英语PK台 第850期:HG·威尔斯《森林寻宝记》

 　　1. The canoe was now approaching the land. The man with the carved paddle stopped. "It should be somewhere here," he said. The other man had been in the fore 1 part of the canoe, closely scrutinising the land. He had a sheet of yellow paper on his knee. "Come and look at this, Evans," he said. Both men spoke 2 in low tones, and their lips were hard and dry.

　　独木舟正在靠近岸边。手握雕花桨的男子停止了划桨。“应该就在这附近了。”他说。另一个男子已经到了独木舟的船头，仔细地观察着岸上的情况。他的一个膝盖上放了一张黄纸。“埃文斯，快来看看这个。”他说。这两个男子说话的声音很低，而且他们的嘴唇看上去又干又硬。
　　2. The paper had the appearance of a rough map. "Here," said Evans, "is the reef, and here is the gap. This curved and twisting line is the river--I could do with a drink now! --and this star is the place. It's queer, what these little marks down here are for; what are all these little dashes, pointing this way and that?” They both sat for some minutes staring at the map, while the canoe drifted slowly.
　　这张纸看起来像一幅粗糙的地图。“这里，”埃文斯说，“是这片暗礁，这里是这条裂谷。这条蜿蜒的曲线是这条河流——终于可以喝到水了！——这个标着星星的位置就是我们要去的地方。奇怪，这里的这些小标记是什么意思？ 还有，这些指着不同方向的小破折号是什么意思？”他们俩就这么坐着，眼睛盯着地图看了好一会儿，与此同时，他们乘坐的独木舟缓缓地在水上漂动着。
　　3. Though they were so near the Treasure, Evans did not feel the exaltation he had anticipated. The intense excitement of the struggle for the plan, and the long night voyage from the mainland in the un-provisioned canoe had, to use his own expression, "taken it out of him." He tried to arouse himself by directing his mind to the ingots they were going to find, but it would not rest there. It came back to the thought of sweet water rippling 3 in the river, and to the almost unendurable dryness of his lips and throat.
　　尽管他们已经非常靠近宝藏的位置了，但埃文斯并没有像他之前预计的那样感到欣喜若狂。努力完成计划时产生的强烈的兴奋感，以及乘着这条没有任何补给品的独木舟，从大陆起航的一整夜的长途航行——用他自己的话说——“已经令他精疲力竭了”。他努力把自己的思想更多地集中在他们正在寻找的金子上 ，试图用这种方式让自己打起精神。但这办法并不太奏效，他还会不由自主地重新想起河里流淌着的甜美河水，以及几乎无法忍受的口干舌燥。
　　4. "Evans, Evans, you sleepy fool!" Hooker called out. Their canoe now entered the lagoon 4. "There are the three palm-trees. It must be in a line with that clump 5 of bushes," said his companion. "Mark that. If we go to those bushes and then strike into the bush in a straight line from here, we shall come to it when we come to the stream." At the sight of it Evans revived. "Hurry up, man," he said, "or by heaven I shall have to drink sea water!"
　　“埃文斯，埃文斯，你个昏昏欲睡的傻瓜！”胡克喊道。他们的独木舟已经进入了泻湖。“这有三棵棕榈树。它们肯定跟那片灌木丛在一条直线上，” 埃文斯的同伴说，“做上标记。要想从这里沿着直线去到那片灌木丛的里面，我们就得先到溪流边的这三棵棕榈树的位置。”见此情景，埃文斯重新抖擞了精神。“快点，伙计，”他说，“天哪，我可不想再喝海水了！”
　　5. A little way up Hooker took some water in the hollow of his hand, tasted it, and spat 6 it out. A little further he tried again. "This will do," he said, and they began drinking eagerly. "Curse this!" said Evans suddenly. "It's too slow." And, leaning dangerously over the fore part of the canoe, he began to suck up the water with his lips.
