美国小学英语教材4:第54课 爱丽丝漫游丛林(4)

 　　Whenever a can was tossed away, there was a great rush for it. 无论何时扔掉一个罐头盒子，都会有人向它猛冲过去。

　　If you had never had anything for a water jug¹ except a gourd² or a pottery³ bowl that broke very easily, 如果你除了一个葫芦或易碎的陶瓷碗之外没有其他盛水的器具，

　　and then suddenly you saw things like cans, that didn't break at all, 当你突然看到一些完全不会摔碎的、像罐头盒子一样的东西，

　　you would rush and scramble⁴ for them, too! 你也会冲上去争抢。

　　They would be much more precious than any silly thing like money, that couldn't buy cans in the jungle at all! 它们会比任何无用的东西比如金钱更加珍贵，金钱在丛林中是不会买到罐头盒子的。

　　After breakfast Alice always trotted⁵ off to see if everything she wanted was in her basket: 早饭后，爱丽丝总是小跑着去看她要得每件物品是否都在篮筐里了：

　　her doll and picture book, her bottle of drinking water, 她的娃娃和画册，她喝水的水瓶，

　　and the lunch that Priscilla always put up for her, cold chicken and crackers⁶ and cheese and bananas. 以及普莉希拉总是为她准备好的午餐——冷鸡肉、饼干、奶酪和香蕉。

　　The busiest moment of the morning was just after breakfast, 早晨最忙的时候正好是早饭后，

　　for every porter was trying to get his load on his head and hurry off with it. 因为每个搬运工都要把他的重担顶在头上，然后带着它赶快离开。

　　Uncle Akeley and Father were trying to keep all the two hundred porters together, 埃克利叔叔和爸爸总是努力把这两百名搬运工集中在一起，

　　and not let anybody get away until every load was taken care of. 不让任何人离开，直到所有货物都有人照看。

　　Priscilla was busy getting Alice ready, 普里西拉忙着帮爱丽丝准备好，

　　and mother and Martha were trying to get the breakfast things back into the boxes. 妈妈和玛莎正忙着将早餐用品放回盒子里。

　　The boys who helped the cook never would hurry with washing the breakfast dishes; 帮助厨师的男孩们从不着急洗早餐的餐具，

　　so the boxes that held the dishes were always the last to be ready. 所以装餐具的盒子总是最后才准备好。

　　The porters who carried them hoped that sometime they would manage to get off with the empty boxes before the dishes were put into them. 负责搬运的工人希望有一天在餐具放进去之前就搬着空盒子离开。

　　Every morning they came and sat beside the boxes, waiting for a chance. 每天早上，他们都过来坐在盒子旁边等待机会。

　　So Alice had to sit on guard each morning like a little girl shooing off hens; 因此，爱丽丝每天早晨都不得不像一个赶走母鸡的小女孩一样坐在那里值班。

　　and everytime a black arm would reach slyly out for an empty box she would shout, "Hapana!" (No). 每次一条黑黑的胳膊悄悄伸出来拿空盒子时，她就大喊：“Hapana！”（不行）

　　Then there would be a laugh from the blackboys. 这时黑人男孩们就会笑起来。

　　They were always very good-natured about it. 对此，他们的脾气总是很好。

1 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

2 gourd   

n.葫芦

参考例句：

• Are you going with him? You must be out of your gourd.你和他一块去？你一定是疯了。
• Give me a gourd so I can bail.把葫芦瓢给我，我好把水舀出去。

3 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

4 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

5 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

6 crackers   

adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘

参考例句：

• That noise is driving me crackers. 那噪声闹得我简直要疯了。
• We served some crackers and cheese as an appetiser. 我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。 来自《简明英汉词典》