Chapter8 Two St out Doors 两扇结实的门-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《草原小屋Little House on the Prairie》上

Chapter 8 Two Stout Doors LAURA felt a soft warmth on her face and opened her eyes into morning sunshine.Mary was talking to Ma by the camp fire.Laura ran outdoors,all bare inside her nightgown.There were no wolves to be seen;only their tracks?were thick around the house and the stable. Pa came whistling up the creek road.He put his gun on its pegs and led Pet and Patty to the creek to drink as usual.He had followed the wolf tracks so far that he knew they were far away now,following a herd of deer. The mustangs shied at the wolves's tracks and pricked their ears nervously,and Pet kept her colt close at her side.But they went willingly with Pa,who knew there was nothing to fear. Breakfast was ready.When Pa came back from the creek they all sat by the fire and ate fried mush5 and prairie-chicken hash.Pa said he would make a door that very day.He wanted more than a quilt between them and the wolves,next time. "I have no more nails,but I'll not keep on waiting till I can make a trip to Independence,"he said."A man doesn't need nails to build a house or make a door.” ·116· 8 两扇结实的门 劳拉脸上感到一股温柔的暖意，在晨光中她睁 开了双眼。玛丽和妈妈在营火旁边讲话。劳拉跑出 ①bare /bea/a.赤裸的 门，身上只穿着睡衣。狼已经不见了，只有它们的 ②track/traek/n.踪迹 脚印深深地留在主房子和马厩的周围。 爸爸吹着口哨从通往小河的路上回来。他把枪 挂在木桩上，像往常一样牵着皮特和帕蒂去河边饮 ③herd /h3:dn.兽群 水。他沿着狼的足迹走了很远，发现狼群已走远， 去追一群鹿。 ④shy小a/.惊退 马看到狼的脚印就往后缩并紧张地竖起耳朵， 皮特让它的小驹紧挨在身旁。然而，它们都很温顺 地跟着爸爸走，因为爸爸知道没有什么可怕的了。 早饭做好了。爸爸从河边回来后，他们都坐在 ⑤mush/mAJ/n玉米 火边吃油煎玉米糰和炒松鸡丁。爸爸说他要当天做 面粥 ⑥hash/ha/n切碎的 一扇门。他要在下次狼来时，隔在他们与狼之间的 食物 不只是一条挂着的被子。 “我没有剩铁钉子了，但我不想等到去独立镇回 来再干，”他说，“能人不需要铁钉子也能盖房或 做门。” ·117· Little House on the Prairie After breakfast he hitched up Pet and Patty,and taking his ax he went to get timber for the door.Laura helped wash the dishes and make the beds,but that day Mary minded the baby.Laura helped Pa make the door.Mary watched,but Laura handed him his tools. With the saw he sawed logs the right length for a door.He sawed shorter lengths for dross-pieces.Then with the ax he split the logs into slabs,and smoothed them nicely.He laid the long slabs together on the ground and placed the shorter slabs across them.Then with the auger he bored holes through the cross-pieces into the long slabs,into every hole he drove a wooden peg that fitted tightly. That made the door.It was a good oak door,solid and strong. For the hinges he cut three long straps.One hinge was to be near the top of the door,one near the bottom,and one in the middle. He fastened them first to the door,in this way:He laid a little piece of wood on the door,and bored a hole through it into the door.Then he doubled one end of a strap around the little piece of wood,and with his knife cut round holes through the strap.He laid the little piece of wood on the door again,with the strap doubled around it,and all the holes making one hole.Then Laura gave him a peg⑧and the hammer⑨， and he drove the peg into the hole.The peg went through the strap and the little piece of wood and through the strap again and into the door. That held the strap so that it couldn't get loose. "I told you a fellow doesn't need nails!"Pa said. When he had fastened the three hinges to the door,he set the door in the doorway.It fitted.Then he pegged strips of wood to the old slabs on either side of the doorway,to keep the door from swinging outward. He set the door in place again,and Laura stood against it to hold it there,while Pa fastened the hinges to the door-frame. But before he did this he had made the latch on the door,because, 118 草原小屋【 吃完早饭，他套上皮特和帕蒂，带上斧子去砍 ①timber/tmba/n.