Medieval siege 中世纪攻城战-11

...one, fire in the hole!
Oh, yeah.

Renaud’s optimism is justified¹. The missile falls just a few yards short of the wall and a bit to the right. The team decides to give it one more day. But the next morning starts with snow, followed by a heavy downpour.

Well, basically, we are at the last day. We got, we got, between the rain and the mud, we got a rigger’s nightmare. It’s really taken its toll² on the ropes, the mud grinds in and it starts tearing out the fibers³, the water helps make the rope stretch, and if you look around the place, there is ropes in the mud, and no rigger likes seeing that. So, we are doing the best we can to keep our ropes clean, but it’s an uphill battle.

Last night’s final shot was short of the wall because it was thrown too high. Reno believes the sling⁴ is slipping off its prong too soon. So to delay release and lower the trajectory⁵, the prong is bent⁶ forward.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We’ve got the right amount of loft⁷, we’ve got the right amount of range, we’re just missing the target off to the side.

For days, Renaud has suspected that his trebuchet is pointing just to the right of the wall. But the loaded machine is too heavy to shift. He faces the possibility that he may have to go home having achieved only a near miss. At the last minute, Markus offers a solution.

We had a preferences, we'd be able to move the machine over a little bit. But we are afraid of shattering the machine, particularly with all the weight in the basket. So we’re gonna move the channel of the ball a little bit to the side so we can change our angle of attack. The range is good but we just wanna shift it over to the left a bit.

By shifting the channel that holds the ball slightly to the left, they hope to redirect the missile. It works. Almost. Another 3 feet and Renaud would have had a direct hit. Unless shifting the channel was just a fluke, one more nudge to the left should bring the trebuchet right on target.

Go, baby.
Come on. Oh, that looks good. That’s right.
Oh, yeah.

After two throws which are slightly higher of the wall itself. Renaud orders a minute adjustment of the prong in order to lower the trajectory. With frayed ropes and a storm threatening to close down the siege,everything now hangs on Renaud’s ability to quickly get on target.

3, 2. 1. Fire in the hole.

And he does. A bull’s eye on the battlements.

Well done, well done.
Okay.
Hey he stays hot.
This whole wall, if you run your eyes down here, bellied⁹ out. Just cracks all through it. Anybody standing¹⁰ back here would have been mincemeat.

Hahaha. (French)

In a real siege, it will only be a matter of time before the wall is reduced to smithereens.


words to chew:

1/ prong: One of several claw-like wires used to hold a gem¹¹ or stone in place.

2/loft: propel through the air;
(n.)/(v.)"The rocket lofted¹² the space shuttle into the air"

3/fray:wear away by rubbing; "The friction¹³ frayed⁸ the sleeve"

4/a bull's eye: in target shooting: a score made by hitting the center of the target; "in repeated sets of five shots his numbers of bull's-eyes varied¹⁴"

5/battlement: A narrow wall built along the outer edge of a castle's wall walk to protect the soldiers from attack.

6/smithereens: (pl.) a collection of small fragments considered as a whole; "Berlin was bombed to smithereens"; "his hopes were dashed to smithereens"; "I wanted to smash him to smithereens"; "the toilet bowl ws blown to smithereens"

1 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

4 sling   

vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓

参考例句：

• The boy discharged a stone from a sling.这个男孩用弹弓射石头。
• By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。

5 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

6 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

7 loft   

n.阁楼，顶楼

参考例句：

• We could see up into the loft from bottom of the stairs.我们能从楼梯脚边望到阁楼的内部。
• By converting the loft,they were able to have two extra bedrooms.把阁楼改造一下，他们就可以多出两间卧室。

8 frayed   

adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His shirt was frayed. 他的衬衫穿破了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The argument frayed their nerves. 争辩使他们不快。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 bellied   

adj.有腹的，大肚子的

参考例句：

• That big-bellied fellow was very cruel and greedy. 那个大腹便便的家伙既贪婪又残恶。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The ship's sails bellied in the wind. 船帆在风中鼓得大大的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

12 lofted   

击、踢、掷高弧球( loft的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was lofted to a new job. 他升迁到新职位。
• They measured and lofted the remainder of the crop. 他们把剩下的庄稼过了秤并贮藏在阁楼顶层。

13 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

14 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。