選修七Unit4 A LETTER HOME一封家信

1、選修七Unit4 A LETTER HOME一封家信Dear Rosemary, 親愛(ài)的羅斯瑪麗： Thanks for your letter, which took a fortnight to arrive. 謝謝你的來(lái)信，這封信兩星期才到。 It was wonderful to hear from you. 收到你的信真是太高興了。I know youre dying to hear all about my life here, so Ive included some photos which will help you picture the places I talk abo

2、ut. 我知道你急于了解我在這兒的生活情況。因此，我在信中附有幾張照片，能夠幫助你想象出我所談到的地方。 You asked about my high school. 你問(wèn)起我的中學(xué)情況。Well, its a bush school the classrooms are made of bamboo and the roofs of grass. 噢，它是一所叢林學(xué)校教室是用竹子搭起來(lái)的，屋頂是用茅草蓋的。 It takes me only a few minutes to walk to school down a muddy track. 我只要沿著一條泥濘的小路步行幾分鐘就到學(xué)校了。

3、When I reach the school grounds there are lots of good mornings for me from the boys. 每當(dāng)我走到學(xué)校操場(chǎng)的時(shí)候，迎接我的是男孩子們一片“早上好”的聲音。Many of them have walked a long way, sometimes up to two hours, to get to school.他們中許多人走了很長(zhǎng)的路，有時(shí)候要走兩個(gè)小時(shí)才能到學(xué)校。 Theres no electricity or water and even no textbooks either! 這里沒(méi)有電，也沒(méi)有水

4、，甚至連課本也沒(méi)有！ Im still trying to adapt to these conditions. 我還在努力適應(yīng)這兒的生活條件。 However, one thing is for sure, Ive become more imaginative in my teaching. 但是有一點(diǎn)是肯定的，我在教學(xué)中變得更富有想象力了。 Science is my most challenging subject as my students have no concept of doing experiments. 理科對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)是最富挑戰(zhàn)性的課，因?yàn)槲业膶W(xué)生對(duì)做實(shí)驗(yàn)沒(méi)有概念。In

5、fact there is no equipment, and if I need water I have to carry it from my house in a bucket!實(shí)際上，根本沒(méi)有設(shè)備。如果需要水，我還得從家里用水桶提過(guò)來(lái)！The other day I was showing the boys the weekly chemistry experiment when, before I knew it, the mixture was bubbling over everywhere!有一天，我正給孩子們做每周一次的化學(xué)實(shí)驗(yàn)的演示，我還沒(méi)有明白怎么回事，混合劑就到處冒氣

6、泡了！The boys who had never come across anything like this before started jumping out of the windows.男孩們以前從來(lái)沒(méi)有見(jiàn)過(guò)這種情況，嚇得都往窗外跳去。Sometimes I wonder how relevant chemistry is to these students, most of whom will be going back to their villages after Year 8 anyway. 有時(shí)候，我真想知道，化學(xué)對(duì)這些孩子究竟有多大的用處。他們中的大多數(shù)人學(xué)完八年級(jí)以后

7、就要回到他們的村莊去了。To be honest, I doubt whether Im making any difference to these boys lives at all.說(shuō)實(shí)在的，我真的不知道我教的課是否會(huì)讓這些孩子的生活有所改變。 You asked whether Im getting to know any local people. 你問(wèn)我是否了解當(dāng)?shù)氐睦习傩铡ell, thats actually quite difficult as I dont speak much of the local English dialect yet. 這實(shí)在是太難了，因?yàn)槲疫€說(shuō)

8、不了幾句當(dāng)?shù)厝苏f(shuō)的英語(yǔ)。But last weekend another teacher, Jenny, and I did visit a village which is the home of one of the boys, Tombe. 不過(guò)，上周末我和另外一位叫詹妮的教師真的去訪問(wèn)了一個(gè)村莊，那是我的學(xué)生湯貝的家。 It was my first visit to a remote village. 這是我第一次到偏僻的村子里去。We walked for two and a half hours to get there - first up a mountain to a ri

9、dge from where we had fantastic views and then down a steep path to the valley below. 我們步行了兩個(gè)半小時(shí)才到達(dá)那里先是爬山，爬到山脊能看到奇妙的景色，然后下一個(gè)陡坡，一直走到下面的山谷。When we arrived at the village, Tombes mother, Kiak, who had been pulling weeds in her garden, started crying ieee ieee.當(dāng)我們到村莊的時(shí)候，湯貝的母親齊亞克本來(lái)在園子里拔草，看到我們就“噯矣，噯矣”地叫了起