木 做门的木材。劳拉帮助刷洗盘子，收拾床铺，那天 材 玛丽照看小卡里。劳拉帮着爸爸做门。玛丽在一旁 看着，劳拉给爸爸递工具。 ②saw/s3:/n锯子 他用锯把木头锯成门所需要的高度，再锯些短 的作横条。然后他用斧子把木头劈成木板，把它们 ③smooth/smu:d/ 刨光刨平。他把长木板放在地上排好，并把几根短 使…光滑 木条横着放在上面。接着用钻从横木条钻到长木 板，然后，把木钉楔进每个孔，木钉和孔严丝合 缝。 ④oak/auk/n.橡树 就这样做成了一扇门。这是一扇上好的橡木门， hinge /hindz/h铰 牢固而结实。 链 ⑥stra即/trep/n.皮带 爸爸剪了3条长带子作铰链。一个固定在门的 顶端附近，一个在底部附近，一个在中间。 他先把它们固定在门上，做法是：把一块小木 bore/b3:/g钻孔 块放在门上，在上面钻一个通到门上的孔。然后把 带子的一头围小木块绕两周，用刀子把带子挖个圆 孔。再一次把小木块放在门上，用带子绕木块两 ⑧pg/peg/n.钉 圈，使带子上的孔与木块和门上的孔贯通对齐。这 ⑨hammer /haema/n 时劳拉递给他木钉和锤子，他把木钉楔进孔。木钉 锤子 穿过带子、小木块，然后再穿过带子，最后穿进门 上的孔。这样就把带子压紧，带子再不会松开了。 “我跟你们说过，能人不需要铁钉子”爸爸说。 爸爸把3个铰链装上门以后把门扇放在门口一 试，正合适。接着他在门口两侧用木钉在门扇长木 板上钉几根木条，以便使门关好后不向外晃荡。他 再次把门放在适当的位置上，劳拉靠门站着扶住门 0 frame/rem/n框 使它不动，爸爸就把铰链固定在门框上。 latch /lae/n.门闩 但在他把门固定在门框上之前，他还在门上做 ·119 Little House on the Prairie of course,there must be some way to keep a door shut. This was the way he made the latch:First he hewed a short,thick piece of oak.From one side of this,in the middle,he cut a wide,deep notch.He pegged this stick to the inside of the door,up and down and near the edge.He put the notched side against the door,so that the notch made a little slot. Then he hewed and whittled a longer,smaller stick.This stick was small enough to slip easily through the slot.He slid one end of it through the slot,and he pegged the other end to the door. But he did not peg it tightly.The peg was solid and firm in the door,but the hole in the stick was larger than the peg.The only thing that held the stick on the door was the slot. This stick was the latch.It turned easily on the peg,and its loose end moved up and down in the slot.And the loose end of it was long enough to go through the slot and across the crack 3 between the door and the wall,and to lie against the wall when the door was shut. When Pa and Laura had hung the door in the doorway,Pa marked the spot on the wall where the end of the latch came.Over that spot he pegged to the wall a stout piece of oak.This piece of oak was cut out at the top,so that the latch could drop between it and the wall. Now Laura pushed the door shut,and while she pushed she lifted the end of the latch as high as it would go in the slot.Then she let it fall into its place behind the stout piece of oak.That held the latch against the wall,and the up-and-down strip held the latch in its slot against the door. Nobody could break in without breaking the strong latch in two. But there must be a way to lift the latch from the outside.So Pa made the latch-string5.He cut it from a long strip of good leather.He ·120· 草原小屋【 了门闩。因为必须设法把门关好，这是当然要做 的。 他做门闩的方法是：首先劈出一条短而粗的橡 木方子。在木方子的一面的中间部位凿一个宽而深 的槽。他把木方子用木钉钉在门的里边，在门的边 缘上下竖着。他把有槽的一面贴着门，以便使槽成 为一个小通道。 ①whittle"(h )witl 削木头 然后，他劈出并削好一条较长较细的木方子。这 ②slot/slpt/n.狭缝 条木方子尺寸要小，能易于从小通道里滑动。他把木 方子的一头插入小通道，把另一头用木钉钉在门上。 但是，他没有把它钉很紧。木钉钉在门上牢固 结实，而木方子上的孔比木钉大，唯一能把木方子 托在门上的是那个小通道。 这根木方子就是门闩，它可以在木钉上轻松地 转动。松着的一头可以在小通道里上下活动，在门 ③crack/krak/n.裂缝 关着时，松着的一头长得足以穿过小通道，横过门 与墙之间的缝隙并倚墙平放。 ④mark/ma:k/上做标 记于 爸爸和劳拉把门放进门框，这时爸爸在门门到 头的墙上作了记号。在记号上面他把一块结实的橡 木用木钉钉在墙上。这块橡木的顶端切掉一半成 槽，这样门门能在橡木和墙之间落下入槽。 这时劳拉把门关上，推门时她把门门的活动一头 举高，使其进入小通道。接着，她使门门的活动一头 落在那块结实的橡木后边。橡木使门门倚墙平伸，那 条上下竖着的木方子在小通道中把门门依门托住。 除非把这结实的门闩劈成两段，否则无人能闯 进屋里。 ⑤string /stri/h线 但是，必须有一个从门外拉起门门的办法。