美国小学英语教材6:第65课 洋基快速船(4)

 You have her thought out to the last ring, block, and halyard, Humphrey would say, 汉弗莱说到，你把最后一个船环，最后一块，最后一条帆绳都想得细致入微，

and you never even knew if you could build her. What a dreamer you are! 但你不知道是否能够建造完成，你真是个梦想家。

It takes dreaming to keep a man at his work, Jonathan would answer. How do you think I would have had the patience, all these years, 乔纳森回答道是梦想让我工作，要不然这么多年我哪来的耐心，

to drive wooden pins into cross timbers, or to mend the riggings of slow-going coastwise vessels¹ 将木钉变成十字木，或是修补沿海慢船的索具，

if I had not been thinking of just such a ship as this, and seen her, in my mind's eye, putting to sea under full sail, 如果我没有思考过这样的舰船，或者看见它，在我的脑海里，让它满帆而行，

to smash every sailing record that has been known? 让它打破各项远航纪录？

The day of the launching came, then the stepping of the giant masts, the completing of the rigging, and the bending of the new sails. 首发的日子来了，巨型桅杆正在走来，索具将要完成，弯曲船帆。

It began to come to Humphrey's ears that sailors and wharfmen and even some naval² officers 汉弗莱的耳朵里出现了这样的话，水手和码头人员，甚至是许多海军军官

were all saying that the new ship, the West Wind, would never stand a storm. 都在说新船“西风”号没法乘风破浪。

They are the kind of men, Humphrey scoffed³, who would be sailing vessels like Noah's Ark, 汉弗莱嘲笑到，他们就是这种人，他们乘坐的船就像诺亚方舟，

if such people as Jonathan Adams did not have the courage, sometimes, to build something new. 如果像乔纳森·亚当斯这种人没有勇气建造新式舰船。

No, the West Wind is going to teach all the shipmasters something they never knew before, once she clears the harbor for Gibraltar. 不，“西风”号将教给所有船长一些他们从不知道的东西，一旦它前往了直布罗陀。

It is probably only a short paragraph in your history book that tells you how, a little more than a hundred years ago, 在你的历史书上，它或许只有一小段话，在一百多年前，

the seas swarmed⁴ with pirates whose home ports were the North African cities of Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. 海盗横行大海，他们的港口是北非城市阿尔及尔，黎波里和突尼斯。

The great nations of Europe and, with them, the young United States, 欧洲各大强国和年轻的美国

used to buy safety from these lawless Barbary States by sending them gifts and tribute. 此前都会给北非国家寄送礼物和贡品，从而换取安全。

But when, finally, the ruler of Tripoli sent word to our President that his last gift was not large enough and that more gold must be sent, 但当黎波里的统治者给我们的总统带话，说他最后的礼物不够大，一定要送更多的金子，

the answer was a fleet of American warships⁵ that bombarded the astonished monarch's seaports⁶. 答案就是美国舰船轰炸帝王的港口。

 

1 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

3 scoffed   

嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scoffed at our amateurish attempts. 他对我们不在行的尝试嗤之以鼻。
• A hundred years ago people scoffed at the idea. 一百年前人们曾嘲笑过这种想法。

4 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

5 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

6 seaports   

n.海港( seaport的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Airports have joined seaports as ports of entry for the visiting foreigner. 机场和海港一样成为来访的外国人的入境关口。 来自互联网
• Sanya has 16 seaports, 10 islands and 180km of coastline. 三亚有16个港口、10个海岛和180公里的海岸线。 来自互联网