『新东方在线托福听力』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/Official 20 Lec 3听力练习：What is the lecture mainly about?原文题目答案解析，TPO/Official 20 Lec 3听力原文范文音频翻译。

托福TPO/Official 20 Lec 3听力原文What is the lecture mainly about?-新东方托福官方网校手机版

Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class.

教授：我们谈论了民间传说，以及它们的主要特点之一是它们通常以一些真实的历史事件为蓝本。

Professor: All right, so now we’ve talked about folk legends and seen that they are ... that one of their key features is there’s usually some real history behind them.

传说通常是关于真人的，所以你可以找到共鸣，也正是吸引我们的原因。

They are often about real people, so you can identify with the characters, and that’s what engages us in them.

某些故事可能不是真的，某些人物角色或经历可能是编造的。

The particular stories might not be true and some of the characters or events might be made up.

但它依然带给我们真实感，因为它毕竟是关于真实存在的人物的。

But there’s still a sense that the story could have been true since it is about a real person.

这是它与其他民间流传的叙事方式，比如民间故事，迥异的地方。

That’s distinct contrast from the other main branch of popular storytelling, which is folk tales.

民间故事与民间传说相似，都是虚构的故事，以口头方式从古至今代代相传。

Folk tales are imaginative stories that ... um ... like folk legends, they have been passed down orally, from storyteller to storyteller for ... since ancient times.

但是，民间故事身上体现不出来任何真实性。

But with folk tales you don’t ever really get the sense that the story might have been true.

民间故事纯属虚构，我觉得不管怎么说，也正因如此，能够清楚的解释文化，文化与民间故事的联系。我们接下来要谈一谈。

They are purely imaginative and so quite revealing, I think anyway, about the culture and the connection between folk tales and the culture, which we’ll talk about.

但在此之前，让我们回顾一下民间故事的类型，就以挪威传说为例吧，因为它们非常能够体现出故事的多样性。

But first let’s go over the various types of folk tale and focus specifically on Norwegian folk tales since they illustrate the variety pretty well.

一般而言，挪威民间故事可以分为三种类型。

There are in general three main types of Norwegian folk tales.

第一种是动物的故事，在这种类型的民间叙述文学中，动物是主角。

One is animal stories, where animals are the main characters.

这些动物或是野生的，或是家养的，而且它们往往有人一样的行为，还会说话，但同时，它们又保持了动物自身的特点。

They can be wild animals or domestic, and a lot of times they can talk and behave like humans, but at the same time, they retain their animal characteristics too.

这个类型的故事涉及到的动物有熊、狼和狐狸。

They tend to involve animals like bears, wolves and foxes.

这些故事的主题，它们的内涵，通常是解释它们身上的一些特征是怎么来的。

The point of these stories, their, their internal objective, so to speak, is usually to explain some feature of the animal, how it arose.

比如，一头狐狸哄骗一头熊，让这头熊用尾巴去冰窟窿里钓鱼。

So there’s one about a fox who fools a bear into going ice fishing with his tail.

结果，熊把尾巴放到了湖面上的冰洞里面去钓鱼，结果，水在熊尾巴周围结冰了，熊使劲儿往外拔，结果把尾巴拔掉了。

When the bear puts his tail into the water through a hole in the ice, to try and catch a fish, the ice freezes around it, and he ends up pulling his tail off.

从此以后，熊的尾巴就是这么短了。

So that’s why bears to this day have such short tails.

第二个类型的民间故事是超自然的神灵故事。

The second category of Norwegian folk tale is the supernatural.

呃……与巨人、恶龙和巨魔有关，故事中的人往往都会使用魔法，且佩戴了有超能力的道具，比如隐形披风。

Eh ... stories about giants and dragons and trolls, and humans with supernatural powers or gifts, like invisibility cloaks.

有的故事里面的人还可以把人变成动物，或把动物变回人，这些故事叫做变形故事。

Or where people are turned into animals and back again into a person, those are called transformation stories.

有一个著名的挪威民间变形故事，叫做《阳之东，月之西》，后面我们也会读到。

There’s a well-known Norwegian supernatural folk tale, a transformation story called East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which we’ll read.

故事中，有一位王子，他白天是人的形状，到夜晚就变成了一头白色的熊。

It involves a prince who is a white bear by night and a human by day.

