美国语文第四册 第182期:白兰地酒河浅滩(4)

 　　The moon was low in the west, and there was a pale glimmer¹ of the coming dawn in the sky, when Gilbert Potter suddenly raised his head. 月已西斜，空中闪烁着清晨的微光，吉尔伯特.波特突然抬起头。

　　Above the noise of the water and the whistle of the wind, he heard a familiar sound,—the shrill², sharp neigh of a horse. 在风的呼啸和水声中，他听到了一个熟悉的声音——马的嘶鸣。

　　Lifting himself with great exertion³, to a sitting posture⁴, he saw two men, on horseback, in the flooded meadow, a little below him. 费力地撑身坐起，他看到在已被洪水淹没的低洼地里有两个人骑在马上。

　　They stopped, seemed to consult, and presently drew nearer. 他们停了下来，商量着什么，很快向他靠拢。

　　Gilbert tried to shout, but the muscles of his throat were stiff, and his lungs refused to act. 吉尔伯特想要喊叫，可是喉部肌肉僵硬，发不出声。

　　The horse neighed again. This time there was no mistake; it was Roger that he heard! 马又发出了一声嘶鸣。没错，是罗杰！

　　Voice came to him, and he cried aloud,—a hoarse⁵, strange, unnatural⁶ cry. 他终于可以发出声音了，他大声喊叫——声音嘶哑、奇怪，极其不自然。

　　The horsemen heard it, and rapidly pushed up the bank, until they reached a point directly opposite to him. 骑马的人听到声音，迅速上了河岸，来到和他正相对的一个地方。

　　The prospect⁷ of escape brought a thrill of life to his frame; he looked around and saw that the flood had indeed fallen. 获救的前景使他兴奋起来；看看四周，洪水确实已经退了。

　　"We have no rope," he heard one of the men say. "How shall we reach him?” “我们没有绳子，”他听到其中一个人说，“我们怎么才能够到他呢？”

　　"There is no time to get one now," the other answered. “没有时间取绳子了，”另一个人回答，

　　My horse is stronger than yours. 我的马比你的健壮。

　　I'll go into the creek⁸ just below, where it's broader and not so deep, and work my way up to him. 我去稍微靠下的河里，那里宽一些，水也不太深，我争取靠近他。

　　But one horse can't carry both. 可是一匹马驮不了两个人。

　　His will follow, be sure, when it sees me. 他的马会跟来，我敢肯定，它看到我时就会跟来的。

　　As the last speaker moved away, Gilbert saw a led horse plunging⁹ through the water beside the other. 后一个说话的人走过去，吉尔伯特看到一匹灰马趟着水，走在另一匹马旁边。

　　It was a difficult and dangerous undertaking¹⁰. 非常艰难而且危险。

　　The horseman and the loose horse entered the main stream below,  骑手和马进入了下方河流的主干，

　　where its divided channel met and broadened, but it was still above the saddle girths, and very swift. 这里两股水渠相交，河流变宽，可是水仍高过马的腹带，而且水流很急。

1 glimmer   

v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光

参考例句：

• I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她，感到了一线希望。
• A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。

2 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

3 exertion   

n.尽力，努力

参考例句：

• We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture.我们搬动家具大费气力，累得大汗淋漓。
• She was hot and breathless from the exertion of cycling uphill.由于用力骑车爬坡，她浑身发热。

4 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

5 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

6 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

7 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

8 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

9 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。