美国小学英语教材6:第19课 森林恐怖之王(8)

 　　Quickly now and loudly we counted the whiskers and tied them with grass to protect them from the natives. 我们大声地数着老虎的胡须，将胡须和杂草捆在一起，从而保护土著居民。

　　For tiger whiskers are the most useful sort of magic, 老虎的胡须是魔法中最有用的部分，

　　just one of them ground up and slipped into the food of a neighbor is considered a strong enough charm¹ to kill him. 只要一点胡须粉末，并塞到邻居的食物中，这种能量足以致命。

　　From the anxious way in which the natives stayed about the tiger's head we imagined 我们想土著人一定是对老虎的头情有独钟，

　　that there were several unpopular neighbors in the village that they wished to work upon. 村子里有几个不受欢迎的邻居想要试试这种魔法。

　　The size of that tiger gave us a thrill. We had grown so hopeless that we would have been thankful for any tiger, 老虎的体型让我们兴奋不已，我们还一直不抱希望，认为只要抓到老虎就谢天谢地了，

　　and here was a great killer² in the strength of his powers, second, we found out later, to the record for height. 强大无比的杀手躺在这里，我们还是那最强的。

　　The natives were as excited as we were. A tiger, the overlord of the jungle, 居民们和我们一样兴奋，老虎是丛林之王，

　　the enemy of everything with life, had been killed. 是一切生灵的死敌，它被我们杀了，

　　Chanting and singing, they carried the tiger, slung³ to a pole, back to the camp. 人们欢呼着，歌唱着，将它高高举起，又将它落下。

　　Night had now fallen, and we carried a light. 夜幕降临，我们点起篝火。

　　We could see its reflection shining in the eyes of staring deer. 鹿紧盯着篝火，我们能在它们的眼睛里看到熊熊大火。

　　Then, as they caught the scent⁴ of their dead enemy or us, they would snort and fly. 当它们闻到死敌的味道时，或者说是我们，它们会打几个响鼻，慌忙逃窜。

　　Down before the tents the natives put the tiger; so livelooking was his pose⁵ that he seemed alive. 居民们将老虎放在帐篷前，它的样子似乎还活着。

　　There were wild doings of triumph about the natives' fire that night, but there was great peace about ours. 那晚，居民们在篝火旁庆祝，但我们却非常平静。

　　All through the night I kept waking. The moon stood high overhead, its light white as snow upon the still earth. 那一晚我没有睡，月光挂在头顶，明亮的月光像白雪一样覆盖着宁静的大地。

　　The shadows of the pines were like little pools of ink about the base of each tree. 松树的阴影就像墨汁一样洒在树的底部。

　　In the clear moonlight the great tiger lay brilliant in gold and black beauty, 在皎洁的月光下，老虎金黑色斑纹显得非常夺目，

　　proud and perfect in his death as when he had stalked⁶ over those plains in life to seek his quivering⁷ prey⁸. 它的死是那么骄傲和完美，就像它步步潜近，俯瞰平原寻找颤栗的猎物一样。

1 charm   

vt.使着迷，使陶醉；n.招人喜欢之处，魅力

参考例句：

• With all imperfections the short play has a real charm.尽管有不少缺欠，这出小戏仍颇具魅力。
• He could resist her charm no longer.他再也抗拒不住她的魅力。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 slung   

抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往

参考例句：

• He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩，挎在肩上。
• He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。

4 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

5 pose   

vt.造成，陈述；vi.摆姿势，装腔作势；n.姿势

参考例句：

• He sat in a relaxed pose.他轻松自如地坐着。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend.他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

6 stalked   

有高茎的

参考例句：

• She refused to accept that she was wrong and stalked furiously out of the room. 她拒绝承认她错了，气愤地大步走出房间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The surely insolence of the waiters drove him into a rage,and he flung his serviette to the floor and stalked out of the restaurant. 侍者们粗暴无礼的行为使得他怒不可遏，他将餐巾扔到地上，昂然走出餐厅。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 quivering   

adj.颤抖的v.微颤，抖动( quiver的现在分词 )；使震动

参考例句：

• He is quivering with anger. 他气得全身发抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pine needles were still quivering. 松针还在抖动着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。