Chapter6 Moving in 搬进新房-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《草原小屋Little House on the Prairie》上

Chapter b Moving In “THE walls are up,”Pa was saying to Ma in the morning.“We'd better move in and get along as best we can without a floor or other fixings.I must build the stable as fast as I can,so Pet and Patty can be inside walls,too.Last night I could hear wolves howling from every direction,seemed like,and close,too." "Well,you have your gun,so I'll not worry,"said Ma. "Yes,and there's Jack.But I'll feel easier in my mind when you and the girls have good solid walls around you." "Why do you suppose we haven't seen any Indians?"Ma asked. “Oh,Idon't know,”Pa replied,carelessly3.“T've seen their camping-places among the bluffs.They're away on a hunting trip now, I guess.” Then Ma called:"Girls!The sun's up!"and Laura and Mary scrambled out of bed and into their clothes. "Eat your breakfasts quickly,"Ma said,putting the last of the rabbit stew on their tin plates."We're moving into the house today,and all the chips must be out..” So they ate quickly,and hurried to carry all the chips out of the house.They ran back and forth as fast as they could,gathering their ·084· 6 搬进新房 早上爸爸对妈妈说：“墙搭好了，我们最好先搬进 去，尽可能在没有地板或其他设备的情况下过活。我必 ①stable /sterbl/n马 须尽快盖起马厩，这样，皮特和帕蒂也就可以呆在墙里 厩 了。昨天夜里我听到四面八方传来狼嚎，好像是，还很 近。” “哦，你有枪，所以我不担心。”妈妈说。 “对，还有杰克。但是，你和孩子们呆在坚固而 令人称心的墙里边了，我心里就踏实多了。” “你为什么觉得我们还没有见过任何印第安人 ②suppose/s3'p3UzlV 呢？”妈妈问。 假设 carelessly /kealisl/ “噢，我不知道，”爸爸漫不经心地回答说， ad.不注意地 “我在悬崖中看到了他们的宿营地，我想现在他们 ④bluff /blAf/n.断崖 出门打猎去了。” 这时，妈妈叫了起来：“姑娘们！太阳出来啦！” 劳拉和玛丽争先恐后地从床上爬起来穿上衣服。 “快吃早饭吧。”妈妈一边说，一边把最后几块 炖兔肉放到马口铁盘子里，“今天我们要搬进屋子 ⑤back and forth来回 了，必须把屋子里的所有木屑清除掉。” 地，反复地 所以，他们匆匆吃完早饭，急急忙忙地去清除 ·085· Little House on the Prairie skirts full of chips and dumping them in a pile near the fire.But there were still chips on the ground inside the house when Ma began to sweep it with her willow2-bough3 broom. Ma limped,though her sprained ankle was beginning to get well. But she soon swept the earthen floor,and then Mary and Laura began to help her carry things into the house. Pa was on top of the walls,stretching the canvas wagon-top over the skeleton roof of saplings5.The canvas billowed in the wind,Pa's beard blew wildly and his hair stood up from his head as if it were trying to pull itself out.He held onto the canvas and fought it.Once it jerked so hard that Laura thought he must let go or sail into the air like a bird. But he held tight to the wall with his legs,and tight to the canvas with his hands,and he tied it down. “There!”he said to it.“Stay where you are,and be-” “Charles！”Ma said..She stood with her arms full of quilts⑧and looked up at him reprovingly. “-and be good,”Pa said to the canvas..“Why,Caroline,what did you think I was going to say?" “Oh,Charles!”Ma said.