　　独木舟稍稍前进了一点儿，胡克用一只手的手心捧起了一点儿水，尝了一下，然后吐掉了。再前进一点儿，他又试了一次。“这儿的水能喝。”他说，然后他们迫不及待地喝了起来。“可恶！”埃文斯突然说道。“这也太慢了。”他倚向船头方向，这动作看上去有些危险，然后他开始探下头去，用嘴直接吸水喝。
　　6. They landed ashore 7, pulled the light canoe far up the beach, and then went up towards the edge of the jungle. Evans had taken a native implement 8 out of the canoe. It was L-shaped, and the transverse piece was armed with polished stone. Hooker carried the paddle. "It is straight now in this direction," said he; "we must push through this till we strike the stream."
　　他们靠岸了，将独木舟拉到海滩上距离岸边较远处，然后向丛林的方向走去。埃文斯从独木舟上取下了自带工具。这东西呈L形，横向部分装有抛光石材。胡克则带着船桨。“现在朝这个方向一直向前走就行了，”他说，“我们必须穿过这片丛林才能到达那条溪流。”
　　7. They pushed through a close tangle 9 of reeds, broad fronds 10, and young trees, and at first it was toilsome going, but very speedily the trees became larger and the ground beneath them opened out. Dim white flowers hung from their stems, and ropy creepers swung from tree to tree. The shadow deepened. Evans shivered. "It seems almost cold here after the blaze outside." Then they heard the rush of water.
　　他们穿过了一个密密麻麻的芦苇丛，然后是一片宽叶植物，之后是一片小树，这耗费了他们大量的体力；但很快，他们面前的树木开始变得越来越高大，脚下的地面也开始变得宽敞。灰白色的花朵从树茎上垂下来，藤蔓像绳索一样在树木间摇摆。树荫变深了。埃文斯开始颤抖。“似乎，越是烈日炎炎，树荫里越是寒冷。”随后，他们听到水湍流而过的声音。
　　8. "Here is the river. We should be close to it now," said Hooker. "We have swerved 11 only a little from the straight." "That was to be expected." "You said--" began Evans. "He said there was a heap of stones," said Hooker. The two men looked at each other for a moment. Then, they advanced slowly, looking curiously 12 about them. Suddenly Evans stopped. "What the devil's that?" he said. Hooker followed his finger. It had come into view as they topped a gentle swell 13 of the ground. Then he began to distinguish what it was. The thing was the figure of a dead man lying on his face.
　　“附近有河流。我们得尽快找到它。”胡克说。“我们仅仅走偏了一点儿。”“预料之中的事。” “你说过……”埃文斯插了一句。“他说那里有一堆石头，”胡克接过话。两个人面面相觑了片刻。然后，他们开始慢慢地前行，同时好奇地环顾着四周。埃文斯突然停下了脚步。“那是什么鬼东西？”他说。胡克沿着他手指的方向走去。当他们走到一块地面稍稍隆起的位置时，那个东西开始变得清晰。然后，胡克开始分辨那东西究竟是什么——他是一个趴在地上的死人！
　　9. The two men stood staring silently at this ominous 14 dead body. It lay in a clear space among the trees. Nearby was a spade, and further off lay a scattered 15 heap of stones, close to a freshly dug hole. "Somebody has been here before," said Hooker, clearing his throat. He turned white but said nothing.
　　两个人默默地站在那里，盯着这个不祥的死尸。死尸在树木之间的空旷地面上，旁边有一把铁锹，稍远一点儿是一个乱石堆，乱石堆旁边有一个新挖的洞。 “有人来过这里了。”胡克清了清嗓子说。埃文斯脸色变得苍白，但什么话也没说。
　　10. He saw that the neck of the dead body was puffed 16 and purple, and the hands and ankles swollen 17. "Pah!" he said, and suddenly turned away and went towards the excavation 18. He gave a cry of surprise. He shouted to Evans, who was following him slowly: "You fool! It's all right. It's here still." Then he turned again and looked at the dead man, and then again at the hole. Evans hurried to the hole. Already half exposed by the ill-fated wretch 19 beside them lay a number of dull yellow bars.
