美国小学英语教材4:第5课 小兔哥的一课(3)

 　　At the very first sniff¹ he leaped into the air. 小兔哥刚刚跳起来闻了一下，

　　For the ball was a hornets' nest, and hornets do not like to have rabbits hopping² about their nest. 结果那个球是个黄蜂窝，大黄蜂不喜欢兔子在他们窝边跳来跳去。

　　At once they flew out to punish him. They stung him on the nose and about the eyes. 黄蜂们立刻飞出来惩罚小兔子。他们在他的鼻子上和眼睛周围蜇他。

　　They stung his ears and shoulders and back. 他们蜇他的耳朵、肩膀和背部。

　　Bunnyboy ran wildly this way and that, with the hornets sticking to him. 小兔哥带着这些蜇他的黄蜂疯狂地到处乱跑。

　　He jumped into the thickest ferns, rolling and tumbling,  他跳进茂密的蕨类植物里，不停地打滚、翻跟头，

　　until at last he had rubbed them all off. 直到把他们都蹭掉。

　　His nose, eyes, and ears burned as though they were on fire. 小兔子的鼻子、眼s睛和耳朵火烧火燎的，就像着了火一样。

　　Poor Bunnyboy rubbed them with his paw, but the more he rubbed, the more they burned. 可怜的小兔哥用他的爪子揉擦着，可是他越揉越觉得烧得厉害。

　　At last his eyelids³ began to swell⁴ and to close around his eyes. 最后他的眼皮开始肿胀，都快把眼睛封住了。

　　This frightened Bunnyboy terribly, and he started running again. 这让小兔哥非常的害怕，他又开始跑起来。

　　If he could only find his mother before his eyes closed! 如果他能在眼睛被封住之前找到妈妈就好了！

　　But he could not find her, though he ran and ran. 尽管他不停地跑啊跑啊，但是他没能找到她。

　　Soon his eyelids were closed tightly, and he could not see to run. 很快，小兔子的眼皮紧紧地合在了一起。他看不见路，不能跑了。

　　Then the poor little rabbit sat down in the woods, far, far from home. 可怜的小兔子在离家很远、很远的树林里坐了下来。

　　Suddenly an awful thought came to him. 突然小兔子产生了一个可怕的念头。

　　Now that he could not see, any of his enemies could get him. 既然他看不见了，他的任何一个敌人都能抓住他。

　　The fox could creep up on him. The owl⁵ could swoop⁶ down upon him. 狐狸会慢慢地爬向他。猫头鹰会突然向他扑下来。

　　Every sound he heard frightened him. 他所听到的每一个声响都使他感到害怕。

　　At last he crawled into some bushes and lay there quietly, 最后，他爬进一片灌木里，静静地躺在那里，

　　the most unhappy little bunny in the whole world. 他成了世界上最不幸的小兔子。

　　HOW BUNNYBOY GOT HOME 小兔哥如何回家

　　Bunnyboy lay there a long time. 小兔哥在那里躺了很长时间。

　　At last he heard a noise; the sound was coming toward him. 最后他听到一个声音，那个声音正向他这边移动过来。

　　Was it an enemy or a friend? It sounded like a rabbit hopping along the path. 是敌人还是朋友？听起来像一只兔子在小路上跳跃，

　　But it might be a fox! Bunnyboy listened hard. 但也可能是一只狐狸！小兔哥努力地听着。

　　The sound came very close to him. 声音离他越来越近，

　　He was almost sure that it was a rabbit hopping slowly along the path. 他几乎可以确定那就是一只兔子在小路上慢慢地跳跃。

　　So he made a strange little cry. 所以他低声发出一声奇怪的叫喊。

　　Then Bunnyboy's mother came hopping quickly along the path toward him. 这时，小兔哥的妈妈沿路迅速地向他跳去。

　　When she saw how terribly he had been punished for not obeying her, she did not scold him. 当她看见小兔哥因为没有听她的话而受到严重惩罚时的样子，她没有责怪他。

　　He had learned his lesson. Very gently she led him down to the brook⁷. 他已经得到了教训。妈妈温和地带着他来到小溪边。

　　Then she made him rub his face in the cool mud until it was covered. 然后，兔子妈妈让他在凉凉的泥巴里搓脸，直到脸上都涂满了泥巴。

　　"Keep your eyes shut," she said. "Tomorrow we will come back to the brook and wash the mud off." “闭着眼。”她说，“明天我们再回到河边把泥巴洗去。”

　　When Bunnyboy reached the burrow⁸, he was so muddy that his brothers and sisters did not know him. 当小兔哥回到地洞的时候，满脸是泥，他的兄弟姐妹们都没有认出他。

　　But they made a soft place for him in the burrow and were very quiet all the rest of the day. 他们在地洞里为他腾出了一个柔软的地方，而且在这一天接下来的时间里，他们都很安静。

1 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

2 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

3 eyelids   

n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色

参考例句：

• She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

5 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

6 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

7 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

8 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。