美国语文第四册 第5期:海水为什么是咸的(2)

 　　At this, the dwarfs² held up their little old hands, and looked quite perplexed³. 矮人们看起来对他的这一举动感到非常困惑不解，纷纷举起他们饱经沧桑的小手。

　　"We can not make a bargain, it seems," said the poor man, "so I'll bid you all a good day." 穷人说：“看来我们没法达成一致了，祝大家都有愉快的一天。”

　　The fragrance⁴ of the ham had by this time reached the remote parts of dwarf¹ land. 此时此刻，火腿的香气已经飘到了矮人国的深处，矮人们迫不及待地想得到火腿，

　　The dwarfs came flocking around in little troops, leaving their work of digging out precious ores, eager for the ham. 全都丢下手里正在挖掘的珍贵宝石，成群结队向他簇拥过来。

　　"Let him have the old mill," said some of the newcomers;" it is quite out of order, and he don't know how to use it. 一些刚刚到达的矮人们说：“把那台老磨粉机给他吧，反正也不能用了，况且他也不知道怎么用。

　　Let him have it, and we will have the ham. 给他吧，这样火腿就归我们了。

　　So the bargain was made. 交易就这么完成了。

　　The poor man took the old hand mill, which was a little thing not half so large as the ham, and went back to the woods. 那台老旧的手工磨粉机非常小巧，还没有火腿的一半大。穷人拿着它回到了森林里，

　　Here the old man showed him how to use it. 他的那位新朋友告诉了他如何操作。

　　All this had taken up a great deal of time, and it was midnight before he reached home. 整个过程花费了很长时间，他回到家时已经是后半夜了。

　　"Where in the world have you been?" said his wife. “你到底上哪儿去了？”他妻子问道，

　　Here I have been waiting and waiting, and we have no wood to make a fire, nor anything to put into the porridge pot for our Christmas supper. 我在家里等啊等，既没有木头生火，也没有任何食物能下锅熬粥准备圣诞晚餐。

　　The house was dark and cold; but the poor man bade his wife wait and see what would happen. 屋子里又黑又冷，但穷人让他妻子再等一会儿，看看会发生什么。

　　He placed the little hand mill on the table, and began to turn the crank. 他将那台小小的手工磨粉机放在桌上，开始转动手柄。

　　First, out there came some grand, lighted wax candles, and a fire on the hearth⁵, and a porridge pot boiling over it, because in his mind he said they should come first. 首先出现的是一些华丽的燃烧着的蜡烛、壁炉里的火焰、一锅沸腾着要流出来的粥，因为在他脑海里，他觉得这些应该最先出现。

　　Then he ground out a tablecloth⁶, and dishes, and spoons, and knives and forks. 随后他又不断地磨啊磨，出现了一块台布、一些碟子、勺子和刀叉。

　　He was himself astonished at his good luck, as you may believe; and his wife was almost beside herself with joy and astonishment⁷. 就像你想象的一样，连他自己都惊讶于他的好运气；他的妻子又高兴又吃惊，几乎不能自已。

　　Well, they had a capital supper; 于是，他们享用了一顿丰盛的晚餐。

　　and after it was eaten, they ground out of the mill every possible thing to make their house and themselves warm and comfortable. 用餐完毕，他们又磨出了能使他们的屋子和他们自己感到温暖舒适的各种物品。

　　So they had a merry Christmas eve and morning. 这样一来，他们度过了一个非常美妙的圣诞前夜和圣诞节清晨。

1 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

2 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

3 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

4 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

5 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

6 tablecloth   

n.桌布，台布

参考例句：

• He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思，轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
• She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。

7 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。