美国小学英语教材6:第147课 殖民地时代年轻的爱国者(5)

 A minute later, however, their plans almost came to grief¹. It was so dark under the trees that it was hard to see where they were going, 一分钟后，他们的计划以失败告终，树下一片漆黑，很难看清楚他们去了哪里，

and all of a sudden Priscilla found herself held fast. She had brushed the body of a sleeping soldier without knowing it. 突然普丽西拉发现自己被牢牢抓住，她无意中碰到了一名正在睡觉的士兵。

The man rolled over and caught hold of her, but when he found that he had only a handful² of leaves for his trouble, 这个男子打了个滚，并抓住了她，当他发现他碰到的只有几捆叶子时，

he probably thought he had rolled into a bush in his sleep, for he soon let her go and went to sleep again. 他或许认为他在熟睡中滚进了灌木从，他马上放开了手，并继续睡觉。

After that they were more careful and soon reached the back of the house. Both Joseph and Priscilla had often hidden in the old oven³ 之后他们更加小心，不久到了房子的后面，约瑟夫和普丽西拉过去常常躲在老烤炉里，

when they were playing hide-and-seek, and they knew just how to manage. And so a minute later, when Joseph had taken off his bundles⁴ of leaves 当他们玩捉迷藏时，他们知道如何应对，一分钟后，当约瑟夫拿掉几捆叶子，

and piled them into a shelter under which Priscilla could keep watch, he crept⁵ carefully into the oven. 并将它们堆成一个遮蔽处供普丽西拉观察，约瑟夫自己小心翼翼地进入烤炉。

Fortunately for him there were air holes in the oven door through which the steam from the cooking could escape into the room, 幸运的是，烤炉门口有透气口，做饭的蒸汽可以从房间里出来，

and through these he could both see and hear all that was going on in the room. 他从口中可以看到他们，也可以听到房子里说的话。

It did not take him very long to find out something important, for in about ten minutes he slipped out of the oven and, 不久他就发现了一些重要的事情，大约十分钟以后，他爬出了烤炉，

breathing very hard, whispered excitedly to Priscilla. Oh, Prissy, they're planning to surprise the Americans at daybreak. 他喘着粗气，激动地小声对普丽西拉说，哦西拉，他们计划在黎明突袭美国人。

The advance guard is already watching their camp fires from Wilson's Hill so that they can't escape. 先头部队已经从威尔森山上注视着营火，以免他们逃跑。

These men are waiting for a large body of soldiers to join them tonight, 他们正在等待今晚会有一大群士兵加入他们，

and then they will creep⁶ up on our men and destroy the whole army if they can. 他们将慢慢靠近我们，如果可以的话摧毁整个部队。

Washington and his little army won't have a chance unless they are warned beforehand⁷. 华盛顿和他的小数量部队没有胜算，除非他们提前得到警告。

 

1 grief   

n.悲伤，悲痛，悲伤的事，悲痛的缘由

参考例句：

• Don't allow yourself to sink into grief,it can do no good.不要使自己陷入悲哀之中，这样一点好处也没有。
• After her mother died,she abandoned herself to grief.母亲死后，她沉浸于悲痛之中。

2 handful   

n.一把；少量，少数，一小撮

参考例句：

• We invited 30 people, but only a handful came.我们邀请了30人，但是只到了几个人。
• He pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket.他从口袋里掏出一把硬币。

3 oven   

n.烤炉；烤箱

参考例句：

• You put food inside an oven to cook it.你把食物放进烤箱里热一下。
• She baked bread in an oven.她用烤炉烤面包。

4 Bundles   

n. 捆, 束, 一批, 一大笔钱 vt. 捆, 匆匆送走, 附赠 vi. 匆忙

参考例句：

• The goods are done up in bundles for shipment. 货物已打包以备装船。
• The books were tied up in bundles of twenty. 那些书被捆成20本一捆。

5 crept   

v.蹑手蹑足地走( creep的过去式和过去分词 )；缓慢地行进；爬行；匍匐

参考例句：

• I crept up the stairs, trying not to wake my parents. 为了尽量不吵醒父母，我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• He had crept up on his unsuspecting victim from behind. 他从背后悄悄逼近了那毫无戒备的受害者。

6 creep   

vi.爬行，匍匐；蹑手蹑足地走，缓慢地行进

参考例句：

• The baby is just learning to creep.这个婴儿才学着爬。
• I would not creep along the coast.我不愿在岸边爬行。

7 beforehand   

adj.事先，预先，提前地，超前地

参考例句：

• If I'd known this beforehand,I would not have gone back.早知如此，我就不回去了。
• They proposed to make arrangement beforehand.他们提议事先做好安排。