美国语文第四册 第184期:白兰地酒河浅滩(6)

 　　I listened and heard a horse in the lane before the door, neighing,—I can't tell you exactly how it was,—as though he would call up the house. 我听到门前马嘶鸣的声音，我无法准确地告诉你是什么样的声音，他好像要叫醒我们全家。

　　It was rather queer, I thought, so I got up and looked out of the window, and it seemed to me he had a saddle on. 非常奇怪，我想，因此我起床，朝窗外看去，马上似乎有马鞍。

　　He stamped, and pawed, and then he gave another neigh, and stamped again. 他跺着蹄子，抓着地，又叫了一声，然后又跺着蹄子。

　　Said I to my wife, "There is something wrong here," and I dressed and went out. 我对我的妻子说，"一定出了什么事，"便穿好衣服，出去了。

　　When he saw me, he acted in the strangest way you ever saw; thought I, if ever an animal wanted to speak, that animal does. 当他看见我时，他的动作很奇怪。我想，如果动物想说话，这匹马一定是想要说话。

　　When I tried to catch him, he shot off, ran down the lane a bit, and then came back acting¹ as strangely as ever. 当我要抓他的时候，他飞跑起来，然后返回来，动作和原来一样奇怪。

　　I went into the house and woke up my brother, here, and we saddled our horses and started. 我进屋叫醒我的兄弟，我们给马备了鞍，出发了，

　　Away went yours ahead, stopping every minute to look around and see if we followed. 你的马走在前面，每隔一会回头看看我们是不是跟着。

　　When we came to the water I rather hesitated, but it was of no use; the horse would have us go on and on, till we found you. 来到水边时，我犹豫了，可是没用；这马就是让我们不断往前走，直到发现了你。

　　I never heard of such a thing before, in all my life. 我以前从没听到过这种事儿。

　　Gilbert did not speak, but two large tears slowly gathered in his eyes, and rolled down his cheeks. 吉尔伯特没说话，可是双眼含泪，泪水顺着脸颊流了下来。

　　The men saw his emotion, and respected it. 两个人看到他动了感情，都很敬重他。

　　In the light of the cold, keen dawn, they reached a snug² farmhouse³, a mile from the Brandywine. 在清晨寒冷的阳光中，他们来到了一个温暖舒适的农宅，离白兰地酒河一英里远。

　　The men lifted Gilbert from the saddle, and would have carried him immediately into the house, 两个人把吉尔伯特从马鞍上抱起来，要立刻把他送进屋子里，

　　but he first leaned upon Roger's neck, took the faithful creature's head in his arms, and kissed it. 可是他先是靠在了罗杰的脖子上，双臂抱住马的头，亲了一下。

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

3 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。