美国小学英语教材6:第156课亚伯拉罕·林肯成长历程(2)（打印版）

On winter mornings he wiped the frost from the ax-handle, sniffed sparkles of air into his lungs,

在冬天早上，他会擦去斧头棒上的霜，将闪烁的空气吸入肺里，

and beat a steady cleaving of blows into a big tree till it fell.

稳稳地将斧头砍进一棵大树，直到它倒下。

He sat on the main log and ate his noon dinner of corn bread and fried salt pork

他坐在大原木上食用午餐，玉米面包和炸咸猪肉

and joked with the gray squirrels that frisked and peeped at him from high forks of nearby walnut trees.

和灰色松鼠开着玩笑，这些松鼠活蹦乱跳，在附近核桃树的高树丫上窥视他。

He learned how to make his ax flash and bite into a sugar maple or a sycamore.

他学着如何让斧头快速地插入一棵糖枫或无花果树。

He could guess close to the time of the year, to the week of the month, by the way the leaves and branches of trees looked.

通过观察叶子和树枝他可以猜出这是什么时节，这个月的哪一周，而且八九不离十。

Often he worked alone in the timber all day long with only the sound of his own ax, or his own voice speaking to himself,

他经常一整天都围绕着林木工作，只能听到自己斧子的声音，还有他自言自语的声音，

or the crackling and swaying of branches in the wind and the cries and whirs of animals, of brown and silver gray squirrels,

或者风带着树枝吱吱喳喳，左右摇曳的声音，以及动物叫嚷和嗡嗡声，还有棕色和银灰色的松树，

of partridges, hawks, crows, turkeys, sparrows, and the occasional wildcats.

还有山鹑、隼、乌鸦、火鸡、麻雀以及偶尔能听到的野猫声。

The tricks of the sky, how to read clear skies and cloudy weather, the creeping vines of ivy and wild grape,

天的奥秘，如何理解晴朗天空，乌云天气，攀爬的常青树和野葡萄藤蔓，

the recurrence of dogwood blossoms in spring, the ways of snow, rain, drizzle, sleet,

春天梾木会再次开花，还有下雪、下雨、毛毛雨以及雨夹雪，

the visitors of sky and weather coming and going hour by hour, he tried to read their secrets;

天气和气候每一小时都会不一样，他试图解读这里的奥秘；

he tried to be friendly with their mystery. So he grew, to become hard, tough, wiry.

他试图和这一神秘好好相处，所以他成长得又结实又健壮。

He found with other men he could lift his own end of a log and more too.

他和另外四个男子发现他可以一人扛起原木的一端，而且不止这一端。

One of his neighbors said he was strong as three men. Another said, He can sink an ax deeper into wood than any man I ever saw.

他的一位邻居说他和三个男人加起来一样强壮，另一名说他从没有见过将斧头插入木头如此深的人。

And another, If you heard him fellin trees in a clearin, you would say there were three men at work by the way the trees fell.

还有一名说，如果你听到他在林中空地砍伐树木，根据树木被砍伐的方式看，你一定会说三个人在砍伐树木。