Chapter13 Texas Longhoms 得克萨斯长角牛-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《草原小屋Little House on the Prairie》上

Chapter 13 Texas Longhorns ONE evening Laura and Pa were sitting on the doorstep.The moon shone over the dark prairie,the winds were still,and softly Pa played his fiddle. He let a last note quiver far,far away,until it dissolved in the moonlight.Everything was so beautiful that Laura wanted it to stay so forever.But Pa said it was time for little girls to go to bed. Then Laura heard a strange,low,distant sound."What's that!"she said. Pa listened..“Cattle3,by George!”he said.“Must be the cattle herds going north to Fort Dodge." After she was undressed,Laura stood in her nightgown at the window. The air was very still,not a grass blade rustled,and far away and faint she could hear that sound.It was almost a rumble and almost a song. “Is that singing,Pa?”she asked. “Yes,”Pa said.“The cowboys are singing the cattle to sleep.Now hop into bed,you little scalawag!" Laura thought of cattle lying on the dark ground in the moonlight, ·190· 13 得克萨斯长角牛 D doorstep /'do:step/n. 一天晚上，劳拉和爸爸坐在门前的台阶上。月 门阶 光笼罩的大草原，没有一丝风，爸爸轻轻地拉着小 提琴。 2dissolve /di'zplv/v. 他把结尾音拉得很长很长，一直溶进月色里。 溶解 此情此景是那么美好，劳拉真想永远这样呆下去。 可是爸爸说，姑娘们该去睡觉了。 这时，劳拉听到一种奇怪、低沉、隐隐约约的 声音。她问：“什么声音？”爸爸侧耳听了听。 “是牛，乔治赶的牛！”他说，“一定是往北去道奇 3 cattle /kaetl/n.牛 ④fof3:t/n.要塞 要塞的牛群。” 劳拉脱了衣服，穿上睡衣站到窗口。四周万籁 俱寂，连一点草叶的沙沙声都没有，她能听到远处 传来的那种微弱的声音。那声音有点像车轮滚动的 ⑤rumble'rAmbl/n. 辘辘声 辘辘声，又好像是歌声。 “那是在唱歌吗，爸爸？”她问。 ⑥hop /hpp/v.跳跃 “对，”爸爸说，“牛仔们唱歌，催牛群睡觉。 ⑦scalawag "skalowag/n.无赖 赶快上床睡觉，你这个小东西！” 汉 ·191· Little House on the Prairie and of cowboys softly singing lullabies. Next morning when she ran out of the house two strange men were sitting on horses by the stable.They were talking to Pa.They were as red-brown as Indians,but their eyes were narrow slits between squinting 3 eyelids.They wore flaps5 of leather over their legs,and spurs,and wide-brimmed hats.Handkerchiefs were knotted around their necks,and pistols were on their hips. They said,“So long,”toPa,and“Hi!Yip!”to their horses,and they galloped⑦away. "Here's a piece of luck!"Pa said to Ma.Those men were cowboys. They wanted Pa to help them keep the cattle out of the ravines among the bluffs of the creek bottoms.Pa would not charge them any money, but he told them he would take a piece of beef."How would you like a good piece of beef?"Pa asked. "Oh,Charles!"said Ma,and her eyes shone. Pa tied his biggest handkerchief around his neck.He showed Laura how he could pull it up over his mouth and nose to keep the dust out. Then he rode Patty west along the Indian trail,till Laura and Mary couldn't see him any more. All