Chapter7 The Wolf-pack 狼群-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《草原小屋Little House on the Prairie》上

cittfe 3House on the Prairie The light poured through the window hole and made a square{ of soft radiance{②} on the floor. It was so bright that Laura saw Ma plainly③ when she lifted the quilt at the door and came in. Then Laura very quickly lay down, before Ma saw her naughtily sitting up in bed. She heard Pet and Patty whinnying④ softly to Pa. Then the faint thuds of their feet came into her ear from the floor. Pet and Patty and Pa were coming toward the house, and Laura heard Pa singing. "Sail on, silver moon! Shed your radiance o'er the sky -" His voice was like a part of the night and the moonlight and the stillness of the prairie. He came to the doorway, singing “By the pale, silver light of the moon -" Softly Ma said, "Hush, Charles. You'll wake the children." So Pa came in without a sound. Jack followed at his heels and lay down across the doorway. Now they were all inside the stout walls of their new home, and they were snug and safe. DrowsilyLaura heard a long wolf-howl rising from far away on the prairie, but only a little shiver went up her backbone and she fell asleep. 092 草原小屋 ① square /skwea/ n. 方 色如昼,劳拉能清楚地看到妈妈掀起挂在门口的被 形 子,走了进来。 ② radiance /'reidtans n.光辉 这时劳拉趁妈妈没看到她仍然淘气地坐在床上 ③ plainly /pleinli/ ad 明白地 的时候,迅速地躺下了。 她听见皮特和帕蒂轻声地对爸爸嘶叫。接着, ④ whinny /wint.hw 隐隐约约地,她听见从地面传来它们蹄子的拍击 n/v.马嘶 声。皮特和帕蒂跟着爸爸走向房子,劳拉听到爸爸 唱道: “向前飘呀,银色的月亮! 把你的光辉洒满天空......” 他的歌声像是夜晚、月光和草原静寂的一部分 他唱着来到门口 “在淡淡的银色的月光下.....” 妈妈温柔地说; “嘘,查尔斯,你会吵醒孩子 们的。” 于是,爸爸聂手蹑脚地进了屋,杰克紧跟在后, 躺在门口。这时,全家都在新家的结实的墙内了, 他们感到舒服而安全。劳拉昏昏沉沉地听到远处草 drowsily ad. 昏昏欲 睡地, 原上传来的一声沉长的狼嚎声,但她的脊梁骨只感 到微微一颤,接着她睡着了。 .093· Chapt2r7 TheWolf-pack{ ALL IN one day Pa and Mr. Edwards built the stable for Pet and Patty. They even put the roof on, working so late that Ma had to keep supper waiting for them. There was no stable door, but in the moonlight Pa drove two stout② posts③ well into the ground, one on either side of the doorway. He put Pet and Patty inside the stable, and then he laid small, split logs one above another, across the door space. The posts held them, and they made a solid wall. "Now!" said Pa. "Let those wolves howl! I'll sleep, tonight." In the morning,when he lifted the split logs from behind the posts, Laura was amazed{④. Beside Pet stood a long-legged, long-eared, wobblylittle colt^{. When Laura ran toward it, gentle Pet laid back her ears and snapped her teeth at Laura. “Keep back, Laura!"Pa said, sharply{}. He said to Pet,"Now, Pet, you know we won't hurt your little colt." Pet answered him with a soft whinny{}. She would let Pa stroke{} her colt, but she would not let Laura or Mary come near it. When they even peeked^{} at it through the 094. 7 ① pack /paek/n. -群 狼群 只用了一天功夫,爸爸和爱德华兹先生就给皮 特和帕蒂搭好了马既。他们连屋顶都架上了。他们 干到很晚,所以妈妈只好做好晚饭,等着他们。 马既没有门,但爸爸在月光下选了两根粗实的 ② stout /staot/ a. 结实 的 木桩子在入口处两边一边一根,契入地下。他把皮 ③ post /poost/n. 标竿 特和帕蒂赶进马顾,然后把劈好的小木棍在门口横 着一根一根地往上累。木桩挡住木棍。木棍形成一 道结实的墙。 “好啦!”爸爸说, “让狼叫吧!今天夜里我要 好好睡上一觉。” ④ amazed /o'meizd/a 早上,爸爸拿走木桩后边的木棍时,劳拉惊呆 吃惊的 wobbly /wpbli/ a. 摆 了。皮特身旁站着一匹长腿、长耳、浑身颤动的小 动的 马狗。 colt/koolt/ n. 小马 sharply /fa:plr/ ad 劳拉向它跑去,温和的皮特两只耳朵向后倒着 锐利地 ③whinny 冲着劳拉眦牙咧嘴 /wIni,'hwin/n. 马 “别上去,劳拉!”爸爸急忙说。他对皮特说: 嘶声 ② stroke /straok/v. 抚 “好了,皮特,你知道我们不会伤害你的小孩的。” 摸 0peek/pi:k/v. 