吹小号的天鹅 第110期:绿色的春天(4)

 　　One summer, when Sam Beaver¹ was about twenty, he and his father were sitting in their camp in Canada.

　　一个夏天的某日，快长到二十岁的萨姆正和它的父亲坐在他们在加拿大的营帐里。

　　It was after supper. Mr. Beaver was rocking in a chair, resting after a day of fishing.

　　晚饭已经吃完了。比弗先生在钓了一天鱼后，已经感到很累了，此时正在摇椅上摇来晃去地歇着呢。

　　Sam was reading a book.

　　萨姆在读一本书。

　　"Pop," said Sam, "what does "crepuscular²" mean?"“爸，”萨姆说，“‘Crepuscular ’是什么意思？”

　　"How should I know?" replied Mr. Beaver. "I never heard the word before."“我怎么知道？”比弗先生回答，“我以前从没听过这个词儿。”

　　"It has something to do with rabbits," said Sam. "It says here that a rabbit is a crepuscular animal."“这个词是和兔子有关的，”萨姆说，“这上面说兔子是一种‘Crepuscular’的动物。”

　　"Probably means timid," said Mr. Beaver.

　　“可能这是胆小的意思吧，”比弗先生说，

　　"Or maybe it means that it can run like the dickens. Or maybe it means stupid.

　　“也可能是跑得像魔鬼一样快的意思。要不就是说它很愚蠢。

　　A rabbit will sit right in the middle of the road at night and stare into your headlights and never get out of the way,兔子在晚上会坐到路中间，就那么一动不动地盯着你的车头灯，从来都不知道让路，and that's how a lot of rabbits get run over. They're stupid."而这就是许多兔子的死亡原因。他们太蠢了。”

　　"Well," said Sam, "I guess the only way to find out what "crepuscular" means is to look it up in the dictionary."“好了，”萨姆说，“我猜唯一能查明Crepuscular 这个词的方法就是去翻字典了。”

　　"We haven't got a dictionary here," said Mr. Beaver. "You'll have to wait till we get back to the ranch³."“我们这儿没字典，”比弗先生说。“你只好等我们回到农场后再说了。”

　　Just then, over at the pond where the swans were,这时候，在天鹅们所在的池塘那边，

　　Louis raised his horn and played taps, to let his children know that the day had come to an end.

　　路易斯举起他的小号吹起了熄灯号，让他的孩子们知道这一天就要结束了。

　　The wind was right, and the sound carried across the swamp.

　　当时正好是顺风，所以这声音一直传出了沼泽地。

　　Mr. Beaver stopped rocking. "That's funny!" he said. "I thought I heard the sound of a trumpet⁴ just then."比弗先生停止了摇晃。“真有意思！”他说，“我觉得我刚才听到了小号声。”

　　"I don't see how you could," replied Sam. "We're alone in these woods."“我不明白你怎么听到的，”萨姆回答，“这森林里只有我们两个呀。”

　　"I know we are," said Mr. Beaver. "Just the same, I thought I heard a trumpet. Or a bugle⁵."“我知道只有我们俩，”比弗先生说，“尽管如此，我还是觉得刚才听到小号声了。也许是号角声吧。”

　　Sam chuckled⁶. He had never told his father about the swans in the pond nearby.

　　萨姆心里暗笑起来。他从来没有对他父亲说起过住在这个池塘附近的天鹅们。

　　He kept their secret to himself. When he went to the pond, he always went alone.

　　他仍然只把他们的秘密藏在心底。当他去池塘时，总是单独行动的。

　　That's the way he liked it. And that's the way the swans liked it.

　　他喜欢这样。天鹅们也喜欢这样。

 

1 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。

2 crepuscular   

adj.晨曦的；黄昏的；昏暗的

参考例句：

• Bats are crepuscular creatures.蝙蝠是在黎明或黄昏时分活动的动物。
• It has nothing to do with walk,this is called a crepuscular walk.这和散步没有任何关系，这叫黄昏漫步。

3 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

4 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

5 bugle   

n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集

参考例句：

• When he heard the bugle call, he caught up his gun and dashed out.他一听到军号声就抓起枪冲了出去。
• As the bugle sounded we ran to the sports ground and fell in.军号一响，我们就跑到运动场集合站队。

6 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。