day the hot sun blazed and the hot winds blew,and the sound of the cattle herds came nearer.It was a faint,mournful sound of cattle lowing.At noon dust was blowing along the horizon.Ma said that so many cattle trampled the grasses flat and stirred up dust from the prairie. Pa came riding home at sunset,covered with dust.There was dust in his beard and in his hair and on the rims of his eyelids,and dust fell off his clothes.He did not bring any beef,because the cattle were not across the creek yet.The cattle went very slowly,eating grass as they went. They had to eat enough grass to be fat when they came to the cities 192· 草原小屋 D lullaby /'IAlobal/n. 劳拉想象着牛躺在月光下的夜色里，牛仔轻轻 催眠曲 为它们唱着催眠曲。 第二天早晨，劳拉跑出房子，看到马厩旁有两 ②sits/n.裂缝 个陌生的骑马人。他们正在跟爸爸说话。他们的红 ③squint/skwint/g.眯 着眼睛看 棕色的皮肤像印第安人的，可是他们的眼睛很小， ④eyelid'ailid/n.眼 只在眯着的眼脸之间露着一条细细的缝。他们腿上 睑 ⑤lap/们ep/n.副翼 套着皮护腿，脚上蹬着马刺，头上戴着宽沿帽，脖 6 pistol /'pist山h.手枪 ⑦gallop'galop/飞 子上系着围巾，屁股上挂着手枪 驰 他们跟爸爸说了声“再见”，然后吆喝着“嗨！ 吁！”催马飞奔而去。 ⑧ravine/ra'vi:nln.峡 谷 “运气来了！”爸爸对妈妈说。那两个人是牛仔。 他们想让爸爸帮他们把牛群赶出河边低地的峭壁深 谷。爸爸不向他们要钱，而是跟他们商量要一块牛 肉。“弄一块好牛肉来，你觉得怎么样？”爸爸问 妈妈。 “噢，查尔斯！”妈妈说着，露出欣喜的目光。 爸爸把他最大的围巾系在脖子上。他给劳拉 演示怎样拉起围巾盖住嘴和鼻子挡灰尘。然后， ⑨blaze/ble1z.燃烧 他骑着帕蒂，沿着印第安人走的小路往西边去 0 mournful /'mo:nfol/ 了。劳拉和玛丽一直望着他走远，直到再也看不 a.悲伤的 D horizon /ha'raizn/n. 见了。 地平线 整天烈日炎炎，热风滚滚，牛群的叫声越来越 12 trample /'traempl/v. 践踏 近了。哞哞的叫声微弱而悲伤。中午时分，地平线 上尘土飞扬。妈妈说，这么多牛，踏平了草，扬起 了尘土。 爸爸在太阳落山时骑着马回来了，浑身是土。 他的胡子上，头发上，眼脸上下全是土，衣服上直 往下落灰尘。他没有带回牛肉，因为牛群还没过 河。牛一边吃草一边走，走得很慢。它们必须多吃 ·193 Little House on the Prairie where people ate them. Pa did not talk much that night,and he didn't play the fiddle.He went to bed soon after supper. The herds were so near now that Laura could hear them plainly. The mournful lowing sounded over the prairie till the night was dark. Then the cattle were quieter and the cowboys began to sing.Their songs were not like lullabies.They were high,lonely,wailing2 songs,almost like the howling of wolves. Laura lay awake,listening to the lonely songs wandering3 in the night.Farther away,real wolves howled.Sometimes the cattle lowed. But the cowboys'songs went on,rising and falling and wailing away under the moon.When everyone else was asleep,Laura stole softly to the window,and she saw three fires gleaming like red eyes from the dark edge of the land.Overhead5 the sky was big and still and full of moonlight.The lonely songs seemed to be crying for the moon.They made Laura's throat ache. All next day Laura and Mary watched the west.They could hear the far-away bawling of the cattle,they could see dust blowing.Sometimes they thinly heard a shrill yell. Suddenly a dozen long-horned cattle burst out of the prairie,not far from