他住在一座城堡里，这座城堡的位置在太阳的东边，月亮的西边，故事中的女主人公历经千辛万苦，要找到这个地方。

And he lives in the castle that’s east of the Sun and west of the Moon, which the heroine in the story has to try to find.

这个故事不仅是一个很好的变形故事的例子，而且还体现出很多其它民间故事的特征。

Besides being a good example of a transformation story, this one also has a lot of the common things that tend to show up in folk tales.

我们能在这其中读到一个标准化的开头：“很久很久以前……”。

You will find the standard opening, “once upon a time ... ” .

它有一些经常出现的人物，譬如高贵的王子，贫穷的但美丽的农家女孩，这位美丽的女孩是故事的主人公。

And it has stock characters like a prince, and a poor but beautiful peasant girl, she is the heroine I mentioned.

并且，它的故事形式也很传统。

And ... um ... it has a very conventional form.

每一幕中涉及到的人物不超过两位。

So no more than two characters are involved in any one scene.

还有，嗯……这个故事中有特别多的奇幻的动作描写，所以我们肯定不会认为它是真的。

And it’s ... the story is presented as though ... well, even though a lot of the actions that occurr are pretty fantastic, so you’d never think of it as realistic.

故事里面的角色，行为方式和真人没有区别。

The characters still act like ... they resemble real people.

但这些人既不是真实的，也不是历史上有过的。

They are not real or even based on historical figures.

但假如某一个故事中出现了一位国王的话，你会不自觉地把他和挪威的国王联系起来。

But you might have a supernatural story involving a king, and he’d act like you’d expect a Norwegian king to act.

好的。第三个类型的民间故事，叫做滑稽故事。

OK. The third main kind of folk tale is the comical story.

我们后面会讲得更多，现在我们只需要了解这个类型，并且它也会涉及到超自然的事物，但总的来说，与纯粹的超自然故事相比，这个类型的故事更加欢乐，更具有娱乐性。

We’ll say more later about these, but for now, just be aware of the category and that they can contain supernatural aspects, but they are usually more playful and amusing overall than supernatural stories.

一般而言，民间故事是一代一代口耳相传的。

Now, as I said, traditionally, folk tales were just passed down orally.

每一代的故事讲说者都会有自己的讲说风格。

Each generation of storytellers had their own style of telling a story.

但是……在挪威，在19世纪以前，民间故事只是说给小孩子听的。

But ... um ... in Norway, before the 19th century, folk tales were just for kids.

它们很少被放到严肃的学术著作中进行分析。

They weren’t seen as worthy of analysis or academic attention.

但是之后，随着19世纪中期欧洲浪漫主义运动的全面展开，这种局面发生了变化。

But this changed when the Romantic Movement spread throughout Europe in the mid-19th century.

浪漫主义者把民间故事看成是人的灵魂的映射。

The romantics looked at folk tales as sort of a reflection of the soul of the people.

所以说，挪威民间故事里，有一些非常具有挪威特点的成分存在。

So there was something distinctly Norwegian in folk tales from Norway.

各个国家对本民族文学和艺术形式重新树立起了信心。

And there was renewed pride in the literature and art forms of individual countries.

总之，在1852年，第一本挪威民间故事集出版了。

As a result, the first collection of Norwegian folk tales was published in 1852.

从此以后，新的版本一直没有中断。

And there have been many new editions published since then.

对于挪威人来说，这些故事体现出了他们的民族本色。

For the people of Norway, these stories are now an important part of what it means to be Norwegian.

What does the professor find appealing about folk legends?

How is the story of the bear and the fox characteristic of Norwegian animal stories?

Why does the professor mention a folktale called "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"?

What does the professor say about the characters in Norwegian folktales?

What does the professor imply happened as a result of the Romantic movement's spreading to Norway?

