读者文摘:我不知道自己还能活多久(2)

The goal that Good Friday was simple enough: transfer the corn he'd just picked up from a soggy field ten miles south to the silo on his homestead,

耶稣受难节的目标很简单：把他刚从南部10英里处潮湿的田里捡来的玉米转移到他家中的筒仓里。

quiet now that he'd dispatched his help and Lori had left for Sioux City, Iowa, nearly an hour away.

他已经派出了人手，洛莉动身去了将近一小时车程的爱荷华州苏城。

He parked his truck alongside the tractor next to the silo and tilted¹ his truck's long, corn-filled bed using the hydraulic² hoist³.

他把卡车停在靠近筒仓的拖拉机旁边，用液压提升机将卡车装满玉米的车箱倾斜。

Connected to the tractor was a large bin⁴ called a hopper, which Kurt wheeled beneath the truck bed to catch the corn when he opened the gate.

与拖拉机相连的是一个叫做装料斗的大箱子，库尔特打开闸门时，在卡车车箱底下旋转这个大箱子来接住玉米。

Inside the hopper, covered by a protective grate, was a giant iron corkscrew, about 30 feet long, called an auger⁵.

在覆盖着防护栅的装料斗内部，有一个大约30英尺长的巨型铁制螺旋钻。

Its job was to rotate, slowly and constantly, to convey the corn up a long yellow chute and dump it into the top of the gleaming chrome silo.

螺旋钻的任务是缓慢而不停地旋转，把玉米运上一条长长的黄色斜槽，然后把它倾倒到闪闪发光的铬筒仓顶部。

With everything now in place, Kurt turned the auger on. Despite all that prep work, something went slightly off-kilter, as often happens in the life of a farmer.

一切就绪后，库尔特打开螺旋钻。尽管做了所有准备工作，有些事情还是有点不对劲，农民生活中经常发生这样的事。

In this case, the corn released too quickly, causing a torrent⁶ of kernels⁷ to pile up over the sides of the hopper and atop the protective grate,

这次是玉米倒出的速度过快，导致大量玉米粒堆积在装料斗侧面和防护栅顶部，

concealing⁸ the auger's rotating blades.

盖住了螺旋钻旋转的叶片。

Kurt stepped onto the corn-filled hopper to lower the truck's gate and stem the flow.

库尔特走上装满玉米的装料斗，放下卡车车门，堵住那些流动的玉米粒。

In his haste, he forgot that the grate had a rather large hole in it,

他在匆忙中忘记了防护栅上有一个大洞，

one he'd cut himself months earlier when the ground was frozen solid and he couldn't fit the auger beneath the grain bin.

几个月前，地面冻得很硬，他无法把螺旋钻装到粮仓下面时，是他割了这个大洞。

He remembered it only when his foot sank into the corn through that very hole—and into the whirring auger funnel⁹.

只有当他的脚从那个洞里陷入玉米中，踏进旋转的螺旋钻里时，他才想起这个洞。

It snagged his foot and wrenched¹⁰ him forward, shredding¹¹ his jeans, then his ankle.

螺旋钻钩住他的脚，向前猛拉他，撕碎了他的牛仔裤，然后是脚踝。

He fell backward onto the gravel¹² path.

他倒在了砾石小径上。

The blades, still churning, slowly pulled him into the hopper, all the while tearing flesh from bone.

仍在搅动的叶片将他缓慢地拉入装料斗，同时把骨头上的肉撕扯下来。

1 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

2 hydraulic   

adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的

参考例句：

• The boat has no fewer than five hydraulic pumps.这艘船配有不少于5个液压泵。
• A group of apprentics were operating the hydraulic press.一群学徒正在开动水压机。

3 hoist   

n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起

参考例句：

• By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。
• Hoist the Chinese flag on the flagpole,please!请在旗杆上升起中国国旗！

4 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

5 auger   

n.螺丝钻，钻孔机

参考例句：

• We make a hole in the ice with an auger.我们用螺旋钻在冰上钻洞。
• Already the Snowblast's huge auger blades were engorging snow.扬雪车上庞大的钻头叶片在开始大量吞进积雪。

6 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

7 kernels   

谷粒( kernel的名词复数 )； 仁； 核； 要点

参考例句：

• These stones contain kernels. 这些核中有仁。
• Resolving kernels and standard errors can also be computed for each block. 还可以计算每个块体的分辨核和标准误差。

8 concealing   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Despite his outward display of friendliness, I sensed he was concealing something. 尽管他表现得友善，我还是感觉到他有所隐瞒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• SHE WAS BREAKING THE COMPACT, AND CONCEALING IT FROM HIM. 她违反了他们之间的约定，还把他蒙在鼓里。 来自英汉文学 - 三万元遗产

9 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

10 wrenched   

v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• The bag was wrenched from her grasp. 那只包从她紧握的手里被夺了出来。
• He wrenched the book from her hands. 他从她的手中把书拧抢了过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 shredding   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的现在分词 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Like the Tehran experience, the shredding may be all for naught. 如同德黑兰事件中的情况一样，切碎文件可能是徒劳的。 来自时文部分
• How shredding began is subject to some guesswork. 粉碎处理行业的起源是个有争议的问题。 来自时文部分

12 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。