美国小学英语教材2:第15课 "亮眼睛"与橡果

 　　Bright Eyes and the Acorn¹ “亮眼睛”与橡果

　　The children in Miss Wood's room wanted to learn about ants.  “当然能！”鹅太太回答道，

　　So Friday afternoon she took them to the park to see some ants. 所以星期五下午她带着他们去公园看蚂蚁。

　　They soon found a little hill of dirt² on the ground.  他们不久就在地上发现了一个小土包。

　　In the middle of the hill was a small, round hole. 在土包中间有一个小圆洞。

　　"This hole goes deep into the ground," said Miss Wood.  他们不久就在地上发现了一个小土包。

　　"It is the door to the ants' home. The ant family has many rooms down under the ground." 它是蚂蚁家的门。蚂蚁家族在地下有许多房间。”

　　The children watched the ants as they went in and out of their little door. 孩子们看着蚂蚁从小门进进出出。

　　"There are many kinds of ants," said Miss Wood. "The ants in this hill are called red ants." “蚂蚁有很多种类，”伍德小姐说。“这个土包里的蚂蚁叫红蚂蚁。”

　　"Here are some black ants, too." said Joe. 乔说：“这里有些黑蚂蚁。”

　　"Do they live with the red ants?" “它们与红蚂蚁一起住吗？”

　　"Yes," answered Miss Wood. "Some of the red ants are fierce³ soldiers. 他们不久就在地上发现了一个小土包。

　　They often march to the homes of black ants and carry away their eggs. 它们经常到黑蚂蚁家里，把黑蚂蚁蛋带走。

　　These soldier ants bring the eggs to their own home.  他们不久就在地上发现了一个小土包。

　　When the little black ants come out of the eggs, the red ants take care of them. They teach them to be helpers⁴, too." 当小黑蚂蚁从蛋里出来时，红蚂蚁就会照顾它们，把它们教成帮手。”

　　"How do the black ants help the red ants?" asked Jenny. “黑蚂蚁如何帮助红蚂蚁呢？”珍妮问。

　　"Black ants are good workers," said Miss Wood. 他们不久就在地上发现了一个小土包。

　　"Some of them keep the ant house clean. Some take care of the baby red ants and the eggs." “它们有些清扫蚂蚁窝，有些照顾红蚂蚁宝宝和蛋。”

　　"Where do the ants get their food in winter?" asked Bobby. 他们不久就在地上发现了一个小土包。

　　"How can they find food when the snow is on the ground?" “当地上有雪时，它们怎么找食物？”

　　"I know," said Joe. "I read a book about ants.  乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　They have a big room like a store, where they bring food in the summer. 乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　When the snow is on the ground, they get food from their store." 当地上有雪时，它们就从商店里获取食物。”

　　"Do the black ants bring in food, too?" asked Mary. 玛丽问：“黑蚂蚁也带食物吗？”

　　"Yes." answered Miss Wood. 伍德小姐回答：“是的。”

　　"Here is a little black ant now," said Mary.  “现在这儿有一只黑色的小蚂蚁。”玛丽说，

　　"How bright her eyes are! I am going to call her Bright Eyes, and I shall⁵ give her my cake crumbs⁷." “它的眼睛多亮啊！我想叫它‘亮眼睛’，给它一点儿我的蛋糕屑。”

　　Mary threw her cake crumbs on the ground near Bright Eyes. 玛丽把蛋糕屑扔在“亮眼睛”附近的地上。

　　As soon as Bright Eyes found the cake crumbs, she took one of them in her mouth and ran into the ant hole. “亮眼睛”一发现蛋糕屑，就用嘴叼着一个跑进蚂蚁洞里。

　　Soon Bright Eyes came back for more crumbs. Many other ants came with her. 不久“亮眼睛”回来拿更多的蛋糕屑。它带着更多的蚂蚁来了。

　　"Oh, look!" said Jenny. "Bright Eyes has told the other ants about the crumbs. Here they come to help her." “噢，快看！”珍妮说，“‘亮眼睛’告诉其他蚂蚁蛋糕屑的事了。它们来帮它了。”

　　"How strong ants are!" said Billy.  乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　"Look. Bright Eyes is carrying the biggest piece of all. It is bigger than she is." 看！‘亮眼睛’正在搬最大的一块。这比它自己大多了。”

　　Bright Eyes came out to get the last cake crumb⁶. “亮眼睛”出来拿最后一块蛋糕屑。

　　"I will show you how strong ants are," said Miss Wood.  乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　"Let us stop up the door of their house and see what they will do." “我们堵住它的房门，看看它们会做什么。”

　　So Billy found a big acorn and put it over the hole in the ant hill. 于是比利找了一个大橡果，把它盖在蚁丘的洞口。

　　When Bright Eyes came to the ant hill, she could not find the door. 乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　So she walked all around to be sure that she had come to the right place.  乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　Then she ran around and around the acorn. 然后它就围着橡果一直转。

　　"She knows that the acorn is over the door." said Nancy. “它知道橡果盖住了门。”南希说。

　　Bright Eyes pushed and pulled at the acorn, trying to roll it away. 乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　But it was too heavy. She could not move it. 但它太重了，“亮眼睛”推不动。

　　"Now watch, and see what she does." said Miss Wood. “现在看着它怎么做。”伍德小姐说。

　　All at once Bright Eyes left the acorn and began to run around in the grass. “亮眼睛”立刻离开橡果，开始在草丛里爬来爬去。

　　A minute later Jack⁸ cried, "Here come some more ants. Bright Eyes has told them about the acorn." 一分钟后杰克叫道：“蚂蚁变多了。‘亮眼睛’告诉它们橡果的事了。”

　　The ants ran to the acorn. They all pushed and pulled together.  乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　The heavy acorn began to move. Soon it was rolled away and Bright Eyes went in the door. 笨重的橡果开始动了。不久它就滚跑了，“亮眼睛”进入了门里。

　　"My, how strong the ants are!" said Tom. 乔说：“我知道。我读过一本关于蚂蚁的书。

　　"If an ant were as big as I am, he could carry an elephant." “如果蚂蚁有我这么大，它能搬动一头象。”

　　"The ants are great workers," said Joe. "I read in my book that they are the greatest workers in the world." 乔说：“蚂蚁是好工人，我读的书上说它们是世界上最伟大的工人。”

　　Jack said, "When I get lazy again, I shall think about little Bright Eyes and the big acorm." 杰克说：“我再变懒时，就会想到小‘亮眼睛’和大橡果的故事。”

1 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

2 dirt   

n.泥土；污物；污垢

参考例句：

• The children were outside playing happily in the dirt.小孩在外面的泥土里玩得很开心。
• She swept the dirt out.她扫除了灰尘。

3 fierce   

adj.凶猛的，残忍的；狂热的，强烈的

参考例句：

• The soldiers got ready for a fierce battle.战士们准备进行一场恶战。
• What he said met with fierce opposition.他的话语遭到激烈反对。

4 helpers   

n.助手( helper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a little posse of helpers 一小伙帮忙的人
• At election time the party needs a lot of voluntary helpers. 大选时，该党需要许多义务帮忙的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 shall   

v.aux.（主要用于第一人称）将

参考例句：

• I shall always love you.我将永远爱你。
• Which club shall we join?我们要参加哪个社团？

6 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

7 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。