考满分 toefl

1 .<-NARRATOR:->Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class.

旁白：请听文学课上一段讲座。

1 .<-MALE PROFESSOR:->Now we can't really talk about fairy tales without first talking about folk tales because there's a strong connection between these two genres, these two types of stories.

教授：在讲童话之前我们要讲一下民谣，因为这两种不同类型的故事之间有很紧密的关联。

2 .In fact, many fairy tales started out as folk tales.

事实上，很多童话故事都是以民谣的形式开始的。

1 .So, what's a folk tale? How would you characterize them? Jeff?

那么什么是民谣呢？民谣又有什么特征呢？Jeff 你觉得呢？

1 .Well, they are old stories, traditional stories.

嗯，民谣是古老的故事，传统的故事。

2 .They were passed down orally within cultures from generation to generation, so they changed a lot over time.

他们是在某一文化领域内代代口头相传下来的。因此他们随着时代的变迁而改变。

3 .I mean, every story teller, or, maybe every town, might have had a slightly different version of the same folk tale.

我的意思是，每一个讲民谣的人，抑或在每一个不同的城镇，都有对同一个故事不同的描述。

1 .That's right. There's local difference.

你说得对。这就是当地的不同之处。

2 .And that's why we say folk tales are communal.

也是为什么我们说民谣是公共的。

3 .By communal, we mean they reflect the traits and the concerns of a particular community at a particular time.

说他们是公共的，我们指的是他们反映了在某一特定时段某一群体的特征和重要的事。

4 .So essentially the same tale could be told in different communities, with certain aspects of the tale adapted to fit the specific community.

因此本质上说，同一个故事在不同的群体中会有不同的版本，而故事的某一方面符合当地群体的某一方面特征。

5 .Um, not the plot, the details of what happens in the story would remain constant.

嗯，故事中的情节和细节都不会一成不变。

6 .That was the thread that held the tale together.

情节起到穿针引线的作用。

7 .But all the other elements, like the location or characters, might be modified for each audience.

而其他因素，比如故事发生的地点人物的特征，每一个听众都有可能有所修改。

1 .Okay. So what about fairy tales?

好的，那么童话呢？

2 .They also are found in most cultures, but how are they different from folk tales?

童话也产生于大多数文化，但他们与民谣相比有什么不同呢？

3 .I guess the first question is: what is a fairy tale?

我想第一个问题就是：什么是童话？

4 .And don't anyone say "a story with a fairy in it" because we all know that very few fairy tales actually have those tiny magical creatures in them.

不要说故事中有仙女出现就是童话，因为我们都知道童话里面真的很少会出现这些小型的魔法精灵。

5 .But, what else can we say about them? Mary.

那么，还有什么其他的因素呢？Mary 你来说说。

1 .Well, they seem to be less realistic than folk tales, like they have something improbable happening - a frog turning into a prince, say.

嗯，童话似乎没有比民谣真实。童话中有一些事是不可能发生的，比如青蛙变王子。

2 .Oh, that's another common element, royalty - a prince or princess.

哦，还有另一个一般的因素：王室，王子和公主的故事。

3 .And fairy tales all seem to take place in a location that's nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

还有，童话故事发生的地点不是可以不存在，也可以同时在任何一个地方。

1 .What's the line-up? How do all those stories start?

童话故事是怎么进展的呢？故事是怎么开始的呢？

2 .Once upon a time, in a faraway land, oh, in the case of folk tales, each story teller would specify a particular location and time, though the time and location would differ for different story tellers.

很久以前，在一个遥远的地方。。。哦，民谣中，讲故事的人都会说到事件发生的时间和地点，尽管这两者对不同的人来说有所不同。

1 .With fairy tales, however, the location is generally unspecified, no matter who the story teller is.

然而，童话中的地点通常是不具体的，不管是谁讲的故事。

2 .That land far away, We'll come back to this point in a few minutes.

遥远的地方。。。过后我们在回过头来说这点。

1 .Um... I, I thought that a fairy tale was just a written version of an oral folk tale.

嗯，我，我想童话故事就是口头民谣的书面版本。

1 .Well, not exactly, though that is how many fairy tales developed.

嗯，不一定。尽管有多少民谣就有多少童话。

2 .For example, in the late 18th century, the Grimm Brothers traveled throughout what's now Germany, recording local folk tales.

比如，十八世纪晚期，格林兄弟周游现在的德国境内，记录下当地的民谣。

3 .These were eventually published as fairy tales, but not before undergoing a process of evolution.

这些记录最后都被当做童话故事出版，但是在经历了改革的浪潮之后才出版的。

1 .Now, a number of things happen when an oral tale gets written down.

当口头故事被记录下来的时候相伴着会有很多东西改变。

1 .First, the language changes. It becomes more formal, more standard - some might say, "Less colorful".

首先是语言的变化。语言变得更为正式，更为标准，一些人可能会说“逊色了不少”

2 .It's like the difference in your language depending on whether you are talking to someone, or writing them a letter.

这种不同之处就像你使用语言时一样，看你是跟某人说话还是给某人写信。

1 .Second, when an orally transmitted story is written down, an authoritative version with a recognized author is created.

其次，当口头相传的故事写下来的时候，就诞生知名作家的权威版本。

2 .The communal aspect gets lost.

公共的成分就丢失了。

3 .The tale no longer belongs to the community.

故事不在属于某一群体。

4 .It belongs to the world, so to speak.

而是，可以说属于全世界了。

5 .Because of this, elements like place and time can no longer be tailored to suit a particular audience.

因此，故事发生的地点和时间不再适合某一特定的听众。

6 .So they become less identifiable, more generalizable to any audience.

因此故事的特征变得不明显，而是很普遍。

1 .On the other hand, descriptions of characters and settings can be developed more completely.

换句话说，人物特征和故事场景的描述发展得更为完善。

2 .In folk tales, characters might be identified by a name, but you wouldn't know anything more about them.

在民间传说中，人物可以用一个名字来识别，但你不会知道更多关于他们的事情。

3 .But in fairy tales, people no longer have to remember plots.

而在童话中，人们不在需要记住情节

4 .They're written down, right?

因为已经写下来了对吧？

5 .So more energy can be put into other elements of the story like character and setting.

那么读者能把更多精力放在其他因素上，像人物和场景描述。

6 .So you get more details about the characters, about where the action takes place, what people's houses were like, um, whether they're small cabins or grand palaces.

这样你得到更多人物的细节信息，故事发生的地点，人物所住的房子什么样，额，他们是否住在小平房中还是宏伟的宫殿。

7 .And it's worth investing that energy because the story, now in book form, isn't in danger of being lost.

把精力投入到这些上是值得的，因为以书本形式呈现出来的故事不会有丢失的风险。

8 .Those details won't be forgotten.

人们不会忘记故事的细节。

9 .If a folk tale isn't repeated by each generation, it may be lost for all time.

如果民谣没有通过每一代人反复陈述，也可能会永远消失。

10 .But with a fairy tale, it's always there in a book, waiting to be discovered, again and again.

但是童话故事却安逸得待在书本中，等待一次又一次的发现。

1 .Another interesting difference involves the change in audience.

另外一个有趣的不同是关于听众的改变。

2 .Who the stories are meant for?

故事是讲给谁听的？

3 .Contrary to what many people believe today, folk tales were originally intended for adults, not for children.

和现在人们所想不同的是，童话一开始是面向成人，而不是儿童的。

4 .So why is it that fairy tales seem targeted toward children nowadays?

那么为什么现在似乎童话的目标读者是儿童呢？