夏洛的网 第182期:凉爽的晚上(2)

 　　Templeton kept out of sight. 坦普尔顿悄悄地躲着人们。

　　In the tall grass behind the cattle barn he found a folded newspaper. 在牛棚后面的高草丛里，它找到一张折叠的报纸。

　　Inside it were leftovers¹ from somebody's lunch: 报纸里是什么人中饭吃剩的东  西：

　　a deviled ham sandwich, 一块辣味火腿三明治、

　　a piece of Swiss cheese, 一片瑞士干酪、

　　part of a hard-boiled egg, 一点煮鸡蛋、

　　and the core of a wormy apple. 一个虫蛀过的苹果的芯子。

　　The rat crawled in and ate everything. 老鼠钻进去把它们吃光了。

　　Then he tore a word out of the paper, 接着它从报纸上啃下一个字眼，

　　rolled it up, and started back to Wilbur's pen. 卷起来，动身回到威尔伯的猪圈去。

　　Charlotte had her web almost finished when Templeton returned,  carrying the newspaper clipping. 当坦普尔顿叼着报纸纸片回来时，夏洛的网差不多织好了，

　　She had left a space in the middle of the web. 只在网当中留下一个大空当。

　　At this hour, no people were around the pigpen, 这时间猪圈四周没有人，

　　so the rat and the spider and the pig were by themselves. 只有老鼠、蜘蛛和猪三个。

　　"I hope you brought a good one," Charlotte said. “你希望你带回来一个好字眼，”夏洛说，

　　"It is the last word I shall ever write." “这是我写的最后的字眼了。”

　　"Here," said Templeton, unrolling the paper. “给你。”坦普尔顿把卷起来的纸片打开。

　　"What does it say?" asked Charlotte. “上面写的是什么啊？”夏洛问道，

　　"You'll have to read it for me." “你得读给我听。”

　　"It says 'Humble²,'" replied the rat. “写的是‘谦卑’。”老鼠说。

　　"Humble?" said Charlotte. “谦卑？”夏洛说，

　　"'Humble' has two meanings. It means 'not proud' and it means 'near the ground.' “‘谦’是‘不自高自大’，‘卑’又有‘低下’的意思。

　　That's Wilbur all over.  He's not proud and he's near the ground." 这全合乎威尔伯。它不自高自大，它也总是在地面上，位置低下。”

　　"Well, I hope you're satisfied," sneered³ the rat. “好，我希望你满意了，”老鼠回答说，

　　"I'm not going to spend all my time fetching and carrying. “我可不想把我的时间都花在跑来跑去拿东西上面。

　　I came to this Fair to enjoy myself, not to deliver papers." 我到这集市来是要享受享受，而不是当听差把纸送来送去。”

　　"You've been very helpful," Charlotte said. “你已经帮了大忙，”夏洛说，

　　"Run along, if you want to see more of the Fair." “你想多看看集市，那你去吧。”

1 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

2 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

3 sneered   

讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sneered at people who liked pop music. 他嘲笑喜欢流行音乐的人。
• It's very discouraging to be sneered at all the time. 成天受嘲讽是很令人泄气的。