Chapter5 The House on the Prairie 草原上的屋子-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《草原小屋Little House on the Prairie》上

Chapter 5 The House on the Prairie LAURA and Mary were up next morning earlier than the sun.They ate their breakfast of cornmeal mush with prairie-hen gravy,and hurried to help Ma wash the dishes.Pa was loading everything else into the wagon and hitching up Pet and Patty. When the sun rose,they were driving on across the prairie.There was no road now.Pet and Patty waded③through the grasses④，and the wagon left behind it only the tracks of its wheels. Before noon,Pa said,"Whoa!The wagon stopped. “Here we are,Caroline!”he said.“Right here we''ll build our house." Laura and Mary scrambled over the feed-box and dropped to the ground in a hurry.All around them there was nothing but grassy prairie spreading to the edge of the sky. Quite near them,to the north,the creek bottoms lay below the prairie.Some darker green tree-tops showed,and beyond them bits of the rim of earthen bluffs held up the prairie's grasses.Far away to the east,a broken line of different greens lay on the prairie,and Pa said that was the river. ·062· 5 草原上的屋子 第二天早晨，劳拉和玛丽比太阳起得还早。她 ①mush/mAf/n.浓粥 们早餐吃玉米粥和松鸡肉卤，然后她们赶忙帮助妈 ②hitch/hit∫/k系住 妈刷洗盘子。爸爸正往马车上装各种用具和物品， 套上皮特和帕蒂。 ③wade /weid/v.跋涉 太阳升起的时候，他们在草原上继续前进。这 ④gmsy'gru:s/a.绿 色的 时没有路了。皮特和帕蒂艰难地在草地上跋涉，车 后面留下的只是车轮的印儿。 在中午前，爸爸吆喝了一声：“吁！”车停了。 “到了，卡罗琳！”他说，“我们就在这儿造我 们的房子。” 劳拉和玛丽爬到饲料槽上，争先恐后地滑到地 面上。在他们的四周，除了长满野草的草原伸展到 天边以外，什么都没有。 离他们不远的北边，草原下面是河边低地。那 5 earthen /'3:0an/a. 儿露出一些深绿色的树梢，在树梢那边是一些土峭 大地的 bluff /blaf/m.断崖 壁的边缘，峭壁截断了野草茂密的草原。在遥远的 东方，草原上有一条断断续续的深浅不一的绿色条 带，爸爸说那是一条河。 ·063· Little House on the Prairie "That's the Verdigris River,he said,pointing it out to Ma. Right away,he and Ma began to unload the wagon.They took out everything and piled it on the ground.Then they took off the wagon- cover and put it over the pile.Then they took even the wagon-box off, while Laura and Mary and Jack watched. The wagon had been home for a long time.Now there was nothing left of it but the four wheels and the parts that connected them.Pet and Patty were still hitched to the tongue.Pa took a bucket and his ax,and sitting on this skeleton wagon,he drove away.He drove right down into the prairie,out of sight. “Where's Pa going?”Laura asked,and Ma said,“He's going to get a load③of logs from the creek bottoms..” It was strange and frightening to be left without the wagon on the High Prairie.The land and the sky seemed too large,and Laura felt small.She wanted to hide and be still in the tall grass,like a little prairie chicken.But she didn't.She helped Ma,while Mary sat on the grass and minded Baby Carrie. First