fortune and the beggar
[00:07.00]  One day a beggar was walking along from house to house.
[00:12.36]He carried an old bag in his hand,
[00:16.61]and was asking at every door for a few cents to buy something to eat.
[00:22.78]While he was begging he kept wondering why people who had so much money
[00:28.94]were never satistied but were always wanting more.
[00:34.40]  "Here,"he thought aloud,"is the master of this house.
[00:39.44]I know him well.He was very rich.
[00:44.80]If he had been wise
[00:48.04]he would have stopped his business and burned it over to someone else.
[00:53.21]Then he could have spent the rest of his life in comfort.
[00:57.57]But what did he do instead?
[01:01.05]He spared no efforts to build ships and sent them to sea to trade with foreign countries.
[01:08.49]He thought he would get mountains of gold.
[01:12.86]  "But the sea boiled in the storms;
[01:17.01]his ships were ruined by the waves.
[01:21.27]Now his hopes all lie at the bottom of the sea,
[01:26.23]and his great wealth has gone like the dreams of a night.
[01:31.90]  "There are many such men.
[01:35.66]They seem to be never satistied unless they can gain the whole world.
[01:42.03]"As for me,if I had only enough to fill my stomach and cover my body
[01:49.40]I would not want anything more."
[01:53.55]  Just at taht moment Fortune came down the street.
[01:58.41]She saw the beggar and stopped.    She said to him:
[02:03.98]  "Listen!I have long wished to help you out of poverty.
[02:09.62]Hold your bag and I will pour this gold into it.
[02:14.37]But I will pour only on this condition:
[02:18.84]All that falls into the bag shall be gold;
[02:23.57]but every piece that falls upon the ground shall become dust.
[02:28.90]Do you understand?"
[02:32.06]   "Oh,yes,I understand,"said the begger.
[02:36.19]  "Then take care,"said the Fortune.
[02:39.95]"Your bag is old.It cannot hold much."
[02:44.99]  The beggar was so excited that he could hardly wait.
[02:49.74]He quickly opened his bag,
[02:53.40]and a stream of yellow dollars was poured into it.
[02:58.44]The bag soon began to grow heavy.
[03:02.57]  "Is that enough?" asked Fortune.  "Not yet."
[03:07.14]  "Isn't the bag bursting?"  "Don't worry!"
[03:11.90]  The beggar's hands began to tremble.
[03:15.84]Ah,if the golden stream would only pour forever!
[03:21.01]  "You are the richest man in the world now!"
[03:25.56]  "Just a little more,"said the beggar.
[03:29.21]  "There,it's full.The bag will burst."
[03:33.86]  "But it will hold a little more,just a little more."
[03:38.72]Another piece was added,and the bag burst.
[03:43.29]The treasure fell upon the ground and was turned to dust.
[03:48.44]Fortune had gone.
[03:51.60]The beggar had now nothing but his broken bag.
[03:56.64]He was poorer than before.