英国语文第四册 第18期:船上的猴子(3)

Jack¹ was afraid to come down, and only after three days passed in his lofty place of refuge did hunger force him to descend².

杰克不敢下来，三天后，它饿得实在不行了，才从高耸的避难处跑下来。

He chose the moment when I was sitting on deck, and swinging himself by a rope,

它下来时，我正坐在甲板上。它悠在一根绳子上。

he dropped suddenly into my lap, looking so piteously at me for pardon,

突然掉到我的大腿上。可怜兮兮地看着我，请求我的原谅，

that I not only forgave him myself, but saved him from further punishment.

我不仅原谅了他，还让它免于遭受进一步的惩罚。

Soon after this I took another vessel³, and Jack and I parted, never to meet again.

过了不久，我乘坐另一艘船，于是就和杰克分开了，从此再没有见过面。

Among the rules of the port of London is one which forbids, under a heavy penalty, the firing of a gun from any vessel lying there.

伦敦港的规则中，有一条是禁止从船上开枪，否则将遭受重罚。

An armed ship had just come in from a long voyage, during which she had touched at several places,

一艘武装船只刚结束一次长途航行返港，在这期间她曾在多处停靠，

and at each of them had fired a salute⁴ on anchoring.

每次驳船后它都会鸣礼炮。

A monkey that was on board, naturally wondering why this was omitted when he saw the anchor dropped at London,

一只在船上的猴子，自然会纳闷，当它看到船锚在伦敦港落下后，

resolved, rather than that it should not take place, that he would fire the salute himself!

却没有鸣礼炮。他决定，要自己来鸣这个礼炮！

Accordingly, while the attention of all on board was engaged with the arrival of the ship,

因此，当船上所有人都在关注船只到港时，

he went to the cooking-place, and with the tongs⁵ took out a live coal, which he applied⁶ to the touch-hole of one of the guns;

它就跑到厨房，用钳子取出一块活煤，涂在其中一把枪支的点火孔上。

and forthwith the whole neighbourhood was startled by the roar of the cannon⁷.

接着，整个街区的人都被大炮的轰鸣声吓到了。

The captain of the vessel was prosecuted⁸ for breaking the law;

船长因触犯法律而被起诉；

and he could only clear himself by proving that the cannon had been fired by the monkey.

他只能证明大炮是猴子发射的，才能使自己清白。

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

3 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

4 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

5 tongs   

n.钳；夹子

参考例句：

• She used tongs to put some more coal on the fire.她用火钳再夹一些煤放进炉子里。
• He picked up the hot metal with a pair of tongs.他用一把钳子夹起这块热金属。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

8 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。