 |
英語で聴こう、カニグズバーグ！
"The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World"
 |
オーディオブック↓試聴コーナー
MP.3 版
Windows Media 版
収録部分のテキストはこちら
 リスニング・チップ朗読のスピードが速くて聴き取りにくいときには、オーディオ再生のソフトで、速度を1.2倍から1.4倍ぐらいに上げて聴いてみてください。「速さ」に耳が慣れると、もとのスピードに戻したとき「ゆっくり」に感じられます。 目を閉じたり、テキストを追ったりしながら、何度か繰り返してみてください。英語の細かな音まで、それまでよりも、ずっとよく聴こえることと思います。 ◆ QuickTime Player 7： 「ウインドウ」→「A/Vコントロールを表示」をクリック。「再生速度」を調節。 ◆ Windows Media Player 9： メニューバーの「表示」→「拡張設定」→「再生速度の設定（L）」を選んで、クリック。 |
オーディオブックに収録部分のテキスト （原：P.3 〜P.6） Read by エドワード・ハーマン
Sometime after William Wilcox's father died, his mother got into the business
of managing estate sales. She took charge of selling off the contents of
houses of people who had died or who were moving or downsizing or had some
other need to dispossess themselves of the things they owned. She was paid
a commission on every item that was sold. It was a good business for someone
like Mrs. Wilcox, who had no money to invest in inventory but who had the
time and the talent to learn a trade. Mrs. Wilcox was fortunate that two
antique dealers, Bertram Grover and Ray Porterfield, took her under their
wings and started her on a career path.
From the start, William worked side by side with his mother.
In their first major estate sale, the Birchfields', Mrs. Wilcox found
a four-panel silk screen wrapped in an old blanket in the back of a bedroom
closet. It was slightly faded but had no tears or stains, and she could
tell immediately that it had been had painted a very long time ago. She
priced the screen reasonably at one hundred twenty five dollars but could
not interest anyone in buying it. Her instincts told her it was something
fine, so when she was finishing the sale and still couldn't find a buyer,
she deducted the full price from her sales commission and took the screen
home, put it up in front of the sofa in their living room, and studied
it. Each of the four panels told part of the story of how women washed
and wove silk. The more she studied and researched, the more she became
convinced that the screen was not only very fine but rare.
On the weekend following the Birchfields sale, she and William packed
the screen into the family station wagon and tried selling it to antique
shops all over St. Malo. When she could not interest anyone in buying it,
she and William took to the road, and on several consecutive weekends,
they stopped at antique shops in towns along the interstate, both to the
north and south of St. Malo.
They could not find a buyer.
Without his mother's knowing, William took photos of the screen and
secretly carried them with him when his sixth-grade class took a spring
trip to Washington, D.C. As his classmates were touring the National Air
and Space Museum, William stole away to the Freer Gallery of Art, part
of the Smithsonian that specializes in Asian art and antiquities.
Once there, William approached the receptionist's desk and asked to
see the curator in charge of ancient Chinese art. The woman behind the
desk asked, "Now, what business would you be having with the curator
of Chinese art?" When William realized that the woman was not taking
him seriously, he took out the photographs he had of the screen and lined
them up at the edge of the desk so that they faced her. William could tell
that the woman had no idea what she was seeing, let alone the value of
it. She tried stalling him by saying that the curatorial staff was quite
busy. William knew that he did not have much time before his sixth-grade
class would miss him. He coolly assessed the situation: He was a sixth
grader with no credentials, little time, and an enormous need. He squared
his shoulders and thickened his southern accent to heavy sweet cream and
said, "Back to home, we have a expression, ma'am."
"What's that?" she asked.
"Why, back to home we always say that there's some folk who don't
know that they're through the swinging doors of opportunity until they've
got swat on their backside."
William waited.
It may have been because he returned each of her cold stares with cool
dignity, or it may simply have been the quiet assurance in his voice coupled
with his courtly manners that made it happen, but the receptionist picked
up the phone and called the curator, a Mrs. Fortinbras.
William showed Mrs. Fortinbras the photographs, and Mrs. Fortinbras
was not at all dismissive. She said that the photographs--crude as they
were--made it difficult to tell enough about the screen. But they did show
that it might be interesting. She suggested that William bring the screen
itself to Washington so that she could arrange to have it examined by her
staff.
When school was out for the summer, William convinced his mother to
pack up the screen again and drive to Washington, D.C., and have Mrs. Fortinbras
and her staff at the Freer give it a good look.
And they did take it there.
And Mrs. Fortinbras and her staff did examine it.
And Mrs. Fortinbras and her staff did recommend that the museum buy
it.
And the museum did buy it.
For twenty thousand dollars.
 |
Unabridged （省略なしの、完全な）版 ・CD4枚セット
$24.95
 |