Laura and Ma made the beds,under the wagon-cover tent. Then Ma arranged the boxes and bundles,while Laura pulled all the grass from a space in front of the tent.That made a bare place for the fire.They couldn't start the fire until Pa brought wood. There was nothing more to do,so Laura explored 5 a little.She did not go far from the tent.But she found a queer little kind of tunnel in the grass.You'd never notice it if you looked across the waving grass- tops.But when you came to it,there it was-a narrow,straight,hard path down between the grass stems.It went out into the endless prairie. Laura went along it a little way.She went slowly,and more slowly, and then she stood still and felt queer.So she turned around and came ·064· 草原小屋【 “那是危地格里斯河。”他指着河对妈妈说。 他和妈妈立刻开始卸车。他们卸下所有的物品， ①pile/pa/n堆 码放在地上。接着他们取下车篷，盖在堆着的东西 上。然后，把车厢也取了下来，这时劳拉、玛丽和 杰克都看着他们。 很长时间以来，马车一直是家。现在上边除了 四个车轮和连接它们的各部分以外，什么东西也没 ②bucket/bakit/m.水 留下。皮特和帕蒂仍被套在车辕上。爸爸提着一只 桶 桶，拿着斧子，坐上这辆只剩下躯壳的马车，向远 处驶去。他驱车直入草原，不见了。 劳拉问妈妈；“爸爸去哪儿？”妈妈回答说： ③load /loud/n装载 量 “他去河边低地去拉一车木头来。” ④ogDg/n.圆木 在大草原上没有马车是不可思议的，那会使人一筹 莫展。大地和天空看上去太大了，莽莽苍苍，在它们面 前，劳拉觉得自己太渺小了。她想藏到高大的野草里安 静安静，像一只小松鸡那样。但是她没有这样做。她帮 助妈妈做事，玛丽坐在草地上照顾小卡里。 劳拉和妈妈先在马车顶篷搭的帐篷下收拾床铺， 然后妈妈整理箱子和包袱，劳拉拔除帐篷前面场地 上的所有野草，为生营火开出一块空地。但在爸爸 运回木头之前她们不能生火。 没有更多的事可做，于是劳拉就去作一番“探 ⑤explore /iks'plb/v. 探险 险”，她没有离开帐篷很远。但是她发现草丛里有一条 ⑥queer/kwo/a.奇怪 奇怪的小隧道。如果从波浪起伏的草丛顶看过去你是绝 的 ⑦tunnel/tanl/n.地下 不会注意到它的。但当你走到它跟前，就会看到 道 ⑧stem/stem/n.茎 它一草茎间的一条直而坚硬的窄路，它通向无边的 草原。 劳拉沿着隧道走了一段儿路。她走得很慢，越来 越慢，最后她一动不动地站在那儿，觉得非常奇怪。 ·065· Little House on the Prairie back quickly.When she looked over her shoulder,there wasn't anything there.But she hurried. When Pa came riding back on a load of logs,Laura told him about that path.He said he had seen it yesterday."It's some old trail,"he said. That night by the fire Laura asked again when she would see a papoose,but Pa didn't know.He said you never saw Indians unless they wanted you to see them.He had seen Indians when he was a boy in New York State,but Laura never had.She knew they were wild men with red skins,and their hatchets were called tomahawks2. Pa knew all about wild animals,so he must know about wild men, too.Laura thought he would show her a papoose some day,just as he had shown her fawns,and little bears,and wolves. For days Pa hauled logs.He made two piles of them,one for the house and one for the stable.There began to be a road where he drove back and forth to the creek bottoms.And at night on their picket-lines Pet and Patty ate the grass,till it was short and stubby5 all around the log- piles. Pa began the house first.He paced off the size of it on the ground, then with his spade he dug a shallow little hollow along two