[ar:MP3 同步字幕版(英音)]
[ti:Our Neighbour, the River]
[by:更多学习内容,请到chazidian.com搜索“新概念”]
[00:01.50]Lesson 56
[00:03.80]Our neighbour, the river
[00:13.03]Why had the neighbours left their farm?
[00:18.42]The river which forms the eastern boundary of our farm has always played an important part in our lives.
[00:26.15]Without it we could not make a living.
[00:29.07]There is only enough spring water to supply the needs of the house so we have to pump from the river for farm use.
[00:36.25]We tell the river all our secrets.
[00:38.61]We know instinctively, just as beekeepers with their bees,
[00:42.54]that misfortune might overtake us if the important events of our lives were not related to it.
[00:49.52]We have special river birthday parties in the summer.
[00:53.18]Sometimes we go upstream to a favourite backwater,
[00:57.37]sometimes we have our party at the boathouse,
[01:00.35]which a predecessor of ours at the farm built in the meadow hard by the deepest pool for swimming and diving.
[01:08.57]In a heat wave we choose a midnight birthday party and that is the most exciting of all.
[01:15.64]We welcome the seasons by the riverside,
[01:18.42]crowning the youngest girl with flowers in the spring,
[01:21.81]holding a summer festival on Midsummer Eve,
[01:25.59]giving thanks for the harvest in the autumn,
[01:28.11]and throwing a holly wreath into the current in the winter.