美国小学英语教材6:第82课 波茨挽救夜行快车(3)

 Suddenly Harrison drew in his head. She's slowing up to take water, he said sharply. 哈里森突然探出头，他急促地说火车正在减慢速度，准备灌水。

For a moment Potts was undecided. In a few seconds' time he would be opposite the broken freight. 此时波茨犹豫不决，几秒钟不到，他将在这列损坏货车的对面。

The stopping of its detached front end would hasten the collision. His train had only partly slacked its terrific speed, 让分离的前端停车会加速撞击，他的火车还没有完全降速，

although the air indicator¹ trembled at 55. If he waited to stop and back, and there was a collision, 尽管气动指针在55处颤动，如果他等着列车停下来，那么将发生撞车，

what would become of his train? He already saw in a flash of imagination the fiery² burst of the explosion, 他的列车将发生什么？他在大脑中瞬间出现了猛烈的爆炸，

the heaps of crushed cars, tangled³ and twisted with burning oil spluttering over them; 满是被压碎的列车，扭曲成一团，燃烧的汽油在它们上面发出噼啪声；

and he heard the agonized⁴ cries of the passengers pinned to their death under the wrecked⁵ sleeping cars. 他听到了乘客的痛苦尖叫声，在毁坏的卧铺车厢下奄奄一息。

But in a moment excitement of the discovery passed. Potts stood six feet one in his stockings, and he weighed two hundred twenty pounds. 但在这一刻，他看到了发现的喜悦，波茨有6.1英尺高，穿着长筒袜，体重是240磅。

There was nerve in every inch of him. Besides, he knew the huge, black, breathing machine under him, 他全身散发着勇气的力量，他了解这个在他下面呼吸的巨型黑色机器，

and he had confidence in her. He shut off the air brake. Coal her up, he shouted to Harrison. 他对它有信心，他关闭了气闸，他向哈里森叫嚷到，给它加点燃料。

But you can't run by, there isn't time, Coal her up, roared the voice again, 但你没法越过去，没时间了，他再次叫嚷到，给它加点燃料，

and the engineer's huge height loomed⁶ up on his seat at the right of the cab. 在驾驶舱的右边，工程师的高大身躯耸立在他的座位上。

His hair was loose, and his face was smutty. He knew the risk of the attempt to drive his train past the danger point. 他的头发很松散，一张很性感的脸庞，他知道尝试让列车越过危险点的风险。

He knew it might cost him his life, and he had a wife and baby at home in Burlington; but his hand never wavered. 他知道这或许会让他丧命，他在伯灵顿还有妻儿，但他的手从未颤抖过。

Open came the throttle⁷, the whistle screeched⁸, and the engine leaped forward as if it fully⁹ appreciated the need of effort. 打开了节流阀，汽笛发出刺耳的声音，引擎加足马力，好似它很欣赏这次努力。

Again the sleepers¹⁰ in the Pullman cars grumbled¹¹ at being shaken up. Harrison, the fireman, bent¹² steadily¹³ from tender to fire pit, 普尔曼式卧车中的乘客再次抱怨了这次晃动，从煤水车到火坑，消防员哈里森沉着地弯下腰，

and each time he bent, the flames glowed more fiercely. All this happened within the space of a dozen seconds. 每次他弯腰，火焰都会更加剧烈的燃烧，这些都在12秒之内发生。

At such a time an engineer must act as quickly as he thinks. The loss of one second may cost a hundred lives. 此时此刻，工程师必须马上行动，损失一秒或将让数百人殒命。

The head of the freight appeared alongside. Potts caught a glimpse of its engineer leaning lazily out of his window, 货车车长在他身旁出现，波茨看到了这名工程师懒散散地伸出了窗外，

unconscious of impending¹⁴ disaster. The detached end of the freight, as Potts saw it now, was well down the grade, 没有意识到即将发生的灾难，火车脱节的尾部，就如波茨现在看到的样子，正在向斜坡下走去，

rushing straight for the front end at terrific speed. 急冲冲地像前端尾部冲去。

The roar and jar of its wheels could be heard above the sound of his own train. 轮胎的隆隆声已经盖过了他自己的火车声音。

Fifty thousand gallons of inflammable oil soon to collide with another fifty thousand gallons and then! 5万加仑燃烧的汽油将瞬间与另外5万加仑相撞，然后....

 

1 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

2 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

3 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

4 agonized   

v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦

参考例句：

• All the time they agonized and prayed. 他们一直在忍受痛苦并且祈祷。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She agonized herself with the thought of her loss. 她念念不忘自己的损失，深深陷入痛苦之中。 来自辞典例句

5 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

6 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。

8 screeched   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• She screeched her disapproval. 她尖叫着不同意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The car screeched to a stop. 汽车嚓的一声停住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 sleepers   

n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环

参考例句：

• He trod quietly so as not to disturb the sleepers. 他轻移脚步，以免吵醒睡着的人。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse was out, and we two sleepers were alone. 保姆出去了，只剩下我们两个瞌睡虫。 来自辞典例句

11 grumbled   

抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声

参考例句：

• He grumbled at the low pay offered to him. 他抱怨给他的工资低。
• The heat was sweltering, and the men grumbled fiercely over their work. 天热得让人发昏，水手们边干活边发着牢骚。

12 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

13 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

14 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。