美国小学英语教材5:第170课 为朋友而勇敢(11)（在线收听）

Paul cut short his protests by buttoning his collar tightly about his throat and testing the laces of his shoes.

保罗把衣领紧紧地扣在喉咙上，并试了试鞋带，以此结束了他的抗议。

“I’m going,” he stated stubbornly; “and the sooner I get off, the better.”

“我这就去了，”他顽固地说道；“我越快下去越好。”

SKIING FOR HELP

滑下去寻求帮助

And go he did, with a curt farewell which astonished his companion. Back of the cabin, poised at the top of the slope, with the snow whirling around him, he had one horrible moment when he was on the point of turning back. But with a tremendous effort he fought down that feeling. He could not bear the thought of facing Bill as a coward and a quitter. An instant later a thrust of his staff sent him over the edge, to glide downward through the trees with swiftly increasing speed.

他走了，简短地说了声再见，使他的同伴吃了一惊。在小屋后面，雪在他周围旋转，他在斜坡顶上保持平衡，正要转身，他突然感觉很害怕。但他付出了巨大的努力，才抑制住了这种感觉。一想到要把比尔看作懦夫，他就受不了。不一会儿，他的手杖一戳，他就滑下了悬崖，以越来越快的速度滑下了树林。

Strangely enough, he felt that the worst was over. After he had successfully steered through the first hundred feet or so of woods, growing confidence in himself helped to strengthen his courage. After all, except for the blinding snow, this hill was no worse than some of the wooded slopes back there at home in Canada.

奇怪的是，他觉得最糟糕的时期已经过去了。当他成功地驾驶着船穿过一百英尺左右的树林后，他对自己越来越有信心，这增强了他的勇气。毕竟，除了炫目的大雪，这座山并不比加拿大境内的一些树木繁茂的山坡差多少。

At first he managed, by a skillful use of his staff, to hold himself back a little and keep his speed within a reasonable limit. But just before he left the woods, a sudden side-turn to avoid a clump of trees nearly flung him off his balance. In struggling to recover it, the end of his staff struck against another tree and was torn instantly from his grasp. There was no stopping now. A moment later he flashed out into the open and shot down the steep incline.

起初，他巧妙地使用了工具，使自己稍稍放慢了速度，使速度保持在合理的限度内。但就在他离开树林之前，为了避开一丛树木，他突然侧身一转，差点失去平衡。在挣扎着要把它找回来的时候，他的杖头撞到了另一棵树上，立刻就被他从手里扯了下来。现在停不下来了。过了一会儿，他闪到空地上，从陡峭的斜坡上冲了下来。