英国语文第二册 第22期:绵羊和小羔羊的故事

 　　LESSON 22 Story of the sheep and the lamb  第二十二课 绵羊和小羔羊的故事

　　A lad was one day walking in a field, when he saw a sheep coming towards him.  有一天，一个小伙子在田野里散步，看见一只羊朝他走过来。

　　The poor thing came running up quite close to him.  那可怜的东西离他是如此地近。

　　She then went on a few steps, at the same time turning round,  羊又上前了几步，同时转身看着小伙子的脸，

　　and looking up in the lad's face, and bleating¹ loudly. 并大声咩咩地叫。

　　The lad had never seen a sheep act in this way before; 小伙子从来没有看到过一只羊竟然做出这样的行为，

　　and wishing to find out what the creature wanted, he began to follow her across the field.  很好奇这可怜的小东西究竟想干什么，他开始跟着她穿过田野。

　　On and on she went, every now and then turning round to see if the lad was coming.  她一直不停地走，不时地回头看看这个小伙子是否继续跟着。

　　At last she led the way to a place where there was a running stream, and a deep pool of water. 最后，她领着小伙子到了一个流淌着小溪的地方，那儿还有一个深水池。

　　As soon as he came to this spot, the lad saw a little lamb struggling in the water.  他刚到这个地方，就看见一只小羊羔在水里扑腾、挣扎。

　　It had fallen over the bank into the pool below, and was trying in vain² to get out.  它是从深水池的岸边上滑下去的，并试图爬上来。

　　The poor mother sheep must have known³ that better help than she could give was needed, to save her little one. 可怜的母羊肯定知道，现在需要比她更有能力的人来帮忙挽救她的孩子。

　　The lad, by leaning⁴ over the bank, found that he could just reach the little creature.  小伙子靠在岸边上，发现他刚好可以够到那个小东西。

　　He soon caught hold of it, and lifted it up on the bank.  他很快就抓住了它，并把它举到岸边。

　　The mother sheep seemed greatly pleased to have her little one again beside her. 母羊多么高兴看到她的小家伙又回到她身边。

1 bleating   

v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说

参考例句：

• I don't like people who go around bleating out things like that. 我不喜欢跑来跑去讲那种蠢话的人。 来自辞典例句
• He heard the tinny phonograph bleating as he walked in. 他步入室内时听到那架蹩脚的留声机在呜咽。 来自辞典例句

2 vain   

adj.徒劳的，徒然的，无效的，空虚的，自负的

参考例句：

• It was in vain that we tried to find his mother.我们百般设法找他的母亲，但毫无结果。
• He's very vain of his abilities.他对于自己的能力很自负。

3 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

4 leaning   

n.倾向，爱好，偏爱v.（使）倾斜，屈身( lean的现在分词 )；倚；依赖；使斜靠

参考例句：

• a leaning towards comedy rather than tragedy 偏爱喜剧而不是悲剧
• Jackson is leaning over backwards to persuade his wealthy uncle. 杰克逊想尽种种办法去讨好他那个有钱的叔叔。 来自《简明英汉词典》