美国小学英语教材6:第156课 亚伯拉罕·林肯成长历程(2)

On winter mornings he wiped the frost from the ax-handle, sniffed¹ sparkles of air into his lungs,

在冬天早上，他会擦去斧头棒上的霜，将闪烁的空气吸入肺里，

and beat a steady cleaving² of blows into a big tree till it fell.

稳稳地将斧头砍进一棵大树，直到它倒下。

He sat on the main log and ate his noon dinner of corn bread and fried salt pork

他坐在大原木上食用午餐，玉米面包和炸咸猪肉

and joked with the gray squirrels that frisked and peeped at him from high forks of nearby walnut³ trees.

和灰色松鼠开着玩笑，这些松鼠活蹦乱跳，在附近核桃树的高树丫上窥视他。

He learned how to make his ax flash and bite into a sugar maple⁴ or a sycamore.

他学着如何让斧头快速地插入一棵糖枫或无花果树。

He could guess close to the time of the year, to the week of the month, by the way the leaves and branches of trees looked.

通过观察叶子和树枝他可以猜出这是什么时节，这个月的哪一周，而且八九不离十。

Often he worked alone in the timber all day long with only the sound of his own ax, or his own voice speaking to himself,

他经常一整天都围绕着林木工作，只能听到自己斧子的声音，还有他自言自语的声音，

or the crackling and swaying of branches in the wind and the cries and whirs of animals, of brown and silver gray squirrels,

或者风带着树枝吱吱喳喳，左右摇曳的声音，以及动物叫嚷和嗡嗡声，还有棕色和银灰色的松树，

of partridges, hawks⁵, crows, turkeys, sparrows, and the occasional wildcats.

还有山鹑、隼、乌鸦、火鸡、麻雀以及偶尔能听到的野猫声。

The tricks of the sky, how to read clear skies and cloudy weather, the creeping vines of ivy⁶ and wild grape,

天的奥秘，如何理解晴朗天空，乌云天气，攀爬的常青树和野葡萄藤蔓，

the recurrence⁷ of dogwood blossoms in spring, the ways of snow, rain, drizzle⁸, sleet⁹,

春天梾木会再次开花，还有下雪、下雨、毛毛雨以及雨夹雪，

the visitors of sky and weather coming and going hour by hour, he tried to read their secrets;

天气和气候每一小时都会不一样，他试图解读这里的奥秘；

he tried to be friendly with their mystery. So he grew, to become hard, tough, wiry.

他试图和这一神秘好好相处，所以他成长得又结实又健壮。

He found with other men he could lift his own end of a log and more too.

他和另外四个男子发现他可以一人扛起原木的一端，而且不止这一端。

One of his neighbors said he was strong as three men. Another said, He can sink an ax deeper into wood than any man I ever saw.

他的一位邻居说他和三个男人加起来一样强壮，另一名说他从没有见过将斧头插入木头如此深的人。

And another, If you heard him fellin trees in a clearin, you would say there were three men at work by the way the trees fell.

还有一名说，如果你听到他在林中空地砍伐树木，根据树木被砍伐的方式看，你一定会说三个人在砍伐树木。

1 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cleaving   

v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The freighter carrying pig iron is cleaving through the water. 装着生铁的货船正在破浪前进。 来自辞典例句
• IL-10-cDNA fragment was obtained through cleaving pUC-T-IL-10cDNA by reconstriction enzymes. 结果：pcDNA3.1-IL-10酶切鉴定的电泳结果显示，pcDNA3.1-IL-10质粒有一个560bp左右的插入片断，大小和IL-10cDNA大致符合。 来自互联网

3 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

4 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

5 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。

6 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

7 recurrence   

n.复发，反复，重现

参考例句：

• More care in the future will prevent recurrence of the mistake.将来的小心可防止错误的重现。
• He was aware of the possibility of a recurrence of his illness.他知道他的病有可能复发。

8 drizzle   

v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨

参考例句：

• The shower tailed off into a drizzle.阵雨越来越小，最后变成了毛毛雨。
• Yesterday the radio forecast drizzle,and today it is indeed raining.昨天预报有小雨，今天果然下起来了。

9 sleet   

n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹

参考例句：

• There was a great deal of sleet last night.昨夜雨夹雪下得真大。
• When winter comes,we get sleet and frost.冬天来到时我们这儿会有雨夹雪和霜冻。