偷看 皮特以柔声嘶叫回答他。皮特充许爸爸抚摸小马 .095· cittfe 3House on the Prairie cracks in the stable wall, Pet rolled the whites of her eyes at them and showed them her teeth. They had never seen a colt with ears so long. Pa said it was a little mule, but Laura said it looked like a jack rabbit. So they named the little colt Bunny When Pet was on the picket-line, with Bunny frisking{① around her and wondering at the big world, Laura must watch Baby Carrie carefully. If anyone but Pa came near Bunny, Pet squealed with rage② and dashed to bite that little girl Early that Sunday afternoon Pa rode Patty away across the prairie to see what he should see. There was plenty of meat in the house, so he did not take his gun. He rode away through the tall grass, along the rim of the creek bluffs. Birds flew up before him and circled and sank into the grasses. Pa was looking down into the creek bottoms as he rode; perhaps he was watching deer browsing③ there. Then Patty broke into a gallop④,and swiftly she and Pa grew smaller. Soon there was only waving grass where they had been. Late that afternoon Pa had not come home. Ma stirred the coals of the fire and laid chips on them, and began to get supper. Mary was in the house, mindingthe baby, and Laura asked Ma, "What's the matter with Jack?" Jack was walking up and down, looking worried. He wrinkled^*} his nose at the wind, and the hair rose up on his neck and lay down, and then rose up again. Pet's hoofs^{} suddenly thudded. She ran around the circle of her picket^{③}-rope and stood still, whickering a low whicker. Bunny came close to her. "What's the matter, Jack?"Ma asked. He looked up at her, but he couldn't say anything. Ma gazed^{} around the whole circle of earth and sky. She could not see anything unusual. 096. 草原小屋 狗, 但不准劳拉和玛丽靠近它。甚至她们从马既的 墙缝里看,皮特都要对她们翻白眼,牙示威。她 们从未见过小马狗有这么长的耳朵。爸爸说这是一 匹小骤骑,但劳拉说它看上去像一只长耳兔。干是 ① frisk /frisk/ v. 端跳 他们给这小狗取名邦尼 当皮特套着铨马索,邦尼在它身旁跳来跳去 对这个大世界感到惊奇时,劳拉必须好好照看小卡 ② rage /reidz/ n. 愤怒 里。除了爸爸以外,任何人只要靠近邦尼,皮特就 愤怒地尖叫并猛冲过去想咬那小女孩 那个星期天刚到下午,爸爸骑着帕蒂穿过草原 到远处看看,应该了解些什么情况。家里还有很多 肉,所以他没有带枪。 他骑着马趟过高高的野草,沿着河岸悬崖边缘 骑向远处。鸟儿在他前面拍翅飞起,在空中转了一 ③ browse /braoz/v. 吃 圈儿,然后又向下飞入了草丛。爸爸一边骑行一边 草 ④gallop/gaelap/ n. 疾 向下探视河边低地,可能他在注视在那儿吃草的 驰 鹿。这时,帕蒂开始奔跑,爸爸和帕蒂很快变小 了。很快,他们走过的地方只剩下起伏的草浪。 那天下午很晚爸爸还没有回家。妈妈拨了拨火中 的木炭,在上面放了些木屑,开始做晚饭。玛丽在屋 mind /maind/ v. 照 顾 里照看小妹妹,这时劳拉问妈妈:“杰克怎么啦?” wrinkle /rinkl/v 杰克不停地来回走着,看上去急躁不安。它对 (使)起皱纹 着风皱起鼻子,它颈部的毛竖了起来,躺下,又起 来。皮特忽然用蹄子拍着地。它围着挫马桩绕圈 hoof /hu:f/ n. 马蹄 ⑧ picket /pikit/n. 尖 跑,然后又一动不动地站住,发出一声轻轻的嘶 木桩 叫,邦尼走近了它。 “怎么啦,杰克?”妈妈问。杰克抬头看看她,但 gaze /qeiz/v. 凝视 注视 什么也不会说。妈妈目不转睛地注视着大地和天空组 成的整个圆圈。她看不出有任何不寻常的情况。 .097· cittfe 3House on the Prairie "Likely it isn't anything, Laura," she said. She raked coals around the coffee-pot and the spider and onto the top of the bake oven. The prairie hen sizzled in the spider and the corn-cakes began to smell good. But all the time Ma kept glancing^{①} at the prairie all around. Jack walked about restlessly{②}, and Pet did not graze. She faced the north-west, where Pa had gone, and kept her colt close beside her. All at once Patty came running across the prairie. She was stretched③ out, running with all her might, and Pa was leaning almost flat④ on her neck. She ran right past the stable before Pa could stop her. He stopped her so hard that she almost sat down. She was trembling} all over and her black coat was streaked{} with sweat and foam^{}. Pa swung off her. He was breathing hard, too. “What is the matter, Charles?" Ma asked him. Pa was looking toward the creek, so Ma and Laura looked at it, too. But they could see only the space above the bottom lands, with a few tree-tops in it, and the distant tops of the earthen bluffs under the High Prairie's grasses. 