美国语文第四册 第99期:鲁滨逊·克鲁索的住所(1)

 　　I have already described my habitation, which was a tent under the side of a rock, surrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables, 我前面已经描述了我的住所，这是一个帐篷，位于山岩一侧，周围是用木桩和缆绳搭造的结实的栅栏，

　　but I might now rather call it a wall, for I raised a kind of wall up against it of turf, about two feet thick on the outside; 我现在也可以把这个栅栏称作墙，因为在栅栏的外面我堆砌了两英尺厚的草皮；

　　and, after some time (I think it was a year and a half) I raised rafters from it, leaning to the rock,  过了一段时间（我想是一年半）我架起了椽，一端靠在岩石上，

　　and thatched or covered it with boughs¹ of trees and such things as I could get to keep out the rain, which I found at some times of the year very violent. 用树枝等材料封了顶，在暴雨倾盆时可以用来避雨。

　　I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale, and into the cave which I had made behind me; 我把所有物品拿进栅栏，放到岩洞里；

　　but I must observe, too, that at first this was a confused heap of goods, which, as they lay in no order, took up all my place,  但是开始的时候东西堆得杂乱无章，很占地方，

　　so that I had no room to turn myself. 我甚至无法转身。

　　So I set to work to enlarge my cave and work farther into the earth; 因此我着手扩大岩洞，挖出更多的泥土。

　　for it was a loose, sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labor² I bestowed³ upon it. 因为岩石已经疏松沙化了，挖掘起来很容易。

　　And so when I found that I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey⁴, I worked sideways into the rock; 当我发现自己相当安全，不用担心野兽的攻击时，我开始挖掘山岩的侧面；

　　and then, turning to the right again, worked quite out, and made me a door to come out on the outside of my pale or fortification. 然后又向右挖，一直挖到外面，这样我就能从另一扇门通到栅栏或者说堡垒的外面。

　　This gave me not only egress⁵ and regress, as it was a back way to my tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room to stow my goods. 我不但多了出口和入口，进出帐篷和工具间，而且贮藏的空间也扩大了。

1 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 bestowed   

赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
• He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。

4 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

5 egress   

n.出去；出口

参考例句：

• Safe access and egress can be achieved by various methods.可以采用各种方法安全的进入或离开。
• Drains achieve a ready egress of the liquid blood.引流能为血液提供一个容易的出口。