Theodor Seuss Geisel托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Theodor Seuss Geisel托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Theodor Seuss Geisel托福听力原文：

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a children's literature class.

MALE PROFESSOR:Today we’ll start looking at the most important children's book authors of the twentieth century.And I'd like to start with an author-illustrator whom some of you probably grew up reading:Dr.Seuss…

His actual name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.Geisel's work was hugely popular among beginning readers and their parents,but it wasn't always considered“literature”or subjected to serious academic inquiry until relatively recently.In fact,not only weren't his books considered literature,but they weren't always considered good schoolbooks.

In the late-1950s and even through the'60s,U.S.teachers resisted Seuss books because they perceived them as having a comic-book style—fun,maybe,but not…uh,not appropriate for the classroom.

None of Geisel’s books individually won him a Pulitzer Prize,and he didn't receive any top children's literary awards,either.Although the Pulitzer Prize Committee did give him a citation in 1984 for his,ah,“special contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents.”But again,that wasn’t until 1984.

Perhaps one reason his books weren’t taken seriously is that even though they often use rhyme,you wouldn’t call him a great poet.Geisel's rhyme schemes are very simple,and often,to make things rhyme,he'd use silly names for his imaginary creatures—like,uh,the“Grinch”and“sneetches.”In fact,one book features 34 pairs of rhymed words,but only eight of those pairs consist entirely of real words.The rest are made-up words.

Geisel also illustrated his own books and created lots of highly memorable characters from a visual standpoint.Yet,as far as his artistic talent,no one's ever really called him a“great”artist or“great”illustrator.

For his human characters,he pretty much drew the same face over and over;except for minor accessories,all the people in his books look the same.Not exactly something you'd be encouraged to do in art school!And the way he drew even nonhuman characters was dismissed by many critics as being overly simplistic.His landscapes,on the other hand,they are simple,but they're also extremely clever.He had this uncanny knack for creating the illusion of great distance with some very simple shapes and lines.But what about from a pedagogical standpoint?

Well,let’s consider Geisel's most famous book,The Cat in the Hat.Now,in a way,this book,The Cat in the Hat,captures the essence of Geisel’s particular genius as a children's author.Geisel actually wrote it in response to an article written in 1954 by an acclaimed novelist named John Hersey.In this article,Hersey criticized the textbooks being used in elementary schools,uh,to teach children to read.He called the books boring,contrived,and utterly humorless.After seeing Hersey's article,Geisel must’ve wondered what made the books so dull.And one thing he found was…they used only words from the Dolch list.The Dolch list contained a few hundred common sight words—words like,well,“cat”and“hat.”At the time,the Dolch list was widely adhered to by publishers of textbooks for beginning readers.

Well,using only words from the Dolch list,Geisel tapped into his fertile imagination,and…the result was an incredibly funny and engaging storyline about a talking cat that convinces a brother and sister to let him make a huge mess in their house while their mother is away.Another character,a talking fish,tries to warn the children that they'll be blamed for the cat's crazy antics.

You can really feel the tension building up in those kids as the cat makes the house messier and messier.Ultimately,the house gets straightened up in the nick of time.And the kids are left speechless when their mom shows up and casually asks if anything interesting happened in her absence.The kids,and presumably Geisel's readers,are left thinking:Should they tell the truth?And that's where the book ends.

Brilliant.There aren't too many authors who can set up a moral dilemma like this and then get children to think about it for themselves.

二、Theodor Seuss Geisel托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：在儿童文学课上听讲座的一部分。

男教授：今天我们将开始关注二十世纪最重要的儿童书籍作者。我想从一位作家插画师开始，你们中的一些人可能是在读《苏斯博士》…

他的真名是西奥多·苏斯·盖塞尔。盖塞尔的作品在初学的读者和他们的父母中大受欢迎，但直到最近，它才一直被认为是“文学”，也没有受到认真的学术调查。事实上，他的书不仅不被认为是文学，而且也不总是被认为是好的教科书。

在20世纪50年代末甚至整个60年代，美国的教师都抵制苏斯大学的书籍，因为他们认为这些书可能有漫画式的乐趣，但不……呃，不适合课堂。

盖塞尔的书没有一本单独为他赢得普利策奖，他也没有获得任何顶级儿童文学奖。虽然普利策奖委员会在1984年确实对他进行了表彰，因为他“在近半个世纪里对美国儿童及其父母的教育和享受作出了特殊贡献”但同样，直到1984年。

