吹小号的天鹅 第15期:小天鹅(4)

 　　An hour went by.

　　一小时过去了。

　　One of the cygnets, more daring than the others, left the nest and teetered around on the shore of the little island.

　　一只比其他的更胆大的小天鹅离开了窝，颤颤巍巍地在小岛的岸边一圈圈溜达起来。这时，

　　When this happened, the mother swan stood up. She decided¹ the time had come to lead her children into the water.

　　天鹅妈妈站了起来。她觉得现在该领孩子们下水了。

　　"Come on!" she said. "And stay together!

　　“过来！”她说，“呆在一起！

　　Note carefully what I do. Then you do the same. Swimming is easy."

　　注意看我怎么做。然后你们也照着去做。游泳很容易学的。”

　　"One, two, three, four, five," Sam counted.

　　“一、二、三、四、五，”萨姆数着，

　　"One, two, three, four, five. Five cygnets, just as sure as I'm alive!"

　　“一、二、三、四、五。五只小天鹅，这就像我还活着一样可以肯定！”

　　吹小号的天鹅

　　The cob, as he saw his children approach the water, felt that he should act like a father. He began by making a speech.

　　当雄天鹅看到他的孩子们靠近水边的时候，感到自己必须做得像个父亲一样才行。他开始演说了。

　　"Welcome to the pond and the swamp adjacent!" he said.

　　“欢迎到池塘和与之比邻的沼泽来！”他说，

　　"Welcome to the world that contains this lonely pond, this splendid marsh², unspoiled and wild!

　　“欢迎到这个包括了静寂的池塘，壮美的沼泽，还有未被破坏过的野生世界里来！

　　Welcome to sunlight and shadow, wind and weather; welcome to water!

　　欢迎到阳光和阴影里来，到风和雨里来；欢迎到水中来！

　　The water is a swan's particular element, as you will soon discover.

　　水对天鹅来说是种很特别的环境，就象你们不久将发现的那样。

　　Swimming is no problem for a swan.

　　对一只天鹅来说，游泳也根本不是问题。

　　Welcome to danger, which you must guard against

　　欢迎到危险中来，你们必须时刻警惕

　　the vile³ fox with his stealthy tread and sharp teeth, the offensive otter⁴ who swims up under you and tries to grab you by the leg,

　　要提防那长着尖牙走路鬼鬼祟祟的坏透了的狐狸，还有从水下游向你并试图抓住你的腿的水獭，

　　the stinking⁵ skunk⁶ who hunts by night and blends with the shadows, the coyote who hunts and howls and is bigger than a fox.

　　想趁着黑夜和阴影的掩护伤害你的臭鼬，嚎叫着想伤害你的比狐狸大得多的郊狼。

　　Beware of lead pellets that lie on the bottom of all ponds, left there by the guns of hunters.

　　小心躺在池塘底部的小铅弹，那是从猎人的枪里射出来的。

　　Don't eat them--they'll poison you!

　　别吃它们——它们能毒死你！

　　Be vigilant⁷, be strong, be brave, be graceful⁸, and always follow me!

　　要警觉，强壮，勇敢，优雅，永远跟随着我！

　　I will go first, then you will come along in single file, and your devoted⁹ mother will bring up the rear.

　　我先走，你们排成一行跟着，深爱着你们的妈妈就在你们的后头。

　　Enter the water quietly and confidently!"

　　下水时要安静，充满信心！”

　　The mother swan, glad the speech was over, stepped into the water and called her little ones.

　　演说终于结束了，天鹅妈妈很高兴。她跨进水里，招呼她的孩子们过来。

　　The cygnets gazed for a second at the water, then tottered¹⁰ forward, gave a jump, and were afloat.

　　小天鹅们对水看了一眼，然后摇晃着走上前去，跳进水里浮了起来。

　　The water felt good. Swimming was simple-- nothing to it.

　　在水里的感觉很好。游泳很简单——没什么难的。

　　The water was good to drink. Each baby dipped up a mouthful.

　　水很好喝。每个孩子都喝了一大口。

　　Their happy father arched his long graceful neck over and around them, protectively.

　　他们快乐的父亲在他们的头顶弯着他那优美的长脖子保护着他们。

　　Then he set off very slowly, with the cygnets following along in single file. Their mother brought up the rear.

　　然后他慢慢地出发了，身后跟着排成一行的小天鹅。他们的妈妈跟在最后面。

　　"What a sight!" Sam said to himself. "What a terrific sight!

　　“多好看呀！”萨姆自语，“好看死了！

　　Seven Trumpeters all in line, five of them just out of the egg. This is my lucky day."

　　七只号手天鹅排成一行，其中的五只还是刚出蛋壳的。今天真是我的幸运日。”

　　He hardly noticed how stiff he had become from sitting so long on the log.

　　虽然在那根木头上坐了这么久，身子都坐硬了，可他却几乎没有觉察到这一点。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

3 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

4 otter   

n.水獭

参考例句：

• The economists say the competition otter to the brink of extinction.经济学家们说，竞争把海獭推到了灭绝的边缘。
• She collared my black wool coat with otter pelts.她把我的黑呢上衣镶上了水獭领。

5 stinking   

adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• I was pushed into a filthy, stinking room. 我被推进一间又脏又臭的屋子里。
• Those lousy, stinking ships. It was them that destroyed us. 是的！就是那些该死的蠢猪似的臭飞船！是它们毁了我们。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

6 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

7 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

8 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

9 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

10 tottered   

v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠

参考例句：

• The pile of books tottered then fell. 这堆书晃了几下，然后就倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wounded soldier tottered to his feet. 伤员摇摇晃晃地站了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》