sides of that space.Into these hollows he rolled two of the biggest logs.They were sound,strong logs,because they must hold up the house.They were called sills9. Then Pa chose two more strong,big logs,and he rolled these logs onto the ends of the sills,so that they made a hollow square.Now with his ax he cut a wide,deep notch near each end of these logs.He cut these notches out of the top of the log,but with his eye he measured the sills,and he cut the notches so that they would fit around half of the sill. When the notches were cut,he rolled the log over.And the notches ·066· 草原小屋【 于是她转过身，急速回来。当她回头从自己的肩头望 过去，这时好像什么也没有。她急忙走了。 爸爸驾着满载木头的马车回来时，劳拉告诉了 ①trail /tre/n.小径 爸爸那条路的事。爸爸说他昨天已经看到了。“那 是一条旧的小路。”他说。 那天夜晚在营火旁劳拉又问，她什么时候能看 到印第安小孩，但爸爸说他不知道。他说，除非印 第安人想让你看，否则，你是绝对看不到的。爸爸 看到过印第安人，那时他还是个孩子，在纽约州。 2tomahawk 但是，劳拉从没见过，她知道印第安人是红皮肤的 "tpmaho:k/n.钺 野人，他们的短柄小斧子叫作钺。 爸爸知道所有关于野生动物的事儿，所以，他也一 定知道有关野人的事儿。劳拉想，总有一天他会让她看 到印第安小孩，正如他赠让她看到小鹿、小熊和狼一样。 ③haul/h3:/.拖 ④stable /steibl/n.马 好几天，爸爸都在拉木头，他把拉来的木头放 厩 成两堆，一堆用来造房子，一堆搭马厩。他驾车去 河边低地来回经过的地方已开始形成一条路。夜晚 stubby'stb/a粗 而短的 皮特和帕蒂套着拴马索吃草，直到木头堆周围的草 pace /peis/,艘步 被吃得剩下短短的残根。 ⑦spade/speid/n.铁 爸爸首先开始盖房。他在地上用步子量出房子 锹 ⑧hold up支持住 的面积，然后用铁锹在地基两边各挖出一道浅浅的 小沟。他把两根最粗大的圆木分别滚入这两条浅 ⑨sisl/n.基石 沟。这两根木头完好而坚固，因为它们必须支撑整 座房子，这对圆木叫基木。 接着爸爸又挑了两根牢固而粗大的，把它们滚 0 notch /npt/n.刻痕 到基木的两头，这样就形成一个空心正方形。这时 他用斧子在木头两头附近劈出又宽又深的槽。他在 圆木表面劈槽，但用肉眼测量基木，槽的深度大约 要达到基木一半那么深。 ·067· Little House on the Prairie fitted down over the sill. That finished the foundation of the house.It was one loghigh.The sills were half buried in the ground,and the logs on their ends fitted snugly to the ground.At the corners,where they crossed,the notches let them fit together so that they were no thicker than one log.And the two ends stick out?beyond the notches. Next day Pa began the walls.From each side he rolled up a log,and he notched its ends so that it fitted down over the end logs.Then he rolled up logs from the ends,and notched them so that they fitted down over the side logs.Now the whole house was two logs high. The logs fitted solidly together at the corners.But no log is ever perfectly straight,and all logs are bigger at one end than at the other end,so cracks were left between them all along the walls.But that did not matter,because Pa would chink those cracks. All by himself,he built the house three logs high.Then Ma helped him.Pa lifted one end of a log onto the wall,then Ma held it while he lifted the other end.He stood up on the wall to cut the notches,and Ma ·068· 草原小屋 槽面劈好以后，他把圆木滚上去。上面木头的 槽扣在基木上。 就这样，房子的地基打好了。它有一根躺着的 ①snugly'snAgli/ad. 木头那么高。基木有一半埋在地下，扣在它们两头 紧紧地 的圆木舒舒服服地贴在地面上。在圆木交叉的角 上，木槽使圆木相互咬在一起，这样它们就不比一 ②stick out突出 根躺着的木头高了。圆木的两头突出在槽的外面。 第二天，爸爸开始筑墙。