Narrator 
Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class. 
Professor 
All right, so now we’ve talked about folk legends and seen that their ... one of their key features is there’s usually some real history behind them. They are often about real people, so you can identify with the characters, and that’s what engages us in them. The particular stories might not be true and some of the characters or events might be made up. But there’s still a sense that the story could have been true since it is about a real person. That’s distinct contrast from the other main branch of popular storytelling, which is folk tales. 
Folk tales are imaginative stories that ... um ... like folk legends, they have been passed down orally, from storyteller to storyteller for ... since ancient times. But with folk tales you don’t ever really get the sense that the story might have been true. They are purely imaginative and so quite revealing, I think anyway, about the culture and the connection between folk tales and culture, which we’ll talk about. 
But first let’s go over the various types of folk tale and focus specifically on Norwegian folk tales since they illustrate the variety pretty well. There are in general three main types of Norwegian folk tales. 
Professor 
All right, so now we’ve talked about folk legends and seen that their ... one of their key features is there’s usually some real history behind them. They are often about real people, so you can identify with the characters, and that’s what engages us in them. The particular stories might not be true and some of the characters or events might be made up. But there’s still a sense that the story could have been true since it is about a real person. That’s distinct contrast from the other main branch of popular storytelling, which is folk tales. 
One is animal stories, where animals are the main characters. They can be wild animals or domestic, and a lot of times they can talk and behave like humans, but at the same time, they retain their animal characteristics too. They tend to involve animals like bears, wolves and foxes. The point of these stories, their, their internal objectives, so the speak, is usually to explain some feature of the animal, how it arose. So there’s one about a fox who fools a bear into going ice fishing with his tail. When the bear puts his tail into the water through a hole in the ice, to try and catch a fish, the ice freezes around it, and he ends up pulling his tail off. So that’s why bears to this day have such short tails. 
The second category of Norwegian folk tale is the supernatural. Eh ... stories about giants and dragons and trolls, and humans with supernatural powers or gifts, like invisibility cloaks. Or where people are turned into animals and back again into a person, those are called transformation stories. 
There’s a well-known Norwegian supernatural folk tale, a transformation story called East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which we’ll read. It involves a prince who is a white bear by night and a human by day. And he lives in the castle that’s east of the Sun and west of the Moon, which the heroine in the story has to try to find. Besides being a good example of a transformation story, this one also has a lot of the common things that tend to show up in folk tales. You will find the standard opening, ‘once upon a time ... ’ . And it has stock characters like a prince, and a poor but beautiful peasant girl, she is the heroine I mentioned. And ... um ... it has a very conventional form. So no more than two characters are involved in any one scene. And it has a happy ending. And it’s ... the story is presented as though ... well, even though a lot of the actions that occurred are pretty fantastic, so you’d never think of it as realistic. The characters still act like ... they resemble 
real people. They are not real or even based on historical figures. But you might have a supernatural story involving a king, and he’d act like you’d expect a Norwegian king to act. 
OK. The third main kind of folk tale is the comical story. We’ll say more later about these, but for now, just be aware of the category and that they can contain supernatural aspects, but they are usually more playful and amusing overall than supernatural stories. 
There’s a well-known Norwegian supernatural folk tale, a transformation story called East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which we’ll read. It involves a prince who is a white bear by night and a human by day. And he lives in the castle that’s east of the Sun and west of the Moon, which the heroine in the story has to try to find. Besides being a good example of a transformation story, this one also has a lot of the common things that tend to show up in folk tales. You will find the standard opening, ‘once upon a time ... ’ . And it has stock characters like a prince, and a poor but beautiful peasant girl, she is the heroine I mentioned. And ... um ... it has a very conventional form. So no more than two characters are involved in any one scene. And it has a happy ending. And it’s ... the story is presented as though ... well, even though a lot of the actions that occurred are pretty fantastic, so you’d never think of it as realistic. The characters still act like ... they resemble real people. They are not real or even based on historical figures. But you might have a supernatural story involving a king, and he’d act like you’d expect a Norwegian king to act. 
OK. The third main kind of folk tale is the comical story. We’ll say more later about these, but for now, just be aware of the category and that they can contain supernatural aspects, but they are usually more playful and amusing overall than supernatural stories. 
Now, as I said, traditionally, folk tales were just passed down orally. Each generation of storytellers had their own style of telling a story. But ... um ... in Norway, before the 19th century, folk tales were just for kids. They weren’t seen as worthy of analysis or academic attention. But this changed when the romantic movement spread throughout Europe in the mid-19th century. Romantics looked at folk tales as sort of a reflection of the soul of the people. So there was something distinctly Norwegian in folk tales from Norway. And there was renewed pride in the literature and art forms of individual countries. 
As a result, the first collection of Norwegian folk tales is published in 1852. And there have been many new editions published since then. For the people of Norway, these stories are now an important part of what it means to be Norwegian.