“You scalawag” Pa came right down the corner of the house.The ends of the logs stuck out,and he used them for a ladder.He ran his hand through his hair so that it stood up even more wildly,and Ma burst out laughing. Then he hugged her,quilts and all. Then they looked at the house and Pa said,"How's that for a snug house!” “T'll be thankful to get into it,.”said Ma. There was no door and there were no windows.There was no floor except the ground and no roof except the canvas.But that house had good stout walls,and it would stay where it was.It was not like the ·086· 草原小屋 屋里的所有木屑。她们马不停蹄地来回奔跑，一裙 ①sweep/swip/.扫 子一裙子地兜木屑，将木屑倒在营火附近的木屑堆 上。但是当妈妈用柳枝扫帚打扫屋里的地面时，地 ②willow /wilau/n.柳 树 上还是有些碎木屑。 ③bough/bau/m.大树 枝 尽管妈妈那扭伤的脚踝开始康复，但是她跛着 ④limpAlmp/y.跛行 脚。她很快地扫净了屋里的地，接着玛丽和劳拉开 ⑤sapling/'saeplin/i 树苗 始帮她把东西搬进屋。 ⑥billow /'bil3/.像 巨浪般汹涌 爸爸坐在墙头上，打开车篷帆布，盖在木杆的 屋顶架上。帆布在风中翻腾，爸爸的胡子随风乱 舞，头发从头上直立起来似乎要拼命将自己拔出头 皮。他抓住帆布，进行搏斗。有一次，帆布猛地一 ⑦let go放开 鼓，劳拉以为爸爸一定会松手或会让它像鸟儿一样 飞到天空。但是，爸爸用腿紧紧地夹住木墙，双手 死死抓住帆布，从而把它拉下来拴住了。 ⑧quilt /kwilt/n被子 好了”他对帆布说：“呆在这儿吧，而且要…” ⑨reprovingly ad.责难 似地 “查尔斯！”妈妈叫。她抱着满满一抱被子站在 那里，用责备的目光向上看着他。 “…好好听话。”爸爸对帆布说。然后他又问 scalawag 妈妈：“呃，卡罗琳，你以为我要说什么？” "skaelawag/n.无赖 汉 “哎哟，查尔斯”妈妈说，“你这淘气鬼！” 爸爸马上从墙角上下来。圆木的两头突出来， 他把它们当作梯子。他用手拢了拢头发，使得头发 Iburst /b3:st/k突发 越发立了起来，妈妈忍不住大笑起来。接着他拥抱 她，还有她抱的被子以及所有的东西。 然后，他们看了看房子，爸爸说：“这舒适的 小屋怎么样！” “搬进这房子我会很高兴。”妈妈说。 没有门也没有窗。没有地板，只有土的地面； 2 stout/staot/a.结实 的 没有屋顶，只有帆布篷。但那房子有坚实的墙，它 ·087· Little House on the Prairie wagon,that every morning went on to some other place. “We're going to do well here,Caroline,”Pa said.“This is a great country.This is a country I'll be contented to stay in the rest of my life.” “Even when it's settled up2?”Ma asked.. "Even when it's settled up.No matter how thick and close the neighbors get,this country'll never feel crowded.Look at that sky!" Laura knew what he meant.She liked this place,too.She liked the enormous sky and the winds,and the land that you couldn't see to the end of.Everything was so fresh and clean and big and splendid3. By dinner time the house was in order.The beds were neatly made on the floor.The wagon-seat and two ends of logs were brought in for chairs.Pa's gun lay on its pegs above the doorway.Boxes and bundles were neat against the walls.It was a pleasant house.A soft light came through the canvas roof,wind and sunshine came through the window holes,and every crack in the four walls glowed a little because the sun was overhead. Only the camp fire stayed where it had been.Pa said he would build a fireplace in the house as soon as he could.He would hew out slabs to make a solid roof,too,before winter came.He would lay a puncheon floor,and make beds and tables and chairs.But all that work must wait until he had helped Mr.Edwards and had built a stable for Pet and Patty. “When that''s all done,”said Ma,“I want a clothes-line，⑤” Pa laughed.“Yes,and I want a well.” After dinner he hitched Pet and Patty to the wagon and he hauled a tubful of water from the creek,so that Ma could do the washing."You could wash clothes in the creek,he told her."Indian women do." ·088· 草原小屋 将牢牢地立在地基上。它不像马车，每天早晨都要 继续驶往某个地方。 “我们将在这儿过得很好，卡罗琳，”爸爸说， ①contented kan'tentid/a.