美国小学英语教材5:第55课 长牙象彭博·库巴(1)

 PEMBE KUBWA, THE BIG TUSKER 长牙象彭博·库巴

Mary Hastings Bradley 作者：玛丽·黑斯廷斯·布兰得利

Mrs.Bradley, whose home is in Chicago, has made a number of trips to Africa to study the wild animals and the tribes of people who live there. 布拉德利夫人的家在芝加哥，她多次到非洲去研究那里的野生动物和人类部落。

In this story she tells of a very wise and a very wicked elephant—how he won and kept the leadership of the herd¹. 在这个故事中，她讲述了一头非常聪明而又非常邪恶的大象——如何赢得并保持了象群领导地位。

WHEN KUBWA WAS YOUNG 库巴年轻的时候

Pembe Kubwa was a very wise and wicked elephant. 彭博·库巴是一只非常聪明和邪恶的大象。

He was so big that he stood shoulders high over the rest of the herd and so old that his tusks² had grown to such a length that they were crossed in front of him. 它长得那么大，站在象群中，肩膀那么高，那么老，它的獠牙已经长得那么长，在它面前交叉在一起了。

He had no idea how old he was— 他不知道自己有多大年纪——

perhaps a hundred, perhaps two hundred years old, but he was still so strong that he was the leader of the herd, and no bull had dared turn against him now for a long, long time. 也许一百岁，也许二百岁，但他仍然很强壮，是象群领袖，很久以来，没有一头雄象敢和他作对。

As a matter of fact, his tusks were not so dangerous in a fight now as when they were shorter and he could thrust deeper with them, 事实上，他的象牙现在在搏斗中并不像以前那么危险了。

but no elephant had fought with him for so long that none of the herd had found this out. 但是没有一头大象和他搏斗太久，以致于象群中没有象发现这一点。

However, he suspected it himself. 然而，他自己也产生了怀疑。

Kubwa did not remember very much about his young days. 库巴不太记得他年轻时候的事。

He knew that he had trailed about with his mother in a big herd, and he knew that he had given his mother a good deal of trouble, because her temper was often very short with him. 他只知道和母亲在很大的象群中走着，他知道自己给母亲带来了很多麻烦，因为母亲经常发脾气。

He had a way of straying off that particularly provoked her, and he did remember very clearly one day when she finally grabbed him with her trunk and just boosted him along, bumpity bump, through the forest trail. 他有一种特别惹她生气的走神的方式，他清楚地记得有一天，她终于用她的大鼻子抓住他，推着他在森林小径上颠簸着前进。

 

1 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

2 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）