美国小学英语教材5:第65课 小小美国伐木工(3)

 When the dam is finished, the water spreads back, and there is a beautiful woodland lake. 水坝建好后，水就会回流，形成一个美丽的森林湖泊。

Many of the trees which were in the valley will now be standing¹ in the water. 从前山谷里的许多树现在都要倒在水里了。

This causes them to rot, so that they gradually decay and fall into the lake. 这使它们腐烂，逐渐腐烂，掉进湖里。

It was in this way that the beaver² did most of his land-clearing for the white man. 海狸就是用这种方法为白人清地的。

He caused a small valley to become flooded by his dam; 他的水坝造成了一个小村庄遭遇洪水；

this rotted the timber, causing it to die; 这使木材腐烂，导致死亡；

and thus the land was cleared. 这样地就洁净了。

Then the spring freshets brought down rich mud and plastered it all lover the bottom of the lake. 然后春天的洪水带来了丰富的泥，并把泥贴满了湖底。

When the white man came, he trapped and killed the beaver and broke down his dam, causing the water to flow out. 白人来了，他困住并杀死了海狸，还破坏了海狸的水坝，导致水流出来。

Behold³, there was his farm all cleared free of timber and enriched by the mud which had been collecting for many years. 看，那里是他的农场，所有的树木都被伐光了，多年来一直积满了泥土。

When the beaver has finished his dam and it is filled with water, there is usually an island in the woodland lake which he has formed; it is upon such an island that he builds his house. 当海狸建好他的水坝，水坝充满了水，通常在他所建的林地湖上有一个岛；他就是在这样一个岛上盖房子的。

It is cone-shaped and made with a skeleton of sticks or rafters, but the chief building materials used by the beaver are sod and mud. 它是锥形的，由木棍或椽子做成的骨架，但是海狸使用的主要建筑材料是草皮和泥土。

These are plastered very skillfully on the framework. 这些被巧妙地涂在框架上。

When the house is finished, the little builder lays in his supply of winter food. 房子建好后，小建筑工人储备了过冬的食物。

He goes upstream and cuts many small trees. 并逆流而上砍了许多小树。

 

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

3 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。