满足 “这个地方棒极了，下半辈子都在这儿过，我也会 的 感到心满意足。” “甚至在它住满人的时候？”妈妈问。 ②settle up解决 “甚至在它住满人的时候。不管有多少邻居，不 管住得多么近，在这个地方将永远不会觉得拥挤。 看那天空！” 劳拉明白他的意思。她也喜欢这个地方。她喜 ③splendid/splendid/ 欢浩瀚的天空和草原上的风，还有一眼望不到边的 a.极好的 茫茫大地。这里的一切都这么清新、干净、广阔和 壮观。 到午饭时，房屋已收拾得井井有条。地上的床铺 得很整洁。马车车座和两个木墩子被拿进来作椅凳。 爸爸的枪挂在门口上方的木桩上。箱子和包袱整整齐 齐地靠墙放着。这是一间很舒服的房子，柔和的光线 穿过帆布屋顶投入屋内，风和阳光从窗口钻了进来。 头顶上空的太阳使四壁上的条条缝隙闪烁着红光。 只有营火依然在老地方。爸爸说他要尽快垒一 ④puncheon/pAntfan/ 个壁炉；他还要在冬天到来之前劈些木板搭起坚固 m.短柱 的屋顶；他要铺个木料地板；还要制作床、桌子和 椅子。但所有这些事儿都必须等他帮爱德华兹先生 盖好房以及给皮特和帕蒂搭好马厩以后才能做。 妈妈说：“等所有这些都办成了，我要一根晾 1ine/ain/m线 衣绳。” 爸爸笑盈盈地说：好的，而我呢，要一口井。” 吃过午饭，他把皮特和帕蒂套上车，从河里拉 ⑥tubful/'tbfl/n. 桶（或一盆）的容量 来一桶水，这样妈妈就可以涮洗了。”他对妈妈说： ·089· Little House on the Prairie "If we wanted to live like Indians,you could make a hole in the roof to let the smoke out,and we'd have the fire on the floor inside the house,”said Ma.“Indians do.” That afternoon she washed the clothes in the tub and spread them on the grass to dry. After supper they sat for a while by the camp fire.That night they would sleep in the house;they would never sleep beside a camp fire again.Pa and Ma talked about the folks in Wisconsin,and Ma wished she could send them a letter.But Independence was forty miles away, and no letter could go until Pa made the long trip to the post-office there. Back in the Big Woods so far away,Grandpa and Grandma and the aunts and uncles and cousins did not know where Pa and Ma and Laura and Mary and Baby Carrie were.And sitting there by the camp fire,no one knew what might have happened in the Big Woods.There was no way to find out. well,it's bedtime,Ma said.Baby Carrie was already asleep.Ma carried her into the house and undressed her,while Mary unbuttoned Laura's dress and petticoat waist down the back,and Pa hung a quilt over the door hole.The quilt would be better than no door.Then Pa went out to bring Pet and Patty close to the house. He called back,softly,"Come out here,Caroline,and look at the moon.” Mary and Laura lay in their little bed on the ground inside the new house,and watched the sky through the window hole to the east.The edge of the big,bright moon glittered 3 at the bottom of the window space,and Laura sat up.She looked at the great moon,sailing silently higher in the clear sky. Its light made silvery lines in all the cracks on that side of the house. ·090· 草原小屋【 “你可以在河里洗衣服，印第安女人就是这样。” “如果我们想要像印第安人那样生活，你可以在 房顶上留个洞往外冒烟，我们在屋里地上生火，” 妈妈说：“印第安人就是这样。” 那天下午，她在水桶里洗衣服，然后把衣服铺 在草地上晒干。 晚饭后，他们在营火旁坐了一会儿。那天夜里， 他们要睡在屋里，他们再也不用睡在营火旁边了。 爸爸和妈妈谈论着威斯康星的亲戚，妈妈希望她能 给他们寄一封信去。但独立镇有40英里远，在爸 爸作一次长途旅行到邮局之前，一封信也无法寄 出。 再说在那遥远的大森林里，爷爷、奶奶、姑姑、 叔叔和堂兄妹们都不知道爸爸、妈妈、玛丽、劳拉 和小卡里在哪里。他们坐在营火旁边，谁也不知道 大森林里会发生什么事情。没有办法知道。 “好了，该睡觉了。”妈妈说。小卡里已经睡着， 妈妈把她抱进屋，脱去她的衣服，而玛丽从上往下给 劳拉解开连衣裙和衬裙上衣背后的扣子，爸爸把一条 ①waist /weist/n.腰 被子挂在门口。没有门，挂一条被子终归要好些。随 后，爸爸出去把皮特和帕蒂牵到房子旁边。 他回头轻声叫道；“出来，到这儿来，卡罗琳， 来看看月亮。” 玛丽和劳拉躺在新房子地上的小床上，从朝东 ②edge /ed3ln.边 的窗口望着天空。皎洁而巨大的月亮在窗口的下沿 ③glitter/'glta/v闪烁 闪烁发光。劳拉坐了起来。她看着那硕大的月亮在 万里晴空中无声地向更高处飘游。 月光在屋子东墙的所有缝隙形成一条条银线。 它从窗口倾入，在地面上留下一块方形的柔光。月 ·091·