美国小学英语教材4:第22课 修补匠种树(2)

 　　After a while the tinker laid down the knife, took the stick in both hands, and gave it a little twist. 过了一会儿，修补匠放下刀，双手握住树枝轻轻拧了一下。

　　At once, grandfather heard something pop. 祖父立刻听到什么东西爆了。

　　Then he saw the bark slip from the stick above the knife-cut, all in one long, round piece. 然后，他看到刀口上的树皮滑落下来，都是长长的圆片。

　　After this the old man cut away more than half of the part of the stick from which he had slipped the bark. 在这之后，老人切掉了大半刮掉树皮的树枝。

　　Across the upper end he made a smooth, slanting¹ cut. 他在树枝顶端切了一个光滑、倾斜的切口。

　　Then he told grandfather to wet the stick again, after which he slipped the bark back to its place. 然后他又叫祖父把树枝打湿，然后把树皮塞回原处。

　　The old tinker put the end of the stick in his mouth, 老修补匠把树枝末端放进嘴里，

　　placed his fingers over the smaller notches³, and began to blow. 手指放在小凹口上，开始吹气。

　　As he lifted first one finger and then another, 当他抬起第一根手指，然后又抬起另一根时，

　　out of the deep notch² came sweet music like the voice of a bird singing a long way off. 凹口处传出美妙的音乐，就像鸟儿在远处歌唱。

　　While the old man played, he seemed to forget all about grandfather. 老人演奏完后，似乎忘了我祖父的存在。

　　By and by he laid down the whistle, smiled and said, 不久之后，他放下了哨子，笑着说：

　　"Come. Bring the whistle. Now we shall make the tree." “来吧，带上口哨，现在我们来种树。”

　　They walked down to the brook⁴ together, 他们一起走到小溪边，

　　and crossed over on some stepping-stones to a place where the ground was soft and black and wet. 跨过一些踏脚石，来到了一块湿软的黑土地上。

　　While the boy held the stick, the old man pushed it far down into the mud until it stood up straight, 男孩拿着树枝，老人把它往下深埋到泥里，直到它站直了，

　　with the whistle at the upper end. 又把口哨放在了它的顶端。

　　Then the old man bowed to the stick, and said: 然后，老人向树枝鞠了一躬，说道：

　　"Little brother, we leave you here, where you will never be hungry or thirsty. “小兄弟，我们把你留这儿了，你既不会饿，也不会渴。

　　You have made your sweet music for us today. 你今天为我们演奏了美妙的音乐。

　　But when you have grown tall and strong, 但当你长得又高又壮的时候，

　　gentle winds will make even sweeter music among your branches." 微风会在你的树枝间奏出更甜美的音乐。”

　　A little while after that the old man put on his pack and went away; 一段时间之后，老人带上他的包离开了；

　　but my grandfather could not forget him or what he had done. 但我的祖父没有忘记他或者他的所作所为。

　　Almost everyday the little boy looked at the stick by the brook. 小男孩几乎每天都会去看小溪旁的树枝。

　　The whistle at the top began to dry up, and the loose bark cracked open and fell off, 它顶端的口哨开始风干了，松松的树皮裂开掉了下来，

　　until it seemed as if the whole stick must be dead. 看起来好像整个树枝都死了。

　　But one day my grandfather saw a tiny bud⁵ below the place where the whistle had been. 但是有一天，我的祖父在口哨所在的地方看到了一个萌芽。

　　The bud became a little sprout⁶, and the sprout became a little branch. 萌芽变成了小芽，最终长成了一条树枝。

　　Then other branches followed, until the stick was indeed a little tree. 然后，其他的树枝也冒出来了，直到树枝变成了一棵小树。

　　Year after year, it grew taller and stronger, 年复一年，“修补匠柳树”变得越来越高，越来越壮，

　　until "The Tinker's Willow⁷" was known as the greatest tree in all the countryside. 最终成为全村最伟大的树。

　　The birds did, indeed, build their nests among its branches, 鸟儿确实在树枝间筑巢了，

　　the winds made sweet music among its leaves, 微风在树叶间演奏着悦耳的音乐，

　　and the cattle lay in its shade on hot summer days. 牛在夏天躺在树荫下乘凉。

1 slanting   

倾斜的，歪斜的

参考例句：

• The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
• The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。

2 notch   

n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级

参考例句：

• The peanuts they grow are top-notch.他们种的花生是拔尖的。
• He cut a notch in the stick with a sharp knife.他用利刃在棒上刻了一个凹痕。

3 notches   

n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级

参考例句：

• The Indians cut notches on a stick to keep count of numbers. 印第安人在棒上刻V形凹痕用来计数。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They cut notches in the handle of their pistol for each man they shot. 他们每杀一个人就在枪托上刻下一个V形记号。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 bud   

vi.发芽，萌芽；n.芽，花蕾

参考例句：

• Some flowers bud their leaves very early in spring.有些花在春季里很早发出叶来。
• A bad habit in a child should be nipped in the bud.应该尽早把孩子的坏习惯改过来。

6 sprout   

n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条

参考例句：

• When do deer first sprout horns?鹿在多大的时候开始长出角？
• It takes about a week for the seeds to sprout.这些种子大约要一周后才会发芽。

7 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。