精美英文欣赏:林中漫步(上)

A walk in the woods-Jastin

林中漫步-詹斯汀

I was puzzled! Why was this old woman making such a fuss about an old copse which was of no use to anybody?

我实在不明白！为什么这个年老女士会对一片毫无用处的老灌木林如此紧张呢？

She had written letters to the local paper, even to a national, protesting about a projected by-pass to her village, and, looking at a map,

她给当地报纸写了信，甚至给全国性的报纸也写了信，对拟将在她们村子里修建小路的方案表示抗议。但从地图上看，

the route was nowhere near where she lived and it wasn't as if the area was attractive. I was more than puzzled, I was intrigued¹.

这条拟建的小路离她家并不近，那一带也并非风景优美。这不仅使我感到迷惑，还激起了我的好奇心。

The enquiry into the route of the new by-pass to the village was due to take place shortly, and I wanted to know what it was that motivated her.

很快就要进行对新小路的调查了，我想了解一下她反对的原因。

So it was that I found myself knocking on a cottage door, being received by Mary Smith and then being taken for a walk to the woods.

于是我敲响了小屋的门，一位叫玛丽·史密斯的女士接待了我，然后她带我去树林中走走。

"I've always loved this place," she said, "it has a lot of memories for me, and for others. We all used it.

“我一直深爱这个地方，”她说，“这里珍藏了我和其他许多人的回忆。我们都曾在这个地方呆过。

They called it 'Lovers lane'. It's not much of a lane, and it doesn't go anywhere important, but that's why we all came here.

人们称它为‘情人路’。它其实并不能算是什么路，也不通往什么重要的地方，但这正是我们来这里的原因。

To be away from people, to be by ourselves," she added.

远离他人，只有我们自己。”她补充说道。

It was indeed pleasant that day and the songs of many birds could be heard.

那天林间实在迷人，小鸟唱着歌，

Squirrels gazed from the branches, quite bold in their movements, obviously few people passed this way and they had nothing to fear.

松鼠在树枝间张望，很自在地活动，显然这里人迹罕至，它们一点都不害怕。

I could imagine the noise of vehicles passing through these peaceful woods when the by-pass was built,

我能想象得出，在小路修好后，汽车通过这片宁静的树林将会是怎样的喧闹，

so I felt that she probably had something there.

因此我猜这对她来说可能意味着些什么。

But as I hold strong opinions about the needs of the community over-riding the opinions of private individuals, I said nothing.

但我坚持认为社区的需要重于个人的意见，所以我没说什么。

The village was quite a dangerous place because of the traffic especially for old people and children,

村里目前的交通，特别是对于老人和小孩来说，尤其危险，

their safety was more important to me than an old woman's whims².

所以对我来说他们的安全比这个老年女士的怪念头更重要。

"Take this tree," she said pausing after a short while. "To you it is just that, a tree. Not unlike many others here."

“拿这棵树来说吧，”她停了一会儿说，“对你来说它只是一棵普通的树，与这里其它的树没什么区别。”

She gently touched the bark. "Look here, under this branch, what can you see?"

她轻轻地摸着这棵树的树皮说：“看这，在这个枝条下面，你看见了什么？”

"It looks as if someone has done a bit of carving³ with a knife," I said after a cursory⁴ inspection⁵.

“好像有人用小刀在这里刻过什么东西。”我略略看了一下后说。

"Yes, that's what it is!" she said softly. "There are letters and a lover's heart."

是的，正是这样！”她轻轻地说，“是一些字母和一颗爱人的心。”

I looked again, this time more carefully. The heart was still there and there was a suggestion of an arrow through it.

我又看了一下，这回看得认真了一些。刻的那颗心还在那，此外还依稀可以看见有支箭穿心而过。

1 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

2 WHIMS   

虚妄，禅病

参考例句：

• The mate observed regretfully that he could not account for that young fellow's whims. 那位伙伴很遗憾地说他不能说出那年轻人产生怪念头的原因。
• The rest she had for food and her own whims. 剩下的钱她用来吃饭和买一些自己喜欢的东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

4 cursory   

adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的

参考例句：

• He signed with only a cursory glance at the report.他只草草看了一眼报告就签了名。
• The only industry mentioned is agriculture and it is discussed in a cursory sentence.实业方面只谈到农业,而且只是匆匆带了一句。

5 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。