大学英语精读听力第一册 unit5

[00:00.00]Unit Five　　Text
[00:22.13]A miserable and merry Christmas?
[00:25.18]How could it be?
[00:27.64]A MISERABLE,MERRY CHRISTMAS
[00:31.63]Christmas was coming.
[00:33.93]I wanted a pony.
[00:36.08]To make sure that my parents understood,
[00:38.92]I declared that I wanted nothing else.
[00:42.21]"Nothing but a pony?" my father asked.
[00:45.58]"Nothing," I said.
[00:47.54]"Not even a pair of high boots?" That was hard.
[00:51.70]I did want boots,but I stuck to the pony.
[00:51.77]"No, not even boots."
[00:50.77]"Nor candy? There ought to be something to fill your stocking with,
[00:55.81]and Santa Claus can't put a pony into a stocking."
[00:59.65]That was true,and he couldn't lead a pony down the chimney either.
[01:04.98]But no."All I want is a pony."I said.
[01:09.71]"If I can't have a pony, give me nothing, nothing."
[01:14.46]On Christmas Eve I hung up my stocking along with my sisters'.
[01:17.67]The next morning my sisters and I woke up at six.
[01:22.42]Then we raced downstairs to the fireplace.
[01:26.26]And there they were, the gifts,all sorts of wonderful things,
[01:31.54]mixed-up piles of presents.
[01:34.07]Only my stocking was empty;it hung limp;not a thing in it;
[01:41.36]and under and around it--nothing.
[01:45.69]My sisters had knelt down,each by her pile of gifts;
[01:50.48]they were crying with delight,
[01:52.72]till they looked up and saw me standing there looking so miserable.
[01:57.37]They came over to me and felt my stocking: nothing.
[02:02.31]I don't remember whether I cried at that moment,
[02:06.15]but my sisters did.
[02:08.00]They ran with me back to my bed,and there we all cried till I became indignant.
[02:15.16]That helped some.
[02:17.25]I got up,dressed, and driving my sisters away,
[02:21.33]I went out alone into the stable, and there,all by myself,I wept.
[02:28.40]My mother came out to me and she tried to comfort me.
[02:32.69]But I wanted no comfort.
[02:35.35]She left me and went on into the house with sharp words for my father.
[02:40.92]My sisters came to me,and I was rude.
[02:45.75]I ran away from them.
[02:47.84]I went around to the front of the house,
[02:50.66]sat down on the steps, and,the crying over, I ached.
[02:56.51]I was wronged,I was hurt.
[02:56.58]And my father must have been hurt,too, a little.
[03:00.40]I saw him looking out of the window.
[03:03.25]He was watching me or something for an hour or two,
[03:08.13]drawing back the curtain so little lest I catch him,
[03:12.28]but I saw his face, and I think I can see now the anxiety upon it,
[03:14.73]the worried impatience.
[03:14.73]After an hour or two,
[03:18.08]I caught sight of a man riding a pony down the street,
[03:22.13]a pony and a brand-new saddle;
[03:25.29]the most beautiful saddle I ever saw,
[03:28.84]and it was a boy's saddle.
[03:31.29]And the pony!
[03:32.76]As he drew near,I saw that the pony was really a small horse,
[03:38.24]with a black mane and tail,
[03:40.62]and one white foot and a white star on his forehead.
[03:45.09]For such a horse as that I would have given anything.
[03:49.74]But the man came along,reading the numbers on the houses,
[03:54.10]and,as my hopes--my impossible hopes--rose,
[03:54.15]he looked at our door and passed by, he and the pony, and the saddle.
[04:01.00]Too much,I fell upon the steps and broke into tears.
[04:06.22]Suddenly I heard a voice.
[04:08.88]"Say, kid,"it said,
[04:11.42]"do you know a boy named Lennie Steffens?" I looked up.
[04:16.67]It was the man on the pony, back again.
[04:20.06]"Yes," I spluttered through my tears.
[04:22.65]"That's me." "Well,"he said,"then this is your horse.
[04:28.14]I've been looking all over for you and your house.
[04:31.90]Why don't you put your number where it can be seen?"
[04:35.56]"Get down,"I said, running out to him.I wanted to ride.
[04:39.81]He went on saying something about "ought to have got here at seven o'clock,but--"
[04:45.17]I hardly heard, I could scarcely wait.
[04:49.40]I was so happy,so thrilled.
[04:52.53]I rode off up the street. 
[04:54.81]Such a beautiful pony.
[04:57.71]And mine!
[04:59.56]After a while I turned and trotted back to the stable.
[05:04.42]There was the family,
[05:06.62]father,mother, sisters,all working for me,all happy.
[05:11.97]They had been putting in place the tools of my new business:
[05:16.28]currycomb,brush,pitchfork--everything,and there was hay in the loft.
[05:22.42]But that Christmas, which my father had planned so carefully,
[05:27.49]was it the best or the worst I ever knew?
[05:26.49]He often asked me that;
[05:29.05]I never could answer as a boy.
[05:31.63]I think now that it was both.
[05:34.48]It covered the whole distance from broken-hearted misery
[05:39.03]to bursting happiness--too fast.
[05:39.11]A grown-up could hardly have stood it.