美国小学英语教材2:第26课 餐具的由来

 　　How the First Dishes Were Made 餐具的由来

　　Torad, the Cave 1-Boy 特拉德——洞穴男孩
　　A long, long time ago, there lived a little boy named Torad. 很久很久以前，这里住着一个叫特拉德的小男孩。
　　In those days there were no houses like ours, and Torad lived in a cave with his family. 那时这里没有和我们一样的房子，特拉德与他的家人住在洞穴里。
　　They sat and slept on the floor of the cave, for they had no chairs or beds. 他们在洞穴的地上坐着或睡觉，因为他们没有椅子或床，
　　And no one knew what dishes were. 也没有人知道餐具是什么。
　　Torad liked to run and play with the other children. 特拉德喜欢与其他孩子一起跑着玩。
　　But best of all, he liked to play with the soft, yellow mud 2 which he found along the bank of the river. 但他最喜欢的是玩他在河岸发现的软黄泥。
　　Sometimes he would sit for hours making mud balls, rolling them on a flat stone until they were round and smooth 3. 他有时会坐几个小时制作泥球，将它们放在平坦的石头上滚，直到它们变圆变光滑为止。
　　One day Torad was playing with a big mud ball. 一天，特拉德正在玩一个大泥球。
　　He took a sharp 4 stick and dug 5 a round hole in the ball. This made it look like a small round bowl. 他拿一个尖尖的木棍在球上挖了一个圆洞，使它看起来像一个小圆碗。
　　Torad thought it looked like one of the large nut shells 7 which his mother used 8 to carry water from the river. 特拉德认为它像一个大坚果壳，是他妈妈从河里取水用得。
　　He was just going to show the bowl to his mother when he heard his playmates calling him. 他正想把碗给他妈妈看时，听到玩伴叫他了。
　　So he ran away to play and forgot all about the mud bowl. 于是他跑去玩了，完全忘了泥碗的事。
　　The next day, when Torad went to get the bowl, he found it dry and hard. 第二天，当他去取碗时，发现它变干变硬了。
　　"Mother might use this for carrying water instead of a nut shell 6," he said. “妈妈可能会用它代替坚果壳取水，”他说。
　　So he took the bowl to his mother. 于是他把碗拿给了他妈妈。
　　When Torad's mother saw the bowl, she did not know what it was. 他妈妈看到碗时，不知道这是什么。
　　She held it in her hands and looked at it. 她拿在手里看了看。
　　"Where did you find this?" she asked. “你从哪儿找到的？”她问。
　　Torad smiled. "I made it myself," he said. "I made it out of mud. I thought you might carry water in it." 特拉德笑了，说：“我自己做得。我用泥做得，我想你可以用它取水。”
　　Torad's mother was pleased. "We will see," she said. 他的妈妈很高兴。“我们试试，”她说，
　　"Bring me some fresh, cool water from the river. I want a drink." “给我从河里取点儿新鲜的凉水来。我想喝。”
　　Torad ran to the river and came back to the cave with the bowl full of water.  特拉德跑去河边，端着满满一碗水回到了洞里。
　　But when his mother took the bowl, she saw that the water was muddy 9. 但他妈妈拿碗时，看到水是浑的。
　　"Why do you bring me muddy water?" she asked. "I cannot drink it." “你为什么给我带浑水？”她问，“我喝不了。”
　　Torad was surprised. "It was clean when I got it from the river." he said. 特拉德很惊奇，他说：“我从河里取水时，它还是干净的。”
　　"We cannot carry water in this thing,"said his mother. “我们不能用这个东西取水，”他妈妈说，
　　"It is made of mud, and will always make the water muddy. We had better throw it away." “它是用泥做得，总是把水弄浑。我们最好扔了它。”
　　She threw the bowl into the fire. 她把碗扔到了火里。
　　Poor Torad! He was sorry to see his bowl in the fire. 可怜的特拉德！他看到碗在火里感觉很难过。
　　But the fire was so hot that he could not get the bowl out. So he ran away to play. 但火很热，他拿不出碗。于是他跑去玩了。
　　The Beautiful Red Bowl 漂亮的红碗
　　When Torad came back to the cave, the fire had burned down. 特拉德回到洞穴时，火已经熄灭了。
　　He raked 10 his bowl out with a long stick. 他用长棍把碗耙出来。
　　As soon as the bowl was cool enough, Torad took it up in his hands and looked at it.  碗一冷却，他就把它拿在手里看。
　　He was surprised to see that it was not the same color. It had changed from yellow to a bright red. 他看到碗变色了感觉很惊奇。它从黄色变成了亮红色。
　　Then Torad saw that a piece of the bowl had been broken 11 off. 特拉德随后看到碗碎了一块。
　　"I will hold the bowl in the water until it is soft," he said. "Then I will stick the broken piece on again." “我要把它放到水里，直到它变软为止，”他说，“然后我再把碎片粘上。”
　　Torad took the red bowl to the river and held it under the water for a while. 特拉德带着红碗到河里，拿着它在水里放了一会儿。
　　Then he let some water stand in it for a long time. But the bowl did not get soft. 然后在它里面放了水待了很长时间。但碗没有变软。
　　This seemed very strange to Torad. 这对特拉德来说很奇怪。
　　When he saw that the water did not get muddy, he was happy. 当他看到水没有变浑时很高兴。
　　Now he knew how to make a bowl that his mother would like better than any nut shell. 现在他知道如何制作碗了，他妈妈会喜欢它超过任何坚果壳。
　　So he got some more mud. 于是他多拿了些泥。
　　He made a larger bowl this time, taking great care to make it round and smooth. 他这次做个大点儿的碗，非常小心地使它圆润光滑。
　　Then he left it on a stone until it was dry. 然后把它留在石头上变干。
　　That night, when everyone was asleep, Torad put his new bowl into the fire. 当天晚上，所有人都睡去时，他把新碗放进火里。
　　Next morning he raked it out of the fire. 第二天早上，他把它从火里耙出来。
　　The new bowl was not broken, and had the same red color as the first one. 新碗没有破，和第一个碗一样红。
　　He carried it to the river and filled it with water. Then he took it to the cave. 他拿着它到河边装满水。然后带着它回到洞里。
　　"Look, mother!" he cried. "This bowl does not make the water muddy." “快看，妈妈！”他叫道，“这个碗不会让水变浑了。”
　　Many people came to see the bowl. 许多人都来看碗。
　　Soon Torad was busy teaching 12 others how to make bowls like his and how to bake 13 them in the fire. 不久，特拉德就忙着教其他人制作他这样的碗，以及如何在火里烘烤它。
　　So people began to make bowls, big ones and little ones, deep ones and flat ones. 于是人们开始制作碗，大的小的，深的浅的都有。
　　These were used for eating and drinking, and they were the first dishes. 这些碗被用于吃饭喝水，它们是第一波餐具。