一、【Text】课文
In this much-travelled world, there are still thousands of places which are inaccessible to tourists. We always assume that
villagers in remote places are friendly and hospitable. But people who are cut off not only from foreign tourists, but even from
their own countrymen can be hostile to travellers. Visits to really remote villages are seldom enjoyable -- as my wife and I
discovered during a tour through the Balkans.
We had spent several days in a small town and visited a number of old churches in the vicinity. These attracted many visitors, for
they were not only of great architectural interest, but contained a large number of beautifully preserved frescoes as well. On the
day before our departure, several bus loads of tourists descended on the town. This was more than we could bear, so we decided
to spend our last day exploring the countryside. Taking a path which led out of the town, we crossed a few fields until we came to
a dense wood. We expected the path to end abruptly, but we found that it traced its way through the trees. We tramped through the
wood for over two hours until we arrived at a deep stream. We could see that the path continued on the other side, but we had no
idea how we could get across the stream. Suddenly my wife spotted a boat moored to the bank. In it there was a boatman fast
asleep. We gently woke him up and asked him to ferry us to the other side. Though he was reluctant to do so at first, we
eventually persuaded him to take us.
The path led to a tiny village perched on the steep sides of a mountain. The place consisted of a straggling unmade road which
was lined on either side by small houses. Even under a clear blue sky, the village looked forbidding, as all the houses were built
of grey mud bricks. The village seemed deserted, the only sign of life being an ugly-looking black goat on a short length of rope
tied to a tree in a field nearby. Sitting down on a dilapidated wooden fence near the field, we opened a couple of tins of sardines
and had a picnic lunch. All at once, I noticed that my wife seemed to be filled with alarm. Looking up I saw that we were
surrounded by children in rags who were looking at us silently as we ate. We offered them food and spoke to them kindly, but they
remained motionless. I concluded that they were simply shy of strangers. When we later walked down the main street of the
villager, we were followed by a silent procession of children. The village which had seemed deserted, immediately came to life.
Faces appeared at windows. Men in shirt sleeves stood outside their houses and glared at us. Old women in black shawls peered
at us from doorways. The most frightening thing of all was that not a sound could be heard. There was no doubt that we were
unwelcome visitors. We needed no further warning. Turning back down the main street, we quickened our pace and made our
way rapidly towards the stream where we hoped the boatman was waiting.
二、【New words and expressions】生词和短语
●inaccessible adj. 难接近的,达不到的
●hospitable adj. 不好客的
●hostile adj. 不友好的,有敌意的
●vicinity n. 周围,近邻
●architectural adj. 建筑的
●fresco n. 壁画
●abruptly adv. 突然地,意外地
●tramp v. 徒步行进
●moor v. （用绳、链、锚）系（船）