098. 草原小屋 “可能没什么事儿,劳拉。”她说。她把木炭杷 到咖啡壶和三脚煎锅的周围和烤炉的上面。三脚前 锅里前烤的松鸡肉发出吆幽响声,玉米饼开始散发 ① glance /gla:ns/v. 出香喷喷的气味。然而,妈妈一直在频频地扫视草 见 原的各个地方。杰克烦躁不安地来回走;皮特不肯 ② restlessly /restlsl/ ad.不安地 吃草。它面向爸爸去的西北方,并让它的小狗紧紧 ③ stretch /stretf/v. 伸 呆在它身旁。 展 ④flat /flaet/ad. 平直 突然,帕蒂从草原上跑了回来。它四蹄腾空, 地 全力奔跑,爸爸几乎是俯身倚在它的脖子上。 爸爸叫它停下之前,它已径直跑过了马既。爸 tremble /trembl/ v 战悚 爸猛地勒住了它,使它几乎坐在地上。它浑身颤动 streak /stri:k/v. 加 条纹 着,全身大汗淋漓,口吐泡沫,黑色皮毛显出道道 foam /faom/ n. 泡沫 斑纹。爸爸从马上纵身跳下。他也是气喘吁吁。 “怎么啦,查尔斯?”妈妈问他。 爸爸向河岸望去,于是妈妈和劳拉也向那边看 去。但是,他们只能看到低地上面的空间,那里有 一些树梢,还有草原野草下面的土岸。 “怎么啦?”妈妈又问道,“你为什么让帕蒂那 .099. cittfe 3House on the Prairie "What is it?" Ma asked again. "Why did you ride Patty like that?" Pa breathed a long breath. "I was afraid the wolves would beat me here. But I see everything's all right." "Wolves!" she cried. "What wolves?" "Everything's all right, Caroline," said Pa. "Let a fellow get his breath." When he had got some breath, he said, "I didn't ride Patty like that It was all I could do to hold her at all. Fifty wolves, Caroline, the biggest wolves I ever saw. I wouldn't go through such a thing again, not for a mint^{of money." A shadow came over the prairie just then because the sun had gone down, and Pa said, "I'll tell you about it later." “We'll eat supper in the house,"said Ma. "No need of that,"he told her. "Jack will give us warning^{②} in plenty of time." He brought Pet and her colt from the picket-line. He didn't take them and Patty to drink from the creek, as he usually did. He gave them the water in Ma's washtub③, which was standing full, ready for the washing next morning. He rubbed④ down Patty's sweaty sides and legs and 1 put her in the barn{} with Pet and Bunny. Supper was ready. The camp fire made a circle of light in the dark. Laura and Mary stayed close to the fire, and kept Baby Carrie with them. They could feel the dark all around them, and they kept looking behind them at the place where the dark mixed{}with the edge of the firelight. Shadows moved there, as if they were alive. Jack sat on his haunches^{}beside Laura. The edges of his ears were lifted, listening to the dark. Now and then{}he walked a little way into it. He walked all around the camp fire, and came back to sit beside 100 草原小屋 么拼命跑?” 爸爸长长地喘了一口气,说 “我耽心狼群要 追到这儿来。但是我看没事了。” “狼!”妈妈大声叫道,“什么狼?” “没事了,卡罗琳,”爸爸说,“让人家歇一会 儿吧。” 他歇了口气,又说: “我没有让帕蒂那样跑 我所能做的就是勒住它,五十只狼,卡罗琳,是我 见过的最大的。我再也不愿干这种事了,哪怕是为 了一笔巨款我也不干。” ①mint /mint/n. 巨额 正在这时,草原上出现了一片阴影,因为太阳下 山了。爸爸说:“待会儿我会跟你讲这件事儿的。” “我们要在屋里吃晚饭了。”妈妈说。 “没有必要,”他对她说,“杰克会早早地给我 ②warn/w:n . 警告 们报警的。” 他给皮特和它的小狗子解下挫马索。他没有像往 常一样带皮特和它的小狗子以及帕蒂到河边饮水,而 是给它们饮妈妈的水桶里的水,水桶里的水满满的, ③ washtub 是准备第二天早晨刷洗用的。他擦去帕蒂身体两侧和 /wpftab:'wo:f-/n 洗灌盆 腿上的汗,然后把它和皮特以及邦尼一起关在马既 ④rub/rab/v.擦 里。 barn/ba:n/n. 牲口 要吃晚饭了。营火在黑暗中形成一个光环。劳 拉和玛丽呆在营火旁,并让小卡里和她们呆在一 起。她们能够感到四周夜幕的黑暗,不断地向身后 mix /mks/ v. 混合 黑暗与火光边缘交叉的地方望去。影子在那儿飘飘 悠悠地移动,宛如是活的 haunch /ho:ntf/n. 腰 杰克蹲在劳拉身旁。它竖着耳朵,听着黑暗中 B now and then时而 不时 的动静。它不时地走进黑暗一点点儿,它沿着营火 的四周走着,然后又回来蹲在劳拉身旁。它那粗粗 101·