精美英文欣赏:猫儿看世界

A feline¹ perspective

猫儿看世界

There once was a kitty named Bear.

从前有只叫贝尔的小猫，

He loved to play, run outside and chase spiders.

他很爱玩，喜欢在外面跑来跑去，还喜欢逮蜘蛛。

He was a happy cat without a care in the world.

他是只快乐的猫，远离着身边嘈杂世界的烦扰。

He would often sit on top of the fence next to his owner's condo and listen to all the human noises.

他常常坐在主人公寓旁的篱笆上，听人们弄出的各种各样的声响。

His eyes would shut halfway² as he would wonder what all the noise was about

贝尔半眯着眼睛，纳闷地想:这些声音都是怎么来的呢，

and why they felt it important to create it day after day, night after night.

人们为什么日日夜夜地制造这些声响呢。

Shouts, laughter, tears, whirring and buzzing of objects, incessant³ voices of the big brown box,

贝尔娇弱的耳朵里总是塞满了哭声笑声，喊声叫声，各种物体发出的嗡嗡声，一个棕色大盒子源源不断地发出的嘈杂声，

clomping of feet, chitchat and snoring would fill his delicate feline ears.

重重的脚步声，还有人们的闲谈，甚至打鼾声。

Humans are odd, indeed. Why can't they see the beauty that is all around them?

人类真是很怪异，他们怎么能看不到周围美丽的景色呢?

Locked up in their giant boxes, they very rarely played.

他们把自己锁在了大盒子里，很少玩耍。

Only the little humans played, but if they played too long

只有那种很小的人才会玩耍，但如何他们玩的太久了，

or with too much delight then the big humans would make them stop.

或者是太起劲儿了，大点儿的人就会让他们停下来。

Bear was both amused and saddened by these unnatural⁴ creatures.

这些奇怪的生物既让贝尔觉得有意思，又让他觉得悲伤。

He tried to console them and make them play from time to time, but this was always short-lived, if that.

他曾试着让人们高兴点，让他们也常常玩耍，但是即便人们玩了，高兴了，也总是就那么一会儿。

Eventually Bear gave up his attempts and abandoned the fence outside.

终于，贝尔放弃了，离开了那个篱笆。他跑到了野外，

Running away into the fields, he declared to never become human, if he had any say in the matter.

心想如果自己说了算的话，他打算永远也不变成人。

No, sir, no one was going to turn this kitty into a cooped up noise box.

是的，先生，没人会把那只猫送到那乱哄哄的紧闭的盒子里。

1 feline   

adj.猫科的

参考例句：

• As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.结果是人们已经学会尊重猫的独立性。
• The awakening was almost feline in its stealthiness.这种醒觉，简直和猫的脚步一样地轻悄。

2 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

3 incessant   

adj.不停的，连续的

参考例句：

• We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
• She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。

4 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。