　　胡克看到尸体的颈部已经发肿且呈紫色，手和脚踝已经肿胀。 “呸！”他说，然后突然转身走向那个洞口。他惊叫起来，然后朝着缓慢地跟在后面的埃文斯喊道：“你个傻瓜！没事的。东西还在。”然后，他再次转身看着那个死尸和那个洞。埃文斯赶紧跑到洞口。洞口已经被这个不幸的可怜虫挖开了一半，旁边散落着一些土黄色的棒条。
　　11. Hooker was puzzled. “I wonder how he found the place." Evans stood with the ingot in his hands. "We shall have to take this stuff to our homeland, how shall we get it to the canoe? What are you staring at?" Hooker turned to him. "I can't stand him ..." He nodded towards the corpse 20. "It's so like----" "Rubbish!" said Evans. "All dead men are alike." Hooker looked into his face. "I'm going to bury him, anyhow, before I lend a hand with this stuff." "Don't be a fool, Hooker," said Evans. Hooker hesitated, and then his eye went carefully over the brown soil about them. "It scares me somehow," he said. "What's come to you, Hooker?" said Evans. "Have you lost your wits?"
　　胡克满脸困惑地说：“我很纳闷他是怎么找到这地方的。”埃文斯站在那里，双手捧着金子。“我们必须把这些东西带回我们的家乡。我们该怎么把它们弄到独木舟上呢？你盯着看什么呢？”胡克转向他，说：“我无法忍受他了......”埃文斯向尸体的方向点了点头。“他太像……”“垃圾！”埃文斯说，“死人都一个样。”胡克看着他的脸说：“不管怎样，在我弄走这些宝藏前，我要把他埋葬了。”“别傻了，胡克。”埃文斯说。胡克犹豫了一下，然后仔细查看了一下他们周围的棕色土壤。“这家伙有点儿吓到我了。”他说。“你怎么了，胡克？”埃文斯问道，“你丧失理智了吗？”
　　12. Suddenly, Evans began to breathe heavily. "Can't you speak? What's the matter with you?" said Hooker. Evans stood for a moment staring at Hooker, and then with a groan 21 clutched at his own throat. "Don't come near me," he said, "I'll be better in a minute. Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Put the gold back!"
　　突然，埃文斯开始气喘吁吁。“你说不出话了吗？你怎么了？”胡克问道。埃文斯站在那里一动不动，眼睛盯着胡克。过了好一阵，他才从喉咙里挤出一阵呻吟声。“别靠近我，”他说，“我马上就没事了。不要碰我！不要碰我！把快把金子放回去！”
　　13. "Can't I do anything for you?" said Hooker. Then, he suddenly felt a little prick 22 on the ball of his thumb. He looked at his hand and saw a slender thorn, perhaps two inches in length. Evans gave an inarticulate cry and rolled over. Hooker stared at the thorn for a moment with dilated 23 eyes. Then he looked at Evans, who was now crumpled 24 together on the ground. He thought of the little dashes in the corner of the map, and in a moment he understood. "Evans!" he cried. But Evans was silent and motionless. A profound silence brooded over the forest. He stared at the distorted but still quivering body of his companion. The dull pain spread towards his throat and grew slowly in intensity 25. Far above him a faint breeze stirred the greenery, and the white petals 26 of some unknown flower came floating down through the gloom.
　　“我不能帮你吗？”胡克说。话音刚落，他突然觉得自己的拇指被刺了一下。他看到自己的手上刺了一根细长的荆棘，大概两英寸长。埃文斯大喊了一声，然后开始在地上翻滚，听不清他究竟喊了什么。胡克睁大眼睛盯着刺在他手上的那根荆棘，看了好一会儿。然后，他看向埃文斯——此时，埃文斯已经在地上团成一团。他想起了地图上的那些小破折号，终于恍然大悟。“埃文斯！”他喊道。可，埃文斯却一声不吭，一动不动。一片死寂笼罩着整个森林。他盯着他同伴那已变得扭曲但仍在颤抖的身体。一股钝痛蔓延到他的喉咙，而且程度还在不断缓慢加强。在他头顶的空中，一阵淡淡的微风搅动着绿叶，一些不知名花朵的白色花瓣穿过幽暗飘落下来。