大学英语综合教程 第四册 Unit 8A

[04:35.04]for the Amazon basin,which covers half a continent,
[04:39.59]and for the life that-there,like anywhere else-is always and necessarily lived in detail:
[04:46.93]on the tributaries,inthe riverside villages,sucking this particular white-fleshed guava in this particular pattern of shade
[04:56.36]What is there is interesting.The Napo River itself is wide and brown,opaque,
[05:04.09]and smeared with floating foam and branches from the jungle.Parrots in flocks dart in and out of the light
[05:13.63]Under the water in the river,unseen,are anacondas--
[05:18.93]which are reputed to take a few village toddlers every year-and water boas,crocodiles,and sweet-meated fish
[05:28.07]Low water bares gray strips of sandbar on which the natives build tiny palm-thatch shelters for overnight fishing trips
[05:36.77]You see these extraordinarily clean people(who bathe twice a day in the river,
[05:43.33]and whose straight black hair is always freshly washed)padding down the river in dugout canoes,hugging the banks
[05:52.16]Some of the Indians of this region,earlier in the century,used to sleep naked in hammocks.The nights are cold
[06:01.38]Gordon MacCreach,an American explore in these Amazon tributaies,
[06:07.26]reported that he was startled to hear the Indians get up at three in the morning.He was even more startled
[06:15.22]night after night,to hear them walk down to the river slowly,half asleep,and bathe in the water.
[06:23.45]Only later did he learn what they were doing:they were getting warm.
[06:28.57]The cold woke them;they warmed their skins in the river,
[06:34.06]which was always ninety degrees;then they returned to their hammocks and slept through the rest of the night
[06:42.00]When you are inside the jungle,away from the river,the trees vault out of sight.Butterflies,brightblue,striped
[06:52.11]or clear-winged,thread the jungle paths at eye levelAnd at your feet is a swant of ants bearing triangular bits of green leaf
[07:02.43]The ants with their leaves look like a wide fleet of sailing dinghies-but they don't quit.
[07:09.66]In either direction they wobble over the jungle floor as far as the eye can see .
[07:15.57]Long lakes shine in the jungle.We traveled one of these in dugout canoes,canoes paddled with machete-hewn oars
[07:25.49]or poled in the shallows with bamboo.Our part-Indian guide had cleared the path to the lake the day before
[07:33.98]when we walked the path we saw where he had impaled the lopped head of a boa,open-mouthed,
[07:41.22]on a pointed stick by the canoes,for decoration.
[07:45.58]This lake was wonderful.Herons plodded the shores,kingfishers and cuckoos clattered from sunlight to shade
[07:54.96]great turkey like birds fussed in dead branches,and hawks hung overhead.There was all the time in the world
[08:04.13]A turtle slid into the water.
[08:07.37]The boy in the bow of my canoe slapped stones at birds with a simple sling,a rubber thong and leather pad
[08:15.54]He aimed brilliantly at moving targets,always,and always missed;the birds were out of range
[08:24.37]He stuffed his sling back in his shirt.I looked around.
[08:29.91]The lake and river waters are as opaque as rainforest leaves;they are veils,blinds,painted screens
[08:39.44]You see things only by their effects.I saw the shoreline water heave above a thrashing paichi
[08:48.33]an enormous black fish of these waters;one had been caught the previous week weighing 430pounds
[08:57.08]Piranha fish live in the lakes,and electric eels.I dangled my fingers in the water,figuring it would be worth it
[09:07.00]We would eat chicken that night in the village,togther with rice,onions and heaps of fruit.
[09:13.93]The sun would ring down,pulling darkness after it like a curtain.Twiling is short,andthe unseen birds of twilight wistful
[09:24.87]catching the heart.The two nuns in their dazzing white habits-the beauitful-boned young nun
[09:33.49]and the warm-faced old-would glide to the open cane-and-thatch schoolroom in darkness,
[09:39.89]and start the children singing.The children would sing in piping Spanish,high-pitched and pure
[09:48.15]they would sing "Nearer My God to Thee"in Quechua,very fast.As the children became excited by their own singing
[09:57.16]they left their log benches and swarmed around the nuns,hopping,smiling at us,everyone smiling
[10:05.26]the nuns'faces bursting in their cowls,and the clear-voiced children still singing,and the palm-leafed roofing stirred
[10:14.32]The Napo River:it is not out of the way.It is in the way,catching sunlight the way a cup catches poured water
[10:24.54]it is a bowl of sweet air,a basin of greenness,and of grace,and,it would seem,of peace.