美国小学英语教材6:第14课 森林恐怖之王(3)

 　　The sun seemed to shoot up in the sky, and its heat poured out on us as if a door had been opened from a furnace. 太阳似乎发出耀眼的光芒，热量洒向我们，似乎一个大熔炉突然开了门。

　　We stood still there, motionless, staring out intently. 我们站在那里一动不动，目不转睛地盯着。

　　There was nothing to do but stand and wait and watch. 我们只有在这里等待，在这里观察。

　　I kept telling myself that somewhere out in that green into 我一直告诉自己在那片绿色里，

　　which I was straining my eyes was the great striped beast we had hunted so long, 就是我一直紧盯着的位置，有我们一直希望捕猎到的条纹猎物，

　　sleeping, or perhaps padding about on stealthy feet, staring through the jungle at us. 它或许在睡觉，或许轻声慢步地在某个地方盯着我们。

　　Six o'clock. Seven o'clock. Eight o'clock. Nine o'clock... 六点钟，七点钟，八点钟，九点钟。

　　Our friends, the Kings, had got their tiger at a quarter to nine; 金一家是我们的朋友，他们在8点45分时已逮到了老虎；

　　so I had decided¹ that nine would be our lucky hour, but nine o'clock passed with nothing happening. 所以我认为我们的幸运时间应该是九点，但九点过后什么都没发生。

　　Then I remembered a story I had heard about a tiger that had been seen at eleven o'clock, 我突然记起了一个关于老虎的故事，说这只老虎是在11点钟时被发现的，

　　and I set eleven as the time at which things would happen. 我将时间设定为11点，那时一定有事情要发生。

　　The minutes passed with unbelievable slowness. 时间过得很慢。

　　The sun burned hotter and hotter. We would not stir. 太阳光愈加强烈了，我们没有什么影响。

　　One of us could have rested while the other watched, 我们本可以让其他人继续盯着，一人休息，

　　but we were too excited for that. Our nerves were tense. 但我们太兴奋了，我们的神经紧张了。

　　Eleven o'clock. Nothing happened. Then twelve. The sun was high overhead. 11点钟，什么都没发生，到了12点，阳光升到头顶。

　　I felt burning up; the blood throbbed² in my temples. 我感觉被灼烧了，血液直冲太阳穴。

　　I thought of the nights on an African mountain when we had stood on guard against plundering³ elephants, 我想起了在非洲山峰上的一个晚上，我们警惕着大象的入侵，

　　shivering with cold on the windswept heights, and I wondered why I had ever objected to cold and wind. 在寒风凛凛的高山上发抖，我惊异为什么我能抵御大风和寒冷。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 throbbed   

抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动

参考例句：

• His head throbbed painfully. 他的头一抽一跳地痛。
• The pulse throbbed steadily. 脉搏跳得平稳。

3 plundering   

掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The troops crossed the country, plundering and looting as they went. 部队经过乡村，一路抢劫掳掠。
• They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。