英语听书《海底两万里》第276期 第21章 在陆地上的两天(8)

 　　Birds of paradise! I exclaimed. 无双鸟，无双鸟！我喊。

　　Order Passeriforma, division Clystomora, Conseil replied. 燕雀目，直肠亚目。康塞尔回答。

　　Partridge family? Ned Land asked. 鹤鹄科吗?尼德·兰问。

　　I doubt it, Mr. Land. Nevertheless, I'm counting on your dexterity¹ to catch me one of these delightful² representatives of tropical nature! 我想不是，尼德·兰师傅。不过我要靠您的好手段，把这种热带出产的最美丽可爱的东西打下一只来！

　　I'll give it a try, professor, though I'm handier with a harpoon³ than a rifle. 我试试，教授，虽然我用惯了鱼叉，使枪要差一些。

　　Malaysians, who do a booming business in these birds with the Chinese, have various methods for catching⁴ them that we couldn't use.  这种乌是马来亚人对中国人的一宗重要贸易；马来亚人用种种不同的方法来捕捉这种鸟，但我们都不能使用。

　　Sometimes they set snares⁵ on the tops of the tall trees that the bird of paradise prefers to inhabit.  他们或者把罗网安放在无双鸟喜欢居住的高树顶上，

　　At other times they capture it with a tenacious⁶ glue that paralyzes its movements.  或者使用强力的雀胶，使它们粘上不能动。

　　They will even go so far as to poison the springs where these fowl⁷ habitually⁸ drink.  他们甚至于把毒药投到这些鸟经常去喝的泉水中。

　　But in our case, all we could do was fire at them on the wing, which left us little chance of getting one.  至于我们现在，只有在它们飞翔时进行射击这一种办法。

　　And in truth, we used up a good part of our ammunition⁹ in vain. 我们很少有机会可以击中它们。果然我们确实白费了一些弹药。

　　Near eleven o'clock in the morning, we cleared the lower slopes of the mountains that form the island's center, and we still hadn't bagged a thing.  到十一点左右，我们已经走过了构成这岛中心的第：层山脉，可是仍然毫无所得。

　　Hunger spurred us on. The hunters had counted on consuming the proceeds of their hunting, and they had miscalculated. Luckily, and much to his surprise,  腹中作响，饥饿煎熬着我们。打猎人相信自己打猎一定有成果，可是错了，一点猎物也得不到。很幸运，

　　Conseil pulled off a right-and-left shot and insured our breakfast.  康塞尔开了两枪，完全出于意外地获得了午餐的猎物。

　　He brought down a white pigeon and a ringdove, which were briskly plucked, hung from a spit, and roasted over a blazing fire of deadwood.  他打下一只白鸽和一只山鸠。急忙把它们拔掉羽毛，挂在叉子上，放在燃点起来的干木头的旺火上烤着。

　　While these fascinating animals were cooking, Ned prepared some bread from the artocarpus.  当烤炙这些很有意味的动物的时候，尼德·兰就调理着面包果。

　　Then the pigeon and ringdove were devoured¹⁰ to the bones and declared excellent.  一会儿，白鸽和山鸠连骨头都被吃得精光，大家都说很好吃。

　　Nutmeg, on which these birds habitually gorge¹¹ themselves, sweetens their flesh and makes it delicious eating. 这些鸟惯常吃很多的肉豆寇，因此它们的肉像加了香料一般，成为一盘又青又好吃的莱。

1 dexterity   

n.(手的)灵巧，灵活

参考例句：

• You need manual dexterity to be good at video games.玩好电子游戏手要灵巧。
• I'm your inferior in manual dexterity.论手巧，我不如你。

2 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

3 harpoon   

n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获

参考例句：

• The harpoon drove deep into the body of the whale.渔叉深深地扎进鲸鱼体内。
• The fisherman transfixed the shark with a harpoon.渔夫用鱼叉刺住鲨鱼。

4 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

5 snares   

n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He shoots rabbits and he sets snares for them. 他射杀兔子，也安放陷阱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am myself fallen unawares into the snares of death. 我自己不知不觉跌进了死神的陷阱。 来自辞典例句

6 tenacious   

adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的

参考例句：

• We must learn from the tenacious fighting spirit of Lu Xun.我们要学习鲁迅先生韧性的战斗精神。
• We should be tenacious of our rights.我们应坚决维护我们的权利。

7 fowl   

n.家禽，鸡，禽肉

参考例句：

• Fowl is not part of a traditional brunch.禽肉不是传统的早午餐的一部分。
• Since my heart attack,I've eaten more fish and fowl and less red meat.自从我患了心脏病后，我就多吃鱼肉和禽肉，少吃红色肉类。

8 habitually   

ad.习惯地，通常地

参考例句：

• The pain of the disease caused him habitually to furrow his brow. 病痛使他习惯性地紧皱眉头。
• Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair. 我已经习惯于服从约翰，我来到他的椅子跟前。

9 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

10 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

11 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。