美国小学英语教材5:第51课 午夜猎狮(7)

 After a while the toto crawled up beside one of the big fellows. 过了一会儿，托托爬到一个大家伙旁边。

As long as he kept to his place, he was allowed to eat. 只要他呆在自己的地方，就允许他继续进食。

But once when he got up too close and started for the same bit of meat as one of the others, the big lion rose up and gave him a slap. 但是有一次，他站得太近了，想要和其他狮子进食同样的肉时，大狮子站了起来，打了他一巴掌。

It seemed a light blow, but it sent the youngster¹ sprawling² into the grass. 这似乎是一个轻微的打击，但却把小狮子打翻在草地上。

He jumped up and ran over to the other side of the zebra, where he lay down beside a lioness, probably his mother. 小狮子跳起来，跑到斑马的另一边，躺在一只母狮子旁边，这也许是它的妈妈。

After we had watched them for some time by the light of our flashlights, we noticed that one of the cameras had been knocked down. 我们借着手电筒看了一会儿之后，注意到有一台照相机被撞坏了。

We were just discussing this in whispers when one of the big lions left the zebra, walked over to the fallen camera, and began chewing on it. 就在我们窃窃私语的时候，一只大狮子离开了斑马，走到倒下的摄像机前，开始咀嚼斑马。

Then he grabbed³ it in his mouth and started dragging it away. 然后叼在嘴里，开始拖走。

Suddenly in some way one of the legs of the tripod flew up and hit him. 突然，不知怎的，三脚架的一条腿飞了起来，打在他身上。

He jumped almost twenty feet. 他几乎跳了二十英尺。

In a few minutes he came back to it; 几分钟后，他又回过头来；

slowly at first, but when he saw it did not move, he pounced⁴ on it. 起初，他慢慢地，但当他看到三脚架没有动，随即扑过去。

 

1 youngster   

n.儿童，少年，年轻人

参考例句：

• I rode the youngster on my back.我让小孩骑在背上。
• That youngster works with a will.这小伙子干活有股傻劲儿。

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

4 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》