When I was a boy I once climbed over a fence into a field, and before I knew it a bull was dashing toward me.  我小的时候有一次爬过篱笆，跑到一块田里。还没等我反应过来，就有一头公牛向我冲过来。

I barely had time to scramble back over the fence again—a narrow escape; I didn’t see any fun in it at all.  我赶紧从篱笆上爬回去——差一点就被公牛顶到；我可没觉得那有什么好玩的。

But in Spain on Sundays and holidays great crowds of people go to an outdoor theater called the bull-ring to see men fight bulls. 但在西班牙，每逢星期天和节假日，人们成群结队到一个叫做斗牛场的露天剧场去观看斗牛。

The people sit on seats outside a fence that shuts in a sandy field, and from that safe place they watch the bull-fights.  斗牛场中间有一块沙地，四周围着栅栏，人们坐在栅栏外的座位上，可以安全地观看斗牛表演。

A gate is opened into the field and a big, wild bull rushes in.  通向中间场地的门打开后一头高大凶猛的公牛就冲了进来。

A man called a bull-fighter goes to meet him with a red cloak in his hand and waves it in the face of the bull.  一个叫做斗牛士的人手拿红色斗篷出来迎接它，并在它的面前挥舞斗篷。

This makes the bull mad, so with lowered horns he charges the red cloak.  这个动作激怒了公牛，于是它低下头，头角向着斗篷。

The bull-fighter jumps to one side just as the bull reaches him, and the angry bull, unable to turn quickly, passes him by.  斗牛士在公牛就要顶到他那一瞬间跳到一旁，愤怒的公牛不能迅速转身就从他的身边擦身而过。

The bull-fighter teases the bull in this way again and again.  斗牛士就用这种方式一次又一次地逗弄公牛。

After worrying him in various ways, as a cat plays with a mouse, the bull-fighter kills the bull with a thrust of a long sword.  像猫戏弄老鼠那样用各种方法折磨它之后，用一把长剑刺死公牛。

It seems to us very cruel, but in Spain they say we kill bulls for meat and do not give any one the fun of seeing them killed. 在我们看来这似乎很残忍，但西班牙人说我们杀牛吃肉却不让人有看牛被杀的乐趣。

A bull-fighter has to be very brave and very skilful, and his foot must not slip on the sandy ground, or he cannot dodge the bull and he will be killed.  斗牛士必须非常的勇敢，也要很有技巧，他的脚在沙地上不能打滑，否则就无法躲开公牛，死在牛角下。

Almost every city and town in Spain has a bull-ring, as almost every city in the United States has a baseball field or a stadium,  西班牙几乎每个城镇都有斗牛场，就像美国几乎每个城市都有棒球场或体育场一样，

for bull-fighting is a national sport, as baseball or football is our national sport.  因为斗牛是西班牙一项全民娱乐，就像棒球或橄榄球是美国的全民娱乐一样。

Even boys play bull-fighting, one making believe he is the bull and the other the bull-fighter. 甚至小男孩都玩斗牛游戏，一个假扮牛，另一个假扮斗牛士。

Every country seems to have certain games they like to play best.  每个国家似乎都有某些人们最喜欢的运动。

In Spain the girls do not jump rope, but they dance instead, and keep time by clicking little clappers on their fingers, often singing as they do so.  在西班牙，女孩们不跳绳，她们跳舞，一边跳舞一边按节拍用手指上的响板敲出“咔哒、咔哒”的声音，还常伴着唱歌。

The clappers look like big chestnuts and so are called castanets, which means chestnuts.  这种响板看起来就像大栗子，所以在西班牙语中“响板”（castanet）就是栗子的意思。

They dance in twos and fours on the sidewalk, in the parks and squares, wherever our children would jump rope or play hop-scotch.  她们两人一对或四人一组在人行道、公园里或广场上跳舞，凡是在我们的孩子跳绳或玩“跳房子”游戏的地方，她们都会去跳舞。

Even in the great Cathedral of Seville the choir boys dance with castanets in front of the altar at certain church festivals.  甚至在塞维利亚大教堂，在某些宗教节日里唱诗班的男孩也会在圣坛前手持响板跳舞。

It is the only place in the World where any one dances in church. 那是世界上唯一能在教堂里跳舞的地方。