英語高級聽力 11 課 （譯文及圖片）

Lesson Eleven

Section One: News in Brief

1. Texas Air announced today that it will buy the troubled People Express Airlines for about a hundred and twenty-five million dollars. The proposed deal would allow most People Express employees to keep their jobs, although the company will eventually lose its identity and become part of Texas Air. Federal officials must approve the merger. Texas Air is also trying to buy Eastern Airlines.

2. A rally on Wall Street today after six consecutive losing sessions, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up nearly nine points, to close at seventeen sixty-seven point fifty-eight.

3. What's being called a 'freedom flight" of seventy former Cuban political prisoners landed in Miami today to an ecstatic reception by thousands of relatives and well-wishers. The plane also carried forty － one relatives of former prisoners. The flight culminated nearly two years of negotiations with the Castro regime.

第一節 簡明新聞

1. 德州航空公司今天宣布，將斥資約 1 億 2500 萬美元收購陷入困境的人民快捷航空公司。擬定的協議將允許大多數人民快捷的雇員保住他們的工作，但該公司最終將失去其身份，並成為德州航空公司的一部分。聯邦官員一定會批準該合並。德州航空公司還將試圖收購東方航空公司。

2. 今天在華爾街有一個集會，在 6 個交易日的連續下跌後，道瓊斯工業平均指數當日上漲近 9 點，收於 1767.58 。

3. 搭載 70 名前古巴政治犯被稱作“自由航班”今天降落在邁阿密，受到上千名親屬和善心人士的熱烈歡迎。飛機還上還載有 41 名前囚犯的親屬。航班的最終成行是與卡斯特羅政權近兩年談判的結果。
 
Wall Street

Section Two: News in Detail

Texas Air Corporation today announced that it has agreed to buy People Express Airlines for one hundred twenty-five million dollars in securities. Texas Air already owns Continental Airlines and New York Air. It is in the process of acquiring Eastern Airlines. People Express, one of the first no-frills, low-fare air carriers, has been in financial trouble lately. It was forced to shut down its subsidiary, Frontier Airlines. Texas Air now says it will acquire Frontier's assets as part of its deal with People Express. Joining us now from New York . NPR's business reporter Barbara Mantel.

'Barbara, it is said this is a very attractive low price, this one hundred twenty-five million dollars in securities. Besides that, why does Texas Air want People Express?'

"Well, Frank Lorenzo, who is Chairman of Texas Air, will get airplanes from People Express, which he might need. He will get the lowest cost work-force in the industry at People Express. He will get a new terminal at Newark , New Jersey that People Express is building. He'll get flights to London , and he will get control over competition. People Express competes heavily, especially in the northeast corridor, with Texas Air.'

'This issue of competition has been a sticking point before for the Department of Transportation when two airlines wanted to get together. How will Texas Air get around it this time?'

'Well, they might not. Texas Air wanted to acquire East ..., or wants to acquire, Eastern Airline, and the Department of Transportation said, 'No, not unless you sell more landing slots, more slots in the northeast corridor to Pan Am so that we'll have some competition there.' And Texas Air agreed to that just last week. That may happen again here. The Department of Transportation may require that Texas Air sell some slots or some gates to another airline to ensure that there is still competition in the northeast part of the marketplace. But Texas Air has some leverage here with the Department of Transportation because People Express is a failing company. And the Department of Transportation may feel, 'Well, we'll let them buy People Express and keep it running, rather than let it fail and lose all those jobs.'"

'Mm hm. Now, if the deal is approved by the Department of Transportation, what is it likely to mean for consumers? If there's less competition the fares could possibly go up."

'Well, yes. You would think that when you move from two competitors in a market to just one airliner that prices would just have to go up. But I want you to keep in mind that unrestricted fares of the kind People Express offered, you know, wholesale unrestricted fares, were being eliminated and phased out anyway, because they were not profitable. And the Department of Transportation theory here is that if you allow mergers to take place, or many mergers to take place, you might create more efficiencies and low costs, leading possibly to lower fares. And also the Department of Transportation believes that there's a lot of potential competition in the marketplace. Airlines can move planes around and buy gates, and so that if an airline in a particular market segment was making a lot of money and raising prices excessively, other airlines would move in and prices would be brought down through competition. So that it's a nice theory, the theory of potential competition keeping prices in line, but it's sort of a new idea and it's not clear that that's really the way it would work.'

'Thanks.' From New York , NPR's Barbara Mantel.

