美国小学英语教材5:第61课 长牙象彭博·库巴(7)

 OLD KUBWA's wicked TRICKS 老库巴的坏把戏

The first real fear he had ever known was this terrible fear that some elephant would be able to defeat him. 他所意识到的第一个真正的恐惧是害怕大象会打败他。

He made up his mind that he would never be driven away. 他下定决心决不让人把他赶走。

He told himself that he would die first. 他对自己说他会先死。

He began to watch out for rivals. 他开始提防竞争对手。

Whenever he met any elephant that he thought might prove of danger to him, he began to plot against that elephant. 每当他遇到任何他认为可能对他有危险的大象时，他就开始策划对付那头大象。

And always the elephant came to an unlucky end. 被盯上的大象总是走到倒霉的尽头。

There was a big, broad-backed fellow who had talked back to him and showed in several ways that he felt himself to be a coming champion. 有一个身材高大、腰板宽阔的家伙跟他顶嘴，从几个方面显示出他觉得自己是一个即将到来的冠军。

Kubwa let the big fellow walk ahead one day, and he fell into an elephant pit. 一天，库巴让大个子走在前面，结果他掉进了一个象坑里。

Kubwa led the others carefully around the pit, chuckling¹ quietly to himself. 库巴带着其他人小心翼翼地绕着坑边走，自己静静地咯咯笑着。

He was a wicked old fellow, as I said, for he did not stop to put down his trunk and try to give the other a lift out. 正如我说的，他是邪恶的老象，因为他没有停下来放下箱子，试图把另一个抬出去。

He had known all about that pit for years. 他对那个坑已经知道多年了。

Every year the natives covered it with fresh branches, hoping he would forget and fall into it, but he never forgot. 每年，当地人都用新鲜的树枝把它覆盖起来，希望他能忘记，然后掉进去，但他从来没有忘记。

There was another elephant who began to think himself more than a match for Kubwa. 另一头大象开始认为自己是库巴的对手。

He had sharp. wide-apart tusks², and a very hasty, irritable³ temper. 他有锋利的、分得很开的象牙，脾气急躁易怒。

Kubwa told him about a fruit tree one day in the forest, and the elephant hurried over to it and walked between two little trees in front of it. 一天，库巴告诉他森林里有一棵果树，大象急忙走过去，走在两棵小树之间。

Between the trees a poisoned spear fastened to the end of a log arm fell down and put an end to him. 在树林之间，一根绑在一根大木头上的毒矛掉了下来，把他打死了。

Kubwa had known all about that trap. 库巴对那个陷阱了如指掌。

 

1 chuckling   

轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him chuckling to himself as he read his book. 他看书时，我能听见他的轻声发笑。
• He couldn't help chuckling aloud. 他忍不住的笑了出来。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

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）

3 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。