新概念英語第三冊(含lrc文本)Lesson 48 The silent village

[ti:δ?] [ar:] [al:] [by:https://www.lrc.com.cn] [00:13.59]Lesson 48 [00:15.45]The silent village [00:18.83]In this much-travelled world, [00:20.18]there are still thousands of places which are inaccessible to tourists. [00:24.94]We always assume that villagers in remote places are friendly and hospitable. [00:30.16]But people who are cut off not only from foreign tourists, [00:33.72]but even from their own countrymen can be hostile to travellers. [00:38.60]Visits to really remote villages are seldom enjoyable-- [00:42.24]as my wife and I discovered during a tour through the Balkans. [00:46.16]We had spent several days in a small town [00:49.15]and visited a number of old churches in the vicinity. [00:52.63]These attracted many visitors for they were not only of great architectural interest [00:57.74]but contained a large number of beautifully preserved frescoes as well. [01:01.88]On the day before our departure,several bus loads of tourists descended on the town. [01:07.16]This was more than we could bear, [01:08.99]so we decided to spend our last day exploring the countryside. [01:13.15]Taking a path which led out of the town, [01:15.59]we crossed a few fields until we came to a dense wood. [01:19.44]We expected the path to end abruptly, [01:22.03]but we found that it traced its way through the trees. [01:24.96]We tramped through the wood for over two hours until we arrived at a deep stream. [01:29.98]We could see that the path continued on the other side, [01:33.07]but we had no idea how we could get across the stream. [01:36.82]Suddenly my wife spotted a boat moored to the bank. [01:40.83]In it there was a boatman fast asleep. [01:44.13]We gently woke him up and asked him to ferry us to the other side. [01:48.22]Though he was reluctant to do so at first, [01:50.72]we eventually persuaded him to take us. [01:53.80]The path led to a tiny village perched on the steep sides of a mountain. [01:58.43]The place consisted of a straggling unmade road [02:01.53]which was lined on either side by small houses. [02:05.27]Even under a clear blue sky,the village looked forbidding, [02:09.01]as all the houses were built of grey mud bricks. [02:12.46]The village seemed deserted, [02:14.13]the only sign of life being an ugly-looking black goat [02:17.70]on a short length of rope tied to a tree in a field nearby. [02:22.07]Sitting down on a dilapidated wooden fence near the field, [02:25.56]we opened a couple of tins of sardines and had a picnic lunch. [02:29.81]All at once,I noticed that my wife seemed to be filled with alarm. [02:33.72]Looking up I saw that we were surrounded by children in rags [02:37.74]who were looking at us silently as we ate. [02:40.22]We offered them food and spoke to them kindly,but they remained motionless. [02:45.61]I concluded that they were simply shy of strangers. [02:49.06]When we later walked down the main street of the village, [02:52.20]we were followed by a silent procession of children. [02:55.47]The village which had seemed deserted,immediately came to life. [02:59.37]Faces appeared at windows. [03:01.56]Men in shirt sleeves stood outside their houses and glared at us. [03:05.89]Old women in black shawls peered at us from doorways. [03:09.91]The most frightening thing of all was that not a sound could be heard. [03:14.57]There was no doubt that we were unwelcome visitors. [03:17.70]We needed no further warning. [03:19.70]Turning back down the main street, [03:21.87]we quickened our pace and made our way rapidly towards the stream [03:25.88]where we hoped the boatman was waiting.

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