10、來(lái)。We shook hands with all the villagers. 我們同所有的村民都握了手。Everyone seemed to be a relative of Tombes.每個(gè)人看上去都是湯貝家的親戚。 Tombes father, Mukap, led us to his house, a low bamboo hut with grass sticking out of the roof - this shows it is a mans house. 湯貝的父親叫莫卡普，他把我們帶到他的家里。這是一個(gè)低矮的竹屋，屋頂上伸出一簇茅草它代表這間竹屋是男人住的。The h

11、uts were round, not rectangular like the school buildings.屋子是圓的，不像學(xué)校那樣是長(zhǎng)方形的。There were no windows and the doorway was just big enough to get through. 這里沒(méi)有窗戶，房門只夠一個(gè)人進(jìn)出。The hut was dark inside so it took time for our eyes to adjust. 小屋內(nèi)很黑，因此眼睛要過(guò)好一陣子才能適應(yīng)過(guò)來(lái)。Fresh grass had been laid on the floor and the

12、re was a newly made platform for Jenny and me to sleep on. 地上擺放著一堆新鮮的草，還新做了一個(gè)平臺(tái)，是供詹妮和我睡覺(jué)用的。Usually Kiak would sleep in her own hut, but that night she was going to share the platform with us. 通常齊亞克是睡在她自己的小屋里的，而那天晚上她要同我們一起睡在平臺(tái)上。 Mukap and Tombe were to sleep on small beds in another part of the hut.

13、莫卡普和湯貝則睡在竹屋另一邊的小床上。 There was a fireplace in the centre of the hut near the doorway. 在竹屋中間靠近房門的地方有一個(gè)火爐。The only possessions I could see were one broom, a few tin plates and cups and a couple of jars.我所看到的僅有的家具是一把掃帚，幾個(gè)錫盤和錫杯，還有兩個(gè)罐子。 Outside Mukap was building a fire. 莫卡普在屋子外邊生火。 Once the fire was goin

14、g, he laid stones on it. 火著起來(lái)后，他往火里扔了幾塊石頭。When hot, he placed them in an empty oil drum with kau kau (sweet potato), corn and greens. 燒熱以后，他把石頭放在一個(gè)空油桶里，加上一些考考（紅薯）、玉米和青菜， He then covered the vegetables with banana leaves and left them to steam. 然后他用香蕉葉把這些蔬菜蓋上，等著它們蒸熟。 I sniffed the food; it smelled de

15、licious. 我用鼻子嗅，食物聞起來(lái)很香。We ate inside the hut sitting round the fire. 我們?cè)诜坷飮馉t坐下來(lái)吃東西。I loved listening to the family softly talking to each other in their language, even though I could not participate in the conversation. 他們家里人輕聲細(xì)語(yǔ)地用自己的語(yǔ)言在交談。我很喜歡聽(tīng)他們談話，盡管我不能加入他們的談話。Luckily, Tombe could be our interpr

16、eter.幸好，湯貝能給我們當(dāng)翻譯。 Later, I noticed a tin can standing upside down on the grill over the fire.后來(lái)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)有一個(gè)錫罐子倒放在火爐的烤架上。After a short time Tombe threw it out of the doorway.過(guò)了一會(huì)兒，湯貝把它從門道里扔了出去。I was puzzled.我不懂為什么這么做。Tombe told me that the can was heated to dry out the leftover food.湯貝告訴我說(shuō)，罐子加熱是為了把里面的殘菜剩

17、飯燒干。They believe that any leftovers attract evil spirits in the night, so the food is dried up in the can and the can is then thrown out of the hut.他們相信剩飯?jiān)谝雇頃?huì)引來(lái)邪靈，所以要把食物放在罐子里燒干，再把罐子一起扔到屋外去。Otherwise they dont waste anything.否則的話，他們是不會(huì)浪費(fèi)任何東西的。 We left the village the next morning after many goodbyes and firm handshakes.第二天早晨，經(jīng)過(guò)一番緊緊握手和道別之后，我們就離開(kāi)了村莊。My muscles were aching and my knees shaking as we climbed down the mountain towards home.我們爬下山回家，往回走的時(shí)候，我的腿部肌肉發(fā)痛，