第二節 詳細新聞 德州航空公司購並人民快捷航空公司

德州航空公司今天宣布，它已同意以 1 億 2500 萬美元收購人民快捷航空的證券。德州航空公司已經擁有美國大陸航空公司和紐約航空公司。它正在收購東方航空。人民快捷是第一個不提供無必要服務的低票價的航空公司之一，最近已陷入財政困境。它被迫關閉子公司――邊疆航空公司。德州航空公司說，它將收購邊疆航空公司的資產作為與人民快捷交易的一部分。歡迎收聽我們從紐約的報道。全國公共電台的商業記者芭芭拉曼特爾。

“芭芭拉，有人說這是一個非常有吸引力的低價格，這 1 億 2500 萬美元的證券。除此之外，為什麽德州航空希望得到人民快捷呢？”

“嗯，弗蘭克羅倫佐，德州航空主席，將得到人民快捷公司的飛機以滿足他的需要。他會得到人民快捷在行業內的最低成本的工作團隊。他將得到人民快捷修建的位於新澤西州紐瓦克的新機場。他將獲得前往倫敦的航班，他將獲得操控競爭的力量。人民快捷與德州航空在東北走廊競爭激烈。”

“當兩家航空公司要走到一起時，這種競爭問題就成為擺在運輸部麵前的一個症結。德州航空這次如何能繞過去？”

“哦，他們可能繞不過去。德州航空想要收購東 ... ，或想購買東方航空公司，而美國運輸部說，‘不，除非你賣掉東北走廊更多的降落時段，更多的東北走廊的時段給泛美航空，以便我們在這裏有一些競爭存在。’德州航空上周同意了。這可能會在這裏再次發生。運輸部可以要求德州航空出售一些時段或一些登機口給另外一些航空公司，以確保在東北部市場的競爭。不過，德州航空在這裏是舉債經營，對交通部門來說，因為人民快捷是一個破產的公司。而運輸部可能會覺得，‘好吧，我們會讓他們購買人民快捷的，並讓他繼續經營，總比讓他倒閉失去所有這些工作機會強。’”

“嗯，嗯。現在，如果交易獲得運輸部批準，對消費者意味著什麽？如果競爭少了機票價可能會上升嗎？”

“嗯，是的。你會這樣想，當你從有兩個競爭對手的市場上轉到隻有一個航班，價格會上漲。但我希望你記住像人民快捷提供的那種不受限製的票價，你知道，批發銷售不受限製的機票會被淘汰，無論如何會被取消，因為他們沒有盈利。而且交通部的理論是，如果允許合並發生，或有更多的合並發生，你會建立更多的效率，成本低，可能導致降低票價。運輸部也相信，市場存在著大量的潛在競爭。航空公司可以移動飛機並購買登機口，因此，如果在特定細分市場的航空公司也可以賺到很多錢，而提價過高，其他航空公司會加入進來，價格就會由於競爭而降低。所以，這是一個不錯的理論，可能規範價格競爭理論，但它是有幾分新的概念，尚不清楚真要是遇到這種情況是否有效。”

“謝謝。”全國公共廣播電台芭芭拉曼特爾來自紐約的報道。

於1986年被收購的人民快捷航空公司的波音747客機

Section Three: Special Report

"My audiences have been very devoted over the years throughout the country. And they've expanded and grown and the country audience has been just as kind and as supportive as the folk audience has been.'

'I was thinking though, nonetheless, when I put on this album, 'The Last of the True Believers,' especially the title cut, that I heard more country there than I'd perhaps heard before."

"Well, I guess it has... I've moved in that direction, mainly because I am playing with the band more. My natural roots are there in country and hillbilly music. And so I think that that just comes out more when you put the band with it."

'I want to ask you some questions, please, about this album, about the ... not so much what's on the inside right now, but what’s on the outside - a picture on the front of you in front of a Woolworth store, someplace, I guess, in Texas or Tennessee, and…”

' Houston , Texas .'

“In Houston , Texas ? Is it the Woolworth store that has the hardwood floor still and the parakeets in the back and that sort of thing?'

"Well, this one that we shot this in front of in Houston Texas is one of the largest ones in the country. It's a two-storey and it's got the escalator that does a little pinging noise every couple of minutes. And it takes up a whole city block."

"But, why a cover photo in front of Woolworth's?'

“Well, that comes from the song 'Love at the Five and Dime,' which was a song that Cathy Mattea also cut this year and had my first, you know, top five country hit with. And it deals with the Woolworth store.”

"There is, on the cover, you are holding a book, and you can’t really see. ... What is the name of the book on the cover you're holding?'

"In the Kindness of Strangers, the latest Tennessee Williams' biography.”

"And on the back is Larry McMurtrie's book about a cattle drive around the turn of the century, Lonesome Dove."

"He's my main prose hero. "

"Now, why? Why would you do that? Why would you pose with a book? "

"Well, I have, my audience consists of a lot of young people between the ages of, maybe you know, fourteen and twenty-f'ive. And I read a lot, and I also write short stories and have written a novel. And I just feel like young people are missing out because they don't read books. And any time I have the opportunity to influence the young person to pick up a book and read it, I would try to do that. "

“When you hear these lyrics, when the words come to you, are you hearing the stanzas as poetry or as music?”

