吹小号的天鹅 第18期:路易斯(2)

 　　His wife looked at him in amusement.

　　他的妻子有些好笑地看着他。

　　"It's not too serious now," she said. "But it will be serious two or three years from now when Louis falls in love, as he will surely do.

　　“现在情况还不算太严重，”她说，“不过等到两三年后，路易斯开始恋爱的时候，他就会有麻烦了。

　　A young male swan will be greatly handicapped in finding a mate if he is unable to say ko-hoh, ko-hoh,

　　一个年轻的雄天鹅将很难找到爱侣的，如果他不能说‘吭—嗬，吭—嗬’，

　　or if he can't utter the usual endearments¹ to the young female of his choice."

　　或者不能对他选中的年轻雌天鹅说出那些通常的表示爱慕的言辞的话。”

　　"Are you sure?" asked the cob.

　　“你能肯定吗？”雄天鹅问。

　　"Certainly I'm sure," she replied. "I can remember perfectly² well the springtime, years ago, when you fell in love with me and began chasing after me.

　　“我当然能，”她回答，“你爱上我并开始追求我的那个春天，虽然已经过去这么多年了，我现在还记忆犹新呢。

　　What a sight you were, and what a lot of noise you made! It was in Montana, remember?"

　　那时的你有多么潇洒，发出了多少种甜蜜的声音！那是在蒙大拿，还记得吗？”

　　"Of course I remember," said the cob.

　　“我当然记得。”雄天鹅说。

　　"Well, the thing that attracted me most to you was your voice--your wonderful voice."

　　“很好，当时最吸引我的就是你的声音——你那绝妙的声音。”

　　"It was?" said the cob.

　　“是吗？”雄天鹅说。

　　"Yes. You had the finest, most powerful, most resonant³ voice of any of the young male swans in the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana."

　　“是的。在蒙大拿的红石湖国家野生动物保护区里，你是所有的年轻雄天鹅中嗓音最棒的，最嘹亮的，最具感染力的。”

　　"I did?" said the cob.

　　“我有那么好的嗓子？”雄天鹅说。

　　"Yes, indeed. Every time I heard you say something in that deep voice of yours, I was ready to go anywhere with you."

　　“有，的确有。每当听到你用你那浑厚的嗓音对我说话，我就愿意和你一起去任何地方。”

　　"You were?" said the cob.

　　“真的吗？”雄天鹅说。

　　He was obviously delighted with his wife's praise. It tickled⁴ his vanity and made him feel great.

　　妻子的赞扬显然让他十分开心。这些话撩起了他的虚荣心，使他觉得自己很了不起。

　　He had always fancied himself as having a fine voice, and now to hear it from his wife's own lips was a real thrill.

　　他本来就一直以为自己有一副好嗓子，现在又听到妻子亲口这么说，这可真让他欣喜若狂了。

　　In the pleasure of the moment, he forgot all about Louis and thought entirely⁵ of himself.

　　在这狂喜的瞬间，他把有关路易斯的事情全都忘得干干净净，光想着他自己了。

　　And, of course, he did remember that enchanted⁶ springtime on the lake in Montana when he had fallen in love.

　　当然了，他还记得他在蒙大拿的湖边坠入爱河的那个令人销魂的春天。

　　He remembered how pretty the swan had been, how young and innocent she seemed, how attractive, how desirable.

　　他仍记得那时的雌天鹅是多么漂亮，多么年轻纯真，多么有魅力，多么楚楚可爱。

　　Now he realized fully⁷ that he would never have been able to woo her and win her if he had been unable to say anything.

　　现在他完全明白了，如果他当时不能对她开口示爱的话，他永远都没法向她求婚并且赢得她的芳心。

　　"We'll not worry about Louis for the time being," said the swan. "He's still very young.

　　“我们现在不必为路易斯担忧，”雌天鹅说，“他还很小呢。

　　But we must watch him next winter when we are in Montana for the season.

　　不过等我们明年冬天去蒙大拿过冬时，我们必须注意观察他才行。

　　We must stay together as a family until we see how Louis makes out."

　　我们一家必须要呆在一起，直到我们看到路易斯是怎么度过这个难关的。”

　　She walked over to where her sleeping cygnets were and settled down next to them.

　　她走到她的小天鹅们睡觉的地方，挨着他们蹲坐下来。

　　The night was chill.

　　夜里很冷。

　　Carefully, she lifted one wing and covered the cygnets with it. They stirred in their sleep and drew close to her.

　　她轻轻地举起一只翅膀盖到了小天鹅们的身上。他们在睡梦中扭动着向她靠过来。

1 endearments   

n.表示爱慕的话语，亲热的表示( endearment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were whispering endearments to each other. 他们彼此低声倾吐着爱慕之情。
• He held me close to him, murmuring endearments. 他抱紧了我，喃喃述说着爱意。 来自辞典例句

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

4 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 enchanted   

adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She was enchanted by the flowers you sent her. 她非常喜欢你送给她的花。
• He was enchanted by the idea. 他为这个主意而欣喜若狂。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。