新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第四册 课文 4t03b

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！ A Blind Man Helped Me See the Beautiful World
[00:-1.00]It was late afternoon when the chairman of our Bangkok
[00:-2.00]- based company gave me an assignment:
[00:-3.00]I would leave the next day to accompany an important Chinese businessman
[00:-4.00]to tourist sites in northern Thailand.
[00:-5.00]Silently angry,I stared at my desk.
[00:-6.00]The stacks of paper bore witness to a huge amount of work waiting to be done,
[00:-7.00]even though I had been working seven days a week.
[00:-8.00]How will I ever catch up? I wondered.
[00:-9.00]After a one-hour flight the next morning,
[00:10.00]we spent the day visiting attractions along with hundreds of other tourists,
[00:11.00]most of them loaded with cameras and small gifts.
[00:12.00]I remember feeling annoyed at this dense collection of humanity.
[00:13.00]That evening my Chinese companion
[00:14.00]and I climbed into a chartered van to go to dinner and a show,
[00:15.00]one which I had attended many times before.
[00:16.00]While he chatted with other tourists,
[00:17.00]I exchanged polite conversation in the dark with a man seated in front of me,
[00:18.00]a Belgian who spoke fluent English.
[00:19.00]I wondered why he held his head motionless at an odd angle,
[00:20.00]as though he were in prayer.Then the truth struck me.He was blind.
[00:21.00]Behind me someone switched on a light,
[00:22.00]and I could see his thick silvery hair and strong, square jaw.
[00:23.00]His eyes seemed to contain a white mist.
[00:24.00]"Could I please sit beside you at the dinner?"he asked.
[00:25.00]"And I'd love it if you'd describe a little of what you see."
[00:26.00] "I'd be happy to,"I replied.
[00:27.00]My guest walked ahead toward the restaurant with newly found friends.
[00:28.00]The blind man and I followed.My hand held his elbow to steer him,
[00:29.00]but he stepped forward with no sign of hesitation or stoop,
[00:30.00]his shoulders squared,his head high,as though he were guiding me.
[00:31.00]We found a table close to the stage.
[00:32.00]He ordered half a liter of beer and I ordered a grape soda.
[00:33.00]As we waited for our drinks,the blind man said,
[00:34.00]"The music seems out of tune to our Western ears,but it has charm.
[00:35.00]Please describe the musicians."
[00:36.00]I hadn't noticed the five men performing at the side of the stage
[00:37.00]as an introduction to the show.
[00:38.00]"They're seated cross-legged on a rug,
[00:39.00]dressed in loose white cotton shirts and large black trousers,
[00:40.00]with fabric around their waists that has been dyed bright red.
[00:41.00]Three are young lads,one is middle-aged and one is elderly.
[00:42.00]One beats a small drum,another plays a wooden stringed instrument,
[00:43.00]and the other three have smaller, violin- like pieces they play with a bow."
[00:44.00]As the lights dimmed,the blind man asked,
[00:45.00]"What do your fellow tourists look like?"
[00:46.00]"All nationalities,colors,shapes and sizes,
[00:47.00]a gallery of human faces,"I whispered.
[00:48.00]As I lowered my voice further and spoke close to his ear,
[00:49.00]the blind man leaned his head eagerly toward me.
[00:50.00]I had never before been listened to with such intensity.
[00:51.00]"Very close to us is an elderly Japanese woman,"I said.
[00:52.00]"Just beyond her a yellow-haired Scandinavian boy
[00:53.00]of about five is leaning forward,his face just below hers.
[00:54.00]They're motionless,waiting for the performance to start.
[00:55.00]It's the perfect living portrait of childhood and old age, of Europe and Asia."
[00:56.00]"Yes,yes,I see them,"the blind man said quietly,smiling.
[00:57.00]A curtain at the back of the stage opened.
[00:58.00]Six young girls appeared,and I described their violet- colored silk skirts,
[00:59.00]white blouses,and gold-colored hats like small crowns,
[-1:00.00]with flexible points that moved in rhythm with the dance.
[-1:-1.00]"On the tips of their fingers are golden nails perhaps 8 centimeters long,"
[-1:-2.00]I told the blind man.