也许他的书没有被认真对待的一个原因是，即使他们经常使用押韵，你也不会称他为伟大的诗人。盖泽尔的押韵方案非常简单，为了让事情押韵，他常常会给自己想象中的生物起一些愚蠢的名字，比如“格林奇”和“斯内切斯”事实上，一本书中有34对押韵词，但其中只有8对完全由真词组成。其余的都是虚构的词。

盖泽尔还为自己的书做了插图，并从视觉角度创作了许多令人难忘的人物。然而，就他的艺术天赋而言，从来没有人真正称他为“伟大”的艺术家或“伟大”的插画家。

对于他的人类角色，他几乎一次又一次地画出同样的脸；除了一些小饰物，他书中所有的人看起来都一样。这可不是艺术学校鼓励你做的事！他画非人类角色的方式被许多评论家认为过于简单化。另一方面，他的风景画很简单，但也非常聪明。他有一种不可思议的本领，能用一些非常简单的形状和线条创造出远距离的错觉。但从教育学的角度来看呢？

好吧，让我们看看盖塞尔最著名的书《帽子里的猫》。现在，在某种程度上，这本书《帽子里的猫》抓住了盖塞尔作为儿童作家的特殊天赋的精髓。盖泽尔写这篇文章实际上是对1954年著名小说家约翰·赫西的一篇文章的回应。在这篇文章中，赫西批评了小学用来教孩子阅读的课本。他说这些书枯燥、做作，而且毫无幽默感。看到赫西的文章后，盖泽尔一定想知道是什么让这些书如此乏味。他发现的一件事是……他们只使用了Dolch列表中的单词。Dolch列表中有几百个常见的单词，比如，“猫”和“帽子”当时，初级读者的教科书出版商普遍遵守多尔奇名单。

好吧，仅使用Dolch列表中的单词，Geisel就激发了他丰富的想象力……结果是一个令人难以置信的有趣和引人入胜的故事情节，讲述了一只会说话的猫，说服了一对兄妹，让他在妈妈不在的时候把家里弄得一团糟。另一个角色是会说话的鱼，它试图警告孩子们，他们会因为猫的疯狂行为而受到指责。

当猫把房子弄得越来越乱的时候，你真的能感觉到孩子们的紧张情绪。最终，房子在关键时刻得到了整顿。当他们的妈妈出现时，孩子们都哑口无言，漫不经心地问她不在时是否发生了什么有趣的事。孩子们，大概还有盖泽尔的读者，都在想：他们应该说实话吗？这就是这本书的结尾。

明亮的没有太多的作家可以设置这样的道德困境，然后让孩子们自己思考。

三、Theodor Seuss Geisel托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A.Early influences that shaped the career of Theodor Seuss Geisel

B.The use of Dr.Seuss books in modern elementary schools

C.The literary and artistic approach of Theodor Seuss Geisel

D.Two prominent authors of twentieth-century children's literature

Q2:2.According to the professor,why did teachers oppose using Dr.Seuss books in the classroom during the 1950s and 1960s?

A.Teachers thought the books were boring

B.Teachers associated the books with play rather than schoolwork

C.Dr.Seuss books used vocabulary that was not on the Dolch list.

D.Dr.Seuss books could not be used to teach subjects other than reading.

Q3:3.Why does the professor mention the citation awarded to Geisel by the Pulitzer Prize Committee?

A.To emphasize how long it took for Geisel's literary contributions to be appreciated

B.To emphasize the difficulty of writing books that appeal to both children and adults

C.To explain how authors of children's literature were typically honored

D.To explain why Geisel's books finally became popular

Q4:4.What does the professor say about Geisel's work as an illustrator?[Click on 2 answers]

A.Geisel's approach to drawing scenery is more sophisticated than it first appears.

B.Geisel's style was strongly influenced by earlier illustrators of children's books.

C.Geisel's human characters all look very much alike.

D.Geisel's style is widely taught in art schools today.

Q5:5.What was the connection between Geisel and John Hersey?

A.Their writing styles were remarkably similar.

B.They collaborated on an article about teaching children to read

C.Hersey's article inspired Geisel to write a new kind of book.

D.Hersey wrote a novel that was inspired by Geisel's career.

Q6:6.What is the professor's opinion of Geisel's book The Cat in the Hat?

A.It is effective because its characters are people and animals rather than imaginary creatures

B.it would be a better teaching tool if it had more challenging vocabulary.

C.It wrongly encourages children to break their parents'rules.

D.It cleverly presents moral issues in an entertaining way.

四、Theodor Seuss Geisel托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：C

A2:正确答案：B

A3:正确答案：A

A4:正确答案：AC

A5:正确答案：C

A6:正确答案：D

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