These rafts were of a shape and construction to the crookedness and extreme narrowness of the Neckar.

 

这些木筏的形状和结构都适用于内卡河道弯曲和极狭窄的特点。

They were from fifty to one hundred yards long, and they gradually tapered from a nine-log breadth at their sterns, to a three-log breadth at their bow-ends.

它们的长度由100码逐渐缩为50码，由尾部9根原木的宽度缩小到头部3根的宽度。

The main part of the steering is done at the bow, with a pole;the three-log breadth there furnishes room for only the steersman, for these little logs are not larger around that an average young lady's waist.

主要的舵是一根撑篱，安装在木筏的前部。3根原木的宽度，只能容纳一个舵手，因为这些小木材的粗细也不过一名普通妇女的腰围大小。

The connections of the several sections of the raft are slack and pliant, so that the raft may be readily bent into any sort of curve required by the shape of the river.

木筏几部分的连接是松散的，灵活性也较强，以便随时变向来适应河流任何水流形式的需要。

The Neckar is in many places so narrow that a person can throw a dog across it, if he has one;when it is also sharply curved in such places, the raftsman has to do some pretty nice snug piloting to make the turns.

内卡河的很多地方都非常狭窄，以至于你可以把一只小狗扔到对面。当一些地方水流陡变时，撑筏者就不得不使出几招绝技，引航变向。

The river is not always allowed to spread over its whole bed—which is as much as thirty, and sometimes forty yards wide.

河流并不总是淹没整个河床—河床的宽度达到30码，有些地方甚至达到40码。

but is split into three equal bodies of water, by stone dikes which throw the main volume,depth,and current into the central one.

但是石堤把注入其中的水流分隔成三等份，并把主要的水量汇集到中心水道中去。

In low water these neat narrow-edged dives project four or five inches above the surface, like the comb of a submerged roof, but in high water they are overflowed.

在浅水期，这些整齐的、狭窄的石堤会露出水面四五英寸，就像被淹没的房屋的屋顶。但在深水期，它们就都会被河水淹没。

A hatful of rain makes high water in the Neckar, and produces an overflow.

在内卡河，一帽子的雨水就能使水位上涨，一满筐的雨水就会使水决堤！

There are dikes abreast the Schloss Hotel, and the current s vioiontty swift at that point.

舒劳斯旅馆与几条堤坝走向相同，与它并排的那一段，水流湍急。

I used to sit for hours in my glass caoe, watching the long, narrow rafts slip along through the central channel.

我时常坐在自己的房间，透过玻璃看那长而狭窄的木筏沿着中心水道。