the stable.They had come up out of a draw going down to the creek bottoms.Their tails stood up and their fierce horns tossed and their feet pounded the ground.A cowboy on a spotted mustang galloped madly to get in front of them.He waved his big hat and yelled sharp, high yells."Hi!Yi-yi-yi!Hi!"The cattle wheeled,clashing their long horns together.With lifted tails they galloped lumbering0 away,and behind them the mustang ran and whirled and ran,herding them together.They all went over a rise of ground and down out of sight. Laura ran back and forth,waving her sunbonnet and yelling,"Hi ·194· 草原小屋【 些草，长得膘肥体壮，将来到城里供人们食用。 那天晚上，爸爸没有多说话，也没拉琴。他吃 过晚饭很快就睡了。 ①plainly'pleinli/ad. 牛群现在离得近了，劳拉能清楚地听到它们的 明白地 动静。那种悲戚的叫声，缭绕在草原上，直到天 黑。后来，牛渐渐安静了，牛仔们又开始唱起歌 ②wail /we悲叹 来。他们的歌声不像催眠曲，而是一种高亢、孤 独、悲伤的歌声，几乎像狼叫。 ③wander/'wonda/u 劳拉躺在床上醒着，倾听着回荡在夜空的孤独 游荡 歌声。远处，真正的狼在嚎叫。时而也听见牛在哞 哞叫。但牛仔们还在唱，歌声在月光下起伏鸣咽， 传向远方。等其他人都睡着以后，劳拉蹑手蹑脚地 ④gleam/gli:m/,闪 烁 来到窗口，她看到黑糊糊的地头上有3道火光，像 ⑤overhead/"euvahed/. 3只红色的眼睛在闪耀。头顶上，天空无边无际， ad.在头顶上 寂静无声，月光如水。那凄凉的歌声犹如对月泣 诉，让劳拉嗓子发哽。 第二天，劳拉和玛丽一直朝西边跳望。她们听 6bawl /bo:l/.大叫 见远处牛在呼叫，看到尘土滚滚。有时隐约听到一 ⑦shrill /fril/a.尖锐的 声尖锐的叫嚷声。 突然，在离马厩不远的地方，冲出十多头长角 牛。它们是从通向河岸低地的小洼地上来的。它们 围toss/tDs/,.摇荡 翘着尾巴，凶悍的长角摇来摆去，蹄子在地上乱蹦 跶。一个牛仔骑着花斑野马疯狂地飞奔过来，赶到 这些长角牛的前面。他挥动着大沿帽尖声呼叫： ⑨clash /klaf/使. “嗨！吁吁吁！嗨！”牛扭转着身体，长角碰撞在一 发出撞击声 00 lumber /'lAmba/v. 起。它们翘起尾巴，大步隆隆飞跑而去，野马紧追 声如伐木般 不舍，兜着圈子，把它们赶在一起。它们越过一道 whirl /(h)w3:lV循 环而行 坡，看不见了。 劳拉跑来跑去，挥舞着她的太阳帽吆喝：“嗨！ ·195· Little House on the Prairie Yi-yi-yi!"till Ma told her to stop.It was not ladylike to yell like that. Laura wished she could be a cowboy. Late that afternoon three riders came out of the west,driving one lone cow.One of the riders was Pa,on Patty.Slowly they came nearer, and Laura saw that with the cow was a little spotted calf. The cow came lunging and plunging2.Two cowboys rode well apart in front of her.Two ropes around her long horns were fastened to the cowboys'saddles4.When the cow lunged with her horns toward either cowboy the other cowboy's pony5 braced its feet and held her.The cow bawled and the little calf bleated?thinner bawls. Ma watched from the window,while Mary and Laura stood against the house and stared. The cowboys held the cow with their ropes while Pa tied her to the stable.Then they said good-by to him and rode away. Ma could not believe that Pa had actually brought home a cow.But it really was their own cow.The calf was too small to travel,Pa said, and the cow would be too thin to sell,so the cowboys has given them to Pa.They had given him the beef,too;a big chunk was tied to his ·196· 草原小屋【 吁吁吁！”直到妈妈叫她别嚷了，她才停下。妈妈 说那样喊叫不像女孩子的样子。可劳拉希望自己能 当一个牛仔。 那天傍晚，3个骑马的人赶着一头母牛从西边 ①spotted /'spotid/a.