于 6leather /'lea/n皮 革 是爸爸做了门门绳，他从一张坚实的长皮子上剪了 ·121· Little House on the Prairie tied one end to the latch,between the peg and the slot.Above the latch he bored a small hole through the door,and he pushed the end of the latch-string through the hole. Laura stood outside,and when the end of the latch-string came through the hole she took hold of it and pulled.She could pull it hard enough to lift the latch and let herself in. The door was finished.It was strong and solid,made of thick oak with oak slabs across it,all pegged together with good stout pegs.The latch-string was out;if you wanted to come in,you pulled the latch- string.But if you were inside and wanted to keep anyone out,then you pulled the latch-string in through its hole and nobody could get in.There was no door knob on that door,and there was no keyhole2 and no key. But it was a good door. “I call that a good day's work!”said Pa.“And I had a fine little helper!” He hugged the top of Laura's head with his hand.Then he gathered up his tools and put them away,whistling,and he went to take Pet and Patty from their picket-lines to water 3.The sun was setting,the breeze was cooler,and supper cooking on the fire made the best supper-smells that Laura had ever smelled. There was salt pork for supper.It was the last of the salt pork,so next day Pa went hunting.But the day after that he and Laura made the barn door. It was exactly like the house door,except that it had no latch.Pet and Patty did not understand door-latches and would not pull a latch- string in at night.So instead of a latch Pa made a hole through the door, and he put a chain through the hole. At night he would pull an end of the chain through a crack between the logs in the stable wall,and he would padlock the two ends of the 122· 草原小屋【 一节，将其一头系在门闩上木钉与通道之间的地 方。在门闩上面，他在门上钻了一个小洞，把门闩 绳的一头穿过那个洞。 劳拉站在门外，当门闩绳的一头从洞里出来时， 她抓住它并拉了一下。她能用力拉绳，拉起门闩使 自己进屋。 门做好了。门牢固而结实，是用橡木条横在厚 厚的橡木板上，全部用上好的坚实木钉钉在一起做 成的。门门绳在外边，如果你要进屋，你拉一下门 闩绳。但如果你在屋里，不想让人进来，你就把门 闩绳从洞里拉进来，就无人能进屋了。门上没有球 ①knob /npb/n.把手 ②keyhole /'ki:haul/n. 形把手，没有门锁和钥匙孔，但这是一扇很好的 钥匙孔 门。 “我说这是一整天的活儿！”爸爸说，“我有一 个得力的小帮手！” 他用手紧紧抱抱劳拉的头，然后他一边收拾工 具放回去，一边吹口哨，他去给皮特和帕蒂解开拴 ③water /wo:ta/g.喂 水 马索，带它们去饮水。夕阳西下，微风徐徐，稍有 ④breeze /bri:z/n.微 凉意，火上做的晚饭香味扑鼻，是劳拉闻到过的最 风 香的。 晚饭有醃肉。这是最后的醃肉了，所以，第二 天爸爸去打猎。但第三天，爸爸和劳拉给马厩做了 门。 马厩的门很像屋子的门，只不过没有门闩。皮 特和帕蒂不懂什么是门闩，夜晚也不会把门闩绳拉 进来，所以，爸爸在门上挖了个洞，他把一根链条 ⑤chain /tfein/h.链 穿过这个洞代替门门。 夜里他从马厩木墙的缝隙中拉过链条的一头， ⑥padlock'paedlok/n 挂锁 再把链条的两端锁在一起。于是，没有人能进那个 ·123 Little House on the Prairie chain together.Then nobody could get into that stable. “Now we're all snug！”Pa said..When neighbors began to come into a country,it was best to lock up your horses at night,because,where there are deer there will be wolves,and where there are horses,there will be horse-thieves. That night at supper Pa said to Ma,"Now,Caroline,as soon as we get Edwards'house up,I'm going to build you a fireplace,so you can do your cooking in the house,out of the wind and the storms.It seems like I never did see a place with so much sunshine,but I suppose it's bound to②rain sometime..” “Yes,Charles,”Ma said.“Good weather never lasts forever on this earth.” ·124· 草原小屋【 马厩。 “现在我们有个温暖舒适的家了！”爸爸说。当 邻居们开始来到这个地方时，夜里最好把你的马锁 起来，因为有鹿就有豺狼，有马就有马贼。 那天吃晚饭时，爸爸对妈妈说：“嗳，卡罗琳 我们一盖好爱德华兹的房子，我就给你砌一个壁 炉，这样你就可以在屋里做饭，不受风吹雨淋了。 ①storm/stb:m/n.暴 我好像从来没见过有这么多阳光的地方，但我想肯 风雨 定会有下雨的时候。” ②be bound to必然 “是的，查尔斯，”妈妈说，“在这个地球上， 好天气是从来不会永远持续下去的。” ·125·