“Well, I'm hearing them as music. Lyrics usually come to me, and songs come to me as a total picture. And the music and the lyrics come at the same time. Sometimes they shoot me straight up in bed, you know, in the middle of the night. 'The Wing and the Wheel' is a very special song to me. It's probably my favorite song that I've ever written. And that song was inspired at the Vancouver Folk Festival by two people who are from Managua , Nicaragua . They have a duo call Duo Guar Buranco. And just about four o'clock in the morning, I was sitting in my hotel room and listening to them sing in the room next door, and looking out the window at this little fingernail moon hanging out over the Vancouver Bay, and that song just came flowing, you know, and was inspired by those two people.”

“Now, that sounds easy.”

“Well, it is easy. If you listen to yourself and you listen to the inspiration that's bringing on that particular song, it's easy. It's just a matter of getting up and writing it down.”

Nancy Griffith, talking with us in WPLN in Nashville . She is continuing her national tour with the Everly Brothers. Her latest album is called "The Last of the True Believers. "

第三節 特別報道 采訪美國鄉村女歌手南希格裏菲斯

“我的觀眾數年來遍及全國各地已經付出很多。與此同時，他們已經擴大和增長，鄉村（歌曲）的聽眾已經像民謠（歌曲）聽眾一樣地支持我。”

“我在想，雖然，然而，當我把這張專輯《最後的忠實信徒》特別是把標題刪掉，我聽到許多的鄉村音樂，比以前聽過的要多。”

“嗯，我猜會有 ... 在這方麵我很感動，主要是因為我更多地用樂隊的演奏。我的根基自然而然地是在鄉村和山地音樂。所以我認為，當你加入樂隊進來的時候就得要走得更遠。”

“我想問你一些問題，有關這個專輯，關於 ... 不是很多，現在裏麵有什麽，外麵有什麽？ - 在你麵前的一張照片，在伍爾沃斯商店前麵，某個地方，我猜，是在德州和和田納西州，而且 ... ”

“德州休斯敦。”

“在德州休斯敦？難道伍爾沃斯商店還有硬木地板，而且後麵有鸚鵡之類的東西？”

“嗯，這一張是我們在它前麵拍攝的在得克薩斯州休斯敦，它在當地是最大的一個。有兩層，它的自動扶梯每兩分鍾會發出乒乒的聲音。而且占了用整個街區。”

“但是，為什麽封麵照片要在伍爾沃斯前麵拍呢？”

“嗯，這來自一首名叫《愛在五塊一》的歌，這首歌今年被凱蒂瑪蒂亞給刪了卻是我的第一首歌，你知道，中選為排行前五名的鄉村音樂。歌裏提到了伍爾沃斯商店。”

“這裏在封麵上，你們拿著一本書，你不是真的能看到的。 ... 你拿的這本書封麵上的名字是什麽？”

“《在善良的陌生人當中》，最新的田納西威廉斯的傳記。”

“背麵是拉裏麥克墨惕爾的書，是關於一次在世紀之交趕家畜的人的故事《寂寞的鴿子》。

“他是我的主要散文的主人公。”

“現在，為什麽？為什麽你會怎麽做呢？為什麽你會寫出一本書？”

“嗯，我寫過，我的聽眾包括很多的年輕人，年齡在，也許你知道， 14 － 25 之間。我看過很多書，我也寫短篇小說而且也寫了本小說。而我剛剛覺得像年輕人一樣迷失，因為他們從來不讀書。而且任何時候隻要我有機會就會影響年輕人拿起一本書來讀它，我在嚐試這樣做。”

“當你聽到這些歌詞，當這些詞句感動了你，你聽到的每小節像是詩歌還是音樂？”

“哦，我聽到他們像是音樂。歌詞源源不斷地湧向我，而歌曲對我來說完全是一幅畫。音樂和歌詞在同一時刻湧來。有時他們直接把我撲到床上，你知道，在半夜。《翼與輪》對我來說是一首非常奇特的歌。這也可能是我曾經寫過的最喜歡的歌。而這首歌的靈感來自於溫哥華民俗節上的兩個分別來自馬那瓜和尼加拉瓜的人。他們是一個表演組合叫‘瓜布瑞可組合’。早上四點左右，我在我的旅館房間裏，聽到他們在隔壁房間唱歌，望著窗外一小塊指甲大小的月亮掛在溫哥華灣，那首歌涓涓流出，你知道，就是這兩個人帶來的靈感。”

“現在，這聽起來很容易。”

“好吧，這很容易。如果你聽，你聽到你自己和你聽到那首帶來靈感的特殊的歌，起床把它寫下來是很容易的事。”

南希格裏菲斯，與我們在在納什維爾的 WPLN 電台進行交談。她將繼續與艾佛利兄弟全國巡回演出。她的最新專輯叫做《最後的忠實信徒》。


Nancy Griffith (1953-)


The Last of the True Believers