英语听书《海底两万里》第273期 第21章 在陆地上的两天(5)

 　　We were overloaded¹ when we arrived at the skiff.  当我们到了小艇，我们带回的东西实在太多了。

　　However, Ned Land still found these provisions inadequate².  可是尼德，兰觉得他的食物还不够。

　　But fortune smiled on him. Just as we were boarding, he spotted³ several trees twenty-five to thirty feet high, belonging to the palm species.  算他走运，他又得了些东西。在我们上小艇的时候，他看见好几棵树，高二十五英尺至三十英尺，属于棕搁一类。

　　As valuable as the artocarpus, these trees are justly ranked among the most useful produce in Malaysia. 这些树跟面包树一样有用，一样宝贵，正是马来亚地方最有用的产物之一。

　　They were sago palms, vegetation that grows without being cultivated; like mulberry trees, they reproduce by means of shoots and seeds. 这是西米树，是不用种植就生长起来的植物，像桑树那样，由于自己的嫩枝和种子，不需人工，自然繁殖滋长。

　　Ned Land knew how to handle these trees.  尼德·兰知道对付这些树的方法。

　　Taking his ax and wielding⁴ it with great vigor⁵, he soon stretched out on the ground two or three sago palms,  他拿出斧子，挥动起来，不久就把两三棵西米树砍倒在地下，

　　whose maturity⁶ was revealed by the white dust sprinkled over their palm fronds⁷. 从洒在叶上的白粉屑来看，这几棵树是很成熟了。

　　I watched him more as a naturalist⁸ than as a man in hunger.  我看着他砍树，与其说是拿饿肚人的眼光看，

　　He began by removing from each trunk an inch-thick strip of bark that covered a network of long, hopelessly tangled⁹ fibers¹⁰ that were puttied with a sort of gummy flour.  不如说是拿生物学家的眼光看。他把每一根树干剥去一层厚一英寸的表皮，表皮下面是缠绕作一团的结子所组成的长长纤维网，上面就粘着胶质护膜般的细粉。

　　This flour was the starch-like sago, an edible¹¹ substance chiefly consumed by the Melanesian peoples. 这粉就是西米，就是作为美拉尼西亚居民粮食的主要食物。

　　For the time being, Ned Land was content to chop these trunks into pieces, as if he were making firewood;  尼德·兰此刻只是把树干砍成片，像他砍那要烧的劈柴一般，准备将来提取树干上的粉，

　　later he would extract the flour by sifting¹² it through cloth to separate it from its fibrous ligaments, let it dry out in the sun, and leave it to harden inside molds. 让粉通过一块薄布，使它跟纤维丝分开，把它晾在太阳下，让水汽干了，然后把它放在模中，让它凝固起来。

1 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

2 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

3 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

5 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

6 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

7 fronds   

n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You can pleat palm fronds to make huts, umbrellas and baskets. 人们可以把棕榈叶折叠起来盖棚屋，制伞，编篮子。 来自百科语句
• When these breezes reached the platform the palm-fronds would whisper. 微风吹到平台时，棕榈叶片发出簌簌的低吟。 来自辞典例句

8 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

9 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

10 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

11 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

12 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句