吹小号的天鹅 第103期:比林斯(6)

 "Well," said the little boy, "I was very thirsty,

“好的，”这个小男孩说，“我当时很渴，

and so I wanted to go to a candy store and get something to drink."

所以想去一家糖果店买点饮料喝。”

"Just tell what you saw, please, Alfred," said the judge.

“请只说你刚才看到的，艾尔弗雷德，”法官说，

"Never mind how thirsty you were."

“不必提你刚才有多渴。”

"I was coming along the street," continued Alfred, "because I was very thirsty.

“我正在沿街走着，”艾尔弗雷德继续说，“因为我实在太渴了。

So I was coming along the street on my way to the candy store to get something to drink, and there,

于是我顺着到糖果店买点饮料喝的那条路一直走，突然间，就在那儿，

up in the sky, all of a sudden there was a big white bird right over me in the sky and he was sliding down out of the sky like this."

在天空上，一只白色大鸟从空中飞过我的头顶，从天上滑翔下来，就像这样。”

Alfred held out his arms and imitated a bird.

艾尔弗雷德伸出他的两只胳膊模仿着一只鸟的飞翔动作。

吹小号的天鹅

"And so when I saw the big bird I stopped thinking about how thirsty I was and pretty soon this enormous bird,

“因此，当我一看到这只白色大鸟时就不再去想我有多渴了。很快地，这只巨大的鸟儿，

he was enormous, was on the sidewalk and he was dead and there was blood all over everything and that's what I saw."

他可真巨大呀，就落到了人行道上，他死了，血流得到处都是，那就是我刚才看到的。”

"Did you notice anything special about the bird?" asked Judge Ricketts.

“你注意到这只鸟有什么特别之处吗？”里基特法官问。

"Blood," said Alfred.

“血，” 艾尔弗雷德说。

"Anything else?"

“别的呢？”

"No, just blood."

“没了，只有血。”

"Did you hear a gun?"

“你听到枪响了吗？”

"No, just blood," said Alfred.

“没，只看到血了。” 艾尔弗雷德说。

"Thank you!" said the judge. "That will be all."

“谢谢你！”这个法官说，“就说到这里吧。”

Just then a siren¹ started wailing--woooaw, woooaw, woooaw.

这时候传来了一阵凄厉的警笛声——呜哇呜，呜哇呜，呜哇呜。

An ambulance came screaming down the street.

一辆救护车尖叫着沿街开了过来。

It stopped in front of the crowd. Two men jumped out.

车停在人群面前。两个男人从里面跑了出来。

They carried a stretcher and set it down next to where the swan lay.

他们抬着一个担架，把它放在天鹅躺倒的地方。

The old cob lifted his head and looked around.

老雄天鹅抬起他的头四处打量着。

"I have been at death's door," he thought, "and now I think I am returning to life.

“我本已到了死亡的门口了，”他想，“现在我觉得我又回到生活里来了。

I am reviving². I shall live! I shall return on strong wings to the great sky.

我正在复活。我会活下去了！我会展开强健的翅膀回到广袤的天空中去了。

I shall glide³ gracefully⁴ again on the ponds of the worl

我可以再次优雅地滑翔在池塘世界里，

and hear the frogs and take pleasure in the sounds of night and the coming of day."

听青蛙鸣唱，欣赏黑夜之声，迎接白天的到来了。”

As he was thinking these pleasant thoughts, he felt himself being lifted.

他正在想着这些快乐的事情，忽然感到自己被什么带了起来。

The ambulance attendants⁵ put his slate⁶ around his neck,

救护车上下来的护理员把他的石板挂到他的脖子上，

picked him up, laid him gently on the stretcher, and carried him into the ambulance,

抬起他，将他轻轻地放到担架上，

which had a red light whirling⁷ round and around on top of it.

抬到车顶有盏红灯在转来转去的救护车里。

One of the men placed an oxygen mask over the old cob's head and gave him some oxygen.

一个男人把氧气罩放到老雄天鹅的头上，给他吸氧。

And away they drove, making a great deal of noise, to the hospital.

最后他们一路呼啸着朝医院驶去。

There, he was put to bed and given a shot of penicillin⁸.

在那里，他被放到一张病床上，打了一针盘尼西林。

A young doctor came in and examined the wound where the shotgun pellet had hit him.

一个年轻的医生给他检查了鸟枪弹丸打到他身上的伤口。

The doctor said the wound was superficial⁹.

这个医生说这只是表面上的伤。

The old cob didn't know what "superficial" meant, but it sounded serious.

老雄天鹅不知道“表面上的”一词是什么意思，可他听罢却感到很严重。

Nurses gathered around.

护士们围过来了。

One of them took the swan's blood pressure and wrote something on a chart.

其中的一个给这只天鹅量了血压并在一张表上写了些什么。

The old cob was beginning to feel very well again.

老雄天鹅又开始感觉不错了。

It felt good to be in bed, being cared for by nurses--one of whom was quite pretty.

他觉得躺在病床上让护士们照顾的感觉很舒服--其中的一个还相当漂亮呢。

The doctor washed the wound and put a Band-Aid on it.

医生洗净了他的伤口，又在上面贴了一条“邦迪”。

1 siren   

n.汽笛，警报器，迷人的女人，妖妇

参考例句：

• The cars had stopped at the sound of the approaching siren.这些汽车听到愈来愈近的警笛声便停了下来。
• That woman is a real siren.那女人真是条美女蛇.。

2 reviving   

v.恢复( revive的现在分词 )；苏醒；使再生效；回忆起

参考例句：

• There was a reviving pleasure in this intercourse. 交谈中，有一种令人振奋的乐趣。 来自辞典例句
• He had accused them of deliberately reviving militarism. 他曾指控他们蓄意复活军国主义。 来自辞典例句

3 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

4 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

5 attendants   

n.服务人员( attendant的名词复数 )；侍者；随从；伴随物

参考例句：

• Other flight attendants and passengers are believed to have fought. 我们相信其他服务人员及乘客也都进行了斗争。 来自时文部分
• Psyche gave ear to the admonitions of her vocal attendants. 普绪喀听从这些有声无形的外人的意见。 来自辞典例句

6 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

7 whirling   

v.（使）飞快移动，使旋转( whirl的现在分词 )；扑朔迷离；涡流；婆娑

参考例句：

• He threw himself around the stage like a whirling dervish. 他在台上转圈，如同跳旋转舞蹈的托钵僧一样。
• They were caught up in a whirling vortex of emotion. 他们陷入了感情旋涡。

8 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

9 superficial   

adj.肤浅的，浅薄的，表面的

参考例句：

• He has a superficial knowledge of this subject.他对这门学科略知皮毛。
• A superficial injury is not serious.表面的伤不太严重。