他在两边各放好一根 圆木，在圆木两头挖槽使其正扣在下边的圆木上。 接着他把圆木从两头滚上，使槽正扣在下边的圆木 上。现在整座房子已有两根躺卧的木头那么高了。 木头在墙角牢固地装搭在一起。但是没有一根 木头是笔直的，而且，所有的木头都是一头粗一头 细，所以在整个墙面上，圆木之间都留着缝。但是 这没关系，因为爸爸会把这些缝堵死。 他一个人把墙搭到了3层木头那么高。然后， 妈妈开始帮他。爸爸把一根圆木的一头举起来放到 墙上，然后让妈妈扶着这头，爸爸举另一头。他站 ·069· Little House on the Prairie helped roll and hold the log while he settled it where it should be to make the corner perfectly square. So,log by log,they built the walls higher,till they were pretty high,and Laura couldn't get over them any more.She was tired of watching Pa and Ma build the house,and she went into the tall grass, exploring.Suddenly she heard Pa shout,"Let go!Get out from under!" The big,heavy log was sliding.Pa was trying to hold up his end of it,to keep it from falling on Ma.He couldn't.It crashed down.Laura saw Ma huddled5 on the ground. She got to Ma almost as quickly as Pa did.Pa knelt down and called Ma in a dreadful voice,and Ma gasped,"I'm all right." The log was on her foot.Pa lifted the log and Ma pulled her foot from under it.Pa felt her to see if any bones were broken. “Move your arms,”he said.“Is your back hurt?Can you turn your head?"Ma moved her arms and turned her head. "Thank God,"Pa said.He helped Ma to sit up.She said again, “T'm all right,Charles.It's just my foot.” Quickly Pa took off her shoe and stocking.He felt her foot all over, moving the ankle and the instep and every toe."Does it hurt much?" he asked. Ma's face was gray and her mouth was a tight line."Not much,"she said. “No bones broken,”said Pa..“Tt's only a bad sprain.” Ma said,cheerfully:"Well,a sprain's soon mended.Don't be so upset,Charles.” “I blame myself,”said Pa.“I should have used skids.” He helped Ma to the tent.He built up the fire and heated water. When the water was as hot as Ma could bear,she put her swollen foot ·070· 草原小屋 到墙上去劈槽，妈妈帮他滚木头，扶木头，爸爸决定木 D square/sk wea/h.正 头应放在哪个位置，以便使墙角完全保特正方形。 方形 这样，一根木头接一根木头，屋墙越搭越高， ②pretty /prit/ad.相 当地 直到劳拉不再能从它上面跨越过去。劳拉对看爸爸 妈妈造房感到乏味，于是又走进高大的草丛去探索 了。突然她听到爸爸大叫：“放开，从下面出来！” ③slide /slaid/v.滑 一根又粗又重的圆木正滑下来。爸爸试图抓住 ④crash/krej/.迫降 一头，使它不致于落到妈妈身上。可是，爸爸没抓 ⑤huddle"hAd/v.推 挤 住。木头掉了下来。劳拉看见妈妈蜷缩在地上。 ⑥kneel /ni:l/.跪 dreadful /'dredfol/a. 她几乎和爸爸一样快地奔向妈妈。爸爸跪下去 可怕的 并用吓人的声音呼喊着妈妈，妈妈呼吸急促地说： “我没事儿。” feel/i:l/.触摸 木头压在她的脚上。爸爸拾起木头，妈妈把脚从木 头下抽出，爸爸抚摸着她的脚，看看是不是有骨折。 “活动活动你的胳膊，”他说，“你的背疼吗？ 你能转转头吗？”妈妈活动了一下胳膊并转了转她 的头颈。 “谢天谢地，”爸爸说。他帮妈妈坐起来。她再 ⑨ankle /aen kal/n踝， 一次说：“我没事儿，查尔斯。只是我的脚。” 踝关节 0 instep/'mstep/n,脚 爸爸急忙脱去她的鞋子和长筒袜。他抚摸着她 背 i toe /tau/n.脚趾 的整只脚，活动她的踝关节、脚背、每一个脚趾。 “疼得很厉害吗？”他问她。 妈妈脸色发灰，她的嘴唇紧紧地绷成一条线。 段sprain/sprein/n.扭 “不厉害。”她回答道。 伤 爸爸说：“没有骨折，只是严重扭伤。” 妈妈笑眯眯地说：“好了，扭伤恢复很快，不 3skid/skdn滑动 要这么丧气，查尔斯。” 垫木 swollen /'swaulan/ “我该死，”爸爸说，“我应该使用滑动垫木。” a.肿大的 爸爸帮着妈妈进了帐篷。他生起火烧水。水烧 ·071·