吹小号的天鹅 第3期:萨姆(3)

 　　After supper that evening, Sam and his father sat for a while on the porch¹. Sam was reading a bird book.

　　那天晚饭后，萨姆和父亲在门口坐了一会儿。萨姆在看一本介绍鸟类的书。

　　"Pop," said Sam, "do you think we'll be coming back to camp again about a month from now

　　“爸，”萨姆说，“你说从现在起再过一个月我们还会回到这个营地来吗

　　I mean, in about thirty-five days or something like that?"

　　我是说，在大约三十五天或差不多那么久以后？”

　　"I guess so," replied Mr. Beaver². "I certainly hope so. But why thirty-five days? what's so special about thirty-five days?"

　　“我想会吧，”比弗先生回答，“我当然也这么希望。可为什么要过三十五天呢？为什么非得在三十五天之后？”

　　"Oh, nothing," said Sam. "I just thought it might be very nice around here in thirty-five days."

　　“噢，没什么，”萨姆说，“我只是想在三十五天后这附近会变得很美。”

　　"That's the craziest thing I ever heard of," said Mr. Beaver. "It's nice here all the time."

　　“这是我所听过的最疯的话，”比弗先生说。“这里什么时候都很美。”

　　Sam went indoors³.

　　萨姆进了屋。

　　He knew a lot about birds, and he knew it would take a swan⁴ about thirty-five days to hatch⁵ her eggs.

　　他懂得很多关于鸟类的知识，因此他知道一只天鹅要用三十五天左右才能把她的蛋孵成。

　　He hoped he could be at the pond to see the young ones when they came out of the eggs.

　　他希望能在池塘亲眼看到这些小家伙出壳的情景。

　　Sam kept a diary--a daybook about his life. It was just a cheap notebook that was always by his bed.

　　萨姆有本日记--一本记录着他的生活内容的日记。那不过是一本便宜的笔记本，平时总放在他的床边。

　　Every night, before he turned in, he would write in the book.

　　每晚熄灯前，他都会在这个本子里写点什么。

　　He wrote about things he had done, things he had seen, and thoughts he had had.

　　他把今天做过的事，看到的事，想到的事都记在里面。

　　Sometimes he drew a picture.

　　有时他还会画上一幅画。

　　He always ended by asking himself a question so he would have something to think about while falling asleep.

　　他总是在最后问自己一个问题，这样在入睡前就可以有些什么可以想的了。

　　On the day he found the swan's nest, this is what Sam wrote in his diary:

　　在他发现天鹅窝的这天，萨姆在日记里是这么写的：

　　I saw a pair of trumpeter swans⁶ today on a small pond east of camp.

　　我今天在营地东边的一个小池塘里看到了一对号手天鹅。

　　The female⁷ has a nest with eggs in it.

　　雌天鹅有一个窝，里面有很多蛋。

　　I saw three, but I'm going to put four in the picture--I think she was laying another one.

　　我看到了三个，不过我要在这幅画里画上四个--我认为她正在准备下第四个蛋呢。

　　This is the greatest discovery I ever made in my entire life. I did not tell Pop.

　　这是我有生以来有过的最伟大的发现。我没告诉爸。

　　My bird book says baby swans are called cygnets.

　　我的那本介绍鸟类的书里说刚出生的天鹅叫Cygnets。

　　I am going back tomorrow to visit the great swans again.

　　明天我要再去拜访那对大天鹅。

　　I heard a fox bark today. Why does a fox bark?

　　今天我听到狐狸叫了。狐狸为什么要叫呢？

　　Is it because he is mad, or worried, or hungry, or because he is sending a message to another fox?

　　是因为愤怒，忧愁，饥饿，还是因为他想给另一只狐狸传口信？

　　Why does a fox bark?

　　狐狸为什么要叫？

　　Sam closed his notebook, undressed, crawled⁸ into his bunk⁹,

　　萨姆合上笔记本，脱下衣服爬上他的床铺，

　　and lay there with his eyes closed, wondering why a fox barks.

　　闭着眼睛躺在那里，想着狐狸为什么要叫这个问题。

　　In a few minutes he was asleep.

　　几分钟内，他就睡着了。

1 porch   

n.门廊，入口处，走廊，游廊

参考例句：

• There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
• The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。

2 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

3 indoors   

adv.(在)室内，(在)户内

参考例句：

• Because of the coldness of the weather we stayed indoors.我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。
• It is very cold outside,you'd better come indoors across the board.外面很冷，你们所有人最好都进屋。

4 swan   

n.天鹅；vi.闲荡，游荡

参考例句：

• A swan has white feathers and a long thin neck.天鹅长着白色的羽毛和长而细的脖子。
• Swan Lake is the name of a famous ballet.天鹅湖是一出著名的芭蕾舞剧。

5 hatch   

n.孵化，舱口；vt.孵，孵出，策划；vi. 孵化

参考例句：

• No one knows how the new plan will hatch out.谁也不知道这新方案将怎样制订出来。
• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。

6 swans   

n.天鹅( swan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of swans floated by. 一群天鹅缓缓游过。
• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。

7 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

8 crawled   

v.爬( crawl的过去式和过去分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• She crawled onto the river bank and lay there gulping in air. 她爬上河岸，躺在那里喘着粗气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。