夏洛的网 第214期:温暖的风(4)

 All winter Wilbur watched over Charlotte's egg sac as though he were guarding his own children. 整个冬天，威尔伯一直盯住夏洛的卵袋看，像是护卫它自己的孩子。

He had scooped¹ out a special place in the manure² for the sac, next to the board fence. 它在肥料堆里拱出一个专门的地方放这卵袋，就在栅栏旁边。

On very cold nights he lay so that his breath would warm it. 在严寒的夜里，它躺着让自己的呼吸能温暖它。

For Wilbur, nothing in life was so important as this small round object - nothing else  mattered. 对威尔伯来说，它生活中再没有一样东西比得上这小圆球重要——不管是什么东西。

Patiently he awaited the end of winter and the coming of the little spiders. 它耐心地等着冬天结束，这些小蜘蛛诞生。

Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch. 当你在等着什么事情发生，等着什么孵出来时，生活总是一段稳定充实的时光。

The winter ended at last. 最后，冬天终于到头了。

"I heard the frogs today," said the old sheep one evening. “今天我听到青蛙叫，”一天傍晚老羊说，

"Listen!  You can hear them now." “听，现在你能听到它了。”

Wilbur stood still and cocked his ears. 威尔伯站着不动，竖起了耳朵。

From the pond, in shrill³ chorus, came the voices of hundreds of little frogs. 从池塘那里传来几百只小青蛙的合叫声。

"Springtime," said the old sheep, thoughtfully.  "Another spring." “春天，”老羊沉思说，“又是一个春天。”

As  she walked away, Wilbur saw a new lamb following her. 它走开时，威尔伯看到一只新的小羊羔跟在它后面。

It was only a few hours old. 小羊羔才几个钟头大。

The snows melted and ran away. 雪融化成水流走了。

The streams and ditches bubbled and chattered⁴ with rushing water. 小溪和沟渠流水潺潺。

A sparrow with a streaky breast arrived and sang. 一条胸前有条纹的歌雀飞来，唱起来了歌。

The light strengthened, the mornings came sooner. 白昼变长，天亮得更早了。

Almost every morning there was another new lamb in the sheepfold. 羊棚里几乎每天早晨都会多一只小羊羔。

The goose was sitting on nine eggs. 那只母鹅坐在九个蛋上面。

The sky seemed wider and a warm wind blew. 天空似乎更加开阔，温暖的风吹了起来。

The last remaining strands⁵ of  Charlotte's old web floated away and vanished. 夏洛那张旧网最后剩下的一些蜘蛛丝飘走了，不见了。

 

1 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

3 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

4 chattered   

（人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤

参考例句：

• They chattered away happily for a while. 他们高兴地闲扯了一会儿。
• We chattered like two teenagers. 我们聊着天，像两个十多岁的孩子。

5 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》