有 走来。其中一个就是爸爸，他骑着帕蒂。他们慢慢 斑点的 ②plunge /plAnd3:y投 走近了，劳拉看到跟母牛一起走的是一头花斑小牛 入 犊。 ③fasten /fa:snl.拴 紧 那母牛粗野地冲过来。两个牛仔骑马走在它的 ④saddle /'saed/n.鞍 ⑤pony'paUn/n.小 前边两侧。两根绳子套住母牛的两个长角，拴在两 马 个牛仔的马鞍上。母牛用长角冲撞一个牛仔时，另 ⑥brace /breis/k.紧 ⑦bleat /bli:t/鸣叫 一个牛仔的小马就停住脚牵制它。母牛哞哞大叫， 小牛犊也奶声奶气的咪叫。 妈妈从窗口往外望，劳拉和玛丽在屋外靠墙站 着，瞪大眼睛看。 两个牛仔用绳子拉住母牛，让爸爸把它拴在马 既旁。然后，他们向爸爸说了再见，策马离去。 妈妈不能相信爸爸真的带回家一头母牛。但那 确实是他们自己的母牛了。爸爸说，牛犊太小无法 上路，母牛太瘦，不好出售，因此，牛仔把它们都 给了爸爸。他们还给了爸爸牛肉，一大块牛肉绑在 ·197· Little House on the Prairie saddle-horn. Pa and Ma and Mary and Laura and even Baby Carrie laughed for joy.Pa always laughed out loud and his laugh was like great bells ringing.When Ma was pleased she smiled a gentle smile that made Laura feel warm all over.But now she was laughing because they had a cow. "Give me a bucket,Caroline,"said Pa.He was going to milk the cow,right away. He took the bucket,he pushed back his hat,and he squatted by the cow to milk her.And that cow hunched herself and kicked Pa flat on his back. Pa jumped up.His face was blazing red and his eyes snapped blue sparks. "Now,by the Great Horn Spoon,I'll milk her!"he said. He got his ax and he sharpened two stout slabs of oak.He pushed the cow against the stable,and he drove those slabs deep into the ground beside her.The cow bawled and the little calf squalled Pa tied poles firmly to the posts and stuck their ends into the cracks of the stable,to make a fence. Now the cow could not move forward or backward or sidewise.But the little calf could nudge its way between its mother and the stable.So the baby calf felt safe and stopped bawling.It stood on that side of the cow and drank its supper,and Pa put his hand through the fence and milked from the other side.He got a tin cup almost full of milk. “We'll try again in the morning,”he said.“The poor thing's as wild as a deer.But we'll gentle her,we'll gentle her." The dark was coming on.Nighthawks were chasing in sects in the ·198· 草原小屋 爸爸的鞍头上。 爸爸、妈妈和玛丽、劳拉，包括小卡里都高兴 得笑了。爸爸经常朗朗大笑，声如洪钟。妈妈高兴 的时候，脸上露出温柔的微笑，使劳拉感到浑身暖 洋洋的。不过，这次妈妈乐得咯咯笑，因为他们有 ①bucket /'bAkit/n.水 了一头母牛。 桶 ②milk /milk/g挤乳 “卡罗琳，给我一只桶。”爸爸说。他要马上去 挤牛奶。 ③squat/skwDt/.u.蹲 他提着桶，往后推了推帽子，蹲在母牛身旁挤 下，坐 ④hunch /hAntf/g.弓 奶。不料母牛拱起背，一尥蹶子，把爸爸踢了个仰 起背部 面朝天。 5snap/snep/砰然 爸爸跳起来，满脸通红，两眼迸出蓝幽幽的火 迸出 花。 “今天就是拼上这条老命，也要挤它的奶！”他 ⑥horn spoon:.牛角 制检金器 说。 他拿起斧头，砍了两根结实的橡木桩子。他把 ⑦bawl /b3:/y大叫 母牛推得靠在马厩墙边，在它身旁栽上两根木桩 8squa/skwo:/.哇 子。母牛哞哞大叫，小牛尖声咪叫。爸爸把一些木 哇地叫嚷 条牢牢地绑在木桩上，木条的另一头插在马厩的墙 缝里，围成一个栅栏。 这样，母牛不能前后左右挪动了。但小牛犊还 ⑨nudge/nAd3/k.用肘 可以在它母亲和马厩之间钻来钻去。这样它感到安 轻推 全，不再叫了。它站在母牛的一侧吮奶，爸爸把手 从栅栏伸进去，挤另一侧的奶。他挤了将近一马口 铁杯的奶。 “咱们明天早上再试试，”他说，“这可怜的东 西野得像一头鹿。不过咱们能驯服它，一定能驯服 00 nighthawk 它。” naitho:k/n.夜鹰 夜幕降临。夜鹰在昏暗中追逐昆虫，牛蛙在河 ·199