第二单元 The Opera Singer

One day a train was approaching the small town of Cheekyville.

一天，一列火车驶近奇克维尔小镇。

On the train was a strange guy with a big suitcase.

火车上有个奇怪的家伙，提着一个大箱子。

He was called William Warbler-the man, not the suitcase-and he looked very common indeed.

他的名字叫林莺威廉——是那个人，而不是那个手提箱——他看上去的确很普通。

What made him most unusual, though, was the fact that whenever he needed to communicate he did it by singing opera.

然而，让他与众不同的是，每当他需要交流时，他都会通过唱歌剧来进行。

It didn't matter to William whether it was simply a matter of answering a brief greeting, like "Good day."

对威廉来说，哪怕只是简单地回答一句简短的问候，比如“日安”，都无所谓。

He would clear his voice and respond,"Gooood dayyy to youuuuuuuu ...

他会清清嗓子回答道:“祝你天天好……too000O!”too000O !”

2 It wouldn't be unfair to say that almost everyone considered William Warbler massive pain in the Neck.

几乎每个人都认为威廉.瓦伯乐 很讨厌，这么说并不失偏颇

No one could get a normal, spoken word out of him.

没人能从他嘴里问出一句正常的话。

And, as no one knew how he made his living-and he lived quite simply, always wearing his same old second-hand suit-they often treated him with disdain.

而且，由于没有人知道他是如何谋生的——他的生活十分简朴，总是穿着他那套旧衣服——他们常常瞧不起他。

3 They made fun of his singing, calling him "Don No One", "Poor-Rotti", and "Lazy Miserables".

他们拿他的歌声开玩笑，称他为“无名小辈”、“可怜的罗蒂”和“懒惰的悲惨世界”。

William had been in Cheekyville for some years, when, one day, a rumour spread round town like wildfire: William had secured a role in a very important opera in the nation's capital, and there were posters everywhere advertising the event.

威廉在奇克维尔住了好几年，有一天，一个谣言像野火一样在镇上传开了:威廉在首都一出重要的歌剧中获得了一个角色，到处都贴着海报广告活动。

Everyone in the capital went to see it, and it was a great success.

首都的每个人都去看了，演出非常成功。

At the end of its run-to everyone in Cheekyville's surprise-when William was being interviewed by reporters, he answered their questions by speaking rather than singing.

在节目的最后——让Cheekyville的每个人都感到惊讶的是——当William接受记者采访时，他用说话而不是唱歌来回答他们的问题。

And he did it with great courtesy, and with a clear and pleasant voice.

他很有礼貌，声音清脆悦耳。

4 From that day, William gave up singing at all hours.

从那天起，威廉就放弃了唱歌。

Now he did it only during his stage appearances and world tours.

现在，他只在舞台亮相和世界巡演时才这么做。

Some people suspected why he had

有些人怀疑他为什么这么做

changed, but others still had no idea, and continued believing him to be somewhat mad.

改变了，但其他人仍然不知道，并继续相信他是多少

疯了。

They wouldn't have thought so if they had seen what William kept in his big suitcase.

如果他们看到威廉在他的大箱子里放了什么，他们就不会这么想了。

It was a large stone, with a hand-carved message on it.

那是一块很大的石头，上面有手工雕刻的信息。

5The message said: "Practice, my boy.

那条信息是这样说的:“练习吧，孩子。

Practice every second, for you never know when your chance will come."

每一秒都要练习，因为你永远不知道机会什么时候会到来。”

Little did people realise that he only got the role in the opera because the

人们几乎没有意识到他得到这个角色只是因为

director had heard William singing while out buying a newspaper.

一位导演在外面买报纸时听到威廉在唱歌。