英国语文第三册 第11期:大象的故事

 　　LESSON 11 Stories of the elephant 第十一课 大象的故事

　　In the Island of Ceylon, there are large herds 1 of wild elephants. 锡兰的一个小岛上有一大群野象，
　　Many have been caught and tamed, and made useful in helping 2 to build bridges, houses, and churches. 很多都被捉来加以训练，帮助人们建造桥梁、房子和教堂。
　　Travellers tell us, that some of them are as careful about the neatness of their work as men could be! 旅行者告诉我们大象的工作就和男人做的一样！
　　An elephant has been known to step back a few yards to see if it had laid a block of wood or stone straight; 如果一只大象经常躺在树林中或是石头上，就会被关回畜栏中，
　　and then, if not satisfied, to return and push it into its right place! 如果做的还是不尽人意就会送回它原来的地方。
　　Some years ago, an engineer in Ceylon had to lay pipes to convey water nearly two miles, over hills and through woods where there were no roads. 好几年前，锡兰的一个建筑师要安放管子--在大约两英里远的两个地方之间，没有公路，要穿过重重山脉、跨过片片树林。
　　To help him in his work, he had to employ several elephants; 为了加快自己的工作进度，他雇佣了几头大象--
　　and nothing could be more interesting than to watch the way in which the elephant engineers did their work. 没有什么会比看“大象建筑师们”工作更有意思的了。
　　Lifting up one of the heavy pieces of pipe, and balancing it in its trunk, each animal would march off with its load, 把每根沉重的管子用象鼻举起来并保持平衡，每只大象像行军般衔着管子，
　　and carry it safely over every obstacle, to the place where it was to be laid. 小心的穿过重重阻碍，直到抵达目的地，
　　When it reached the spot, it would kneel down and place the pipe exactly where the driver wished. 到了目的地它们就会跪下前腿，把管子放到人们想放的地方。
　　Once, when one of the elephants found it hard to get one of the pipes it had brought fitted into another, 之前，有一只大象很难把管子放正，它就起身走到管子末端
　　it got up and went to the end of the pipe, and putting its head against it, soon forced it into its right place. 把头抵着管子，用力放正管子的位置。
　　In a show of wild beasts at Bath, some years ago, there was a large good-natured elephant. 几年前，在巴思的一次野兽表演中，出现了一只品种优良的大野象。
　　Among the crowd that went to see it was a baker 3. 人群中走来一个面包师，
　　He thought it a clever thing to tease 4 the elephant, by pretending to give it a cake, and then pulling away his hand. 他喜欢欺负这只大象，就假装给大象一块蛋糕然后扔掉。
　　The elephant bore this for some time well enough, but at last it got angry. 大象很厌烦这种事情，最后它生气了，
　　Putting its trunk out of the cage, it caught the baker round the waist, 就把象鼻伸出来卷着面包师的腰，
　　lifted him to the top of the caravan 5, and bumped 6 his head with great force against the roof. 把他放到大篷车上面，把他的头大力撞击篷车顶。
　　Everybody thought the man would be killed. 每个人都以为面包师要死了，
　　But all at once the elephant loosened 7 its trunk, and dropped him from the roof to the ground, in the very midst 8 of the people. 但是大象突然把他从车顶放到地面，放到了人群中。
　　There he lay for a minute or two, looking half dead; but when the people came to him, he got up and walked away as if nothing had happened. 他躺了约一两分钟，半生不死的样子，人们走向他的时候，他突然起身好像什么事都没有发生一样。
　　Though he was very much frightened, he was not hurt; but you may be sure he never tried to play tricks upon elephants again. 虽然他自己也非常惊讶自己没有受伤，但是他再也不敢和大象开玩笑了。
　　A poor woman, in one of the cities of India, had a stall 9 in the market-place, where she sold fruit. 印度一所城市中的一个老妇人在市场中心摆了一个水果摊，
　　An elephant used to go by, and always stopped to look at her stall. 大象常常经过这里都会停下来盯着她的水果，
　　She knew how fond the elephant was of fruit; and she used, now and then, to give him some. 她知道大象有多么喜欢吃水果，她都会给它一些。
　　One day the elephant fell into a passion with his keeper. 一天，一只大象因为主人离开了，陷入了深深的伤痛之中，
　　He broke loose, and ran through the market, trampling 10 down everything before him. 挣脱了绳索跑到市场中，践踏脚下的一切事物。
　　The people at the stalls 11 ran away as fast as they could. 水果摊附近的人们都赶紧跑，
　　The poor woman left her stall and ran too. 老妇人也扔下水果摊跑了，
　　But she forgot, in her fright, that her little child was sitting on the ground, close by the stall! 但是她非常害怕因为她把自己的的小孩还坐在水果摊旁的地上。
　　It was just in the elephant's way, and you would think it must have been trampled 12 to death. 孩子就在离大象不远的地方，不用想也知道被踩到就必死无疑，
　　But the elephant knew the child again, and knew that this was the stall where he had been fed with fruit. 但是大象也认识那个小孩，知道孩子就在之前吃免费水果的水果摊附近。
　　Though he was in a passion, he stopped. 即使它很悲痛，它还是停下来了。
　　He looked at the child, and picked it up with his trunk. 它看着小孩，用象鼻蜷着他，
　　Then he set it out of his way, and went on. 把他放到旁边，然后继续跑。
　　You may think how glad the poor woman was to see her child safe. 猜也猜得到老妇人见到自己的孩子平平安安是多么开心啊！