【英文短篇小说】WOLF CHRISTMAS

I was sleeping with my brothers, Tanglefoot and PeeWee. We were warm and cozy², snuggling under the snow. Mama was sleeping nearby, and Aunt Fang³ and our older brother Robert, all covered by mounds⁵ of snow. Papa was somewhere nearby, watching over us. There was a bright moon. We had all had a good meal of venison Papa had caught earlier. PeeWee and Tanglefoot made contented⁶ little growls⁸ and mumbling⁹ noises in their sleep.

PeeWee stretched. I felt his four paws push against me, shoving me out of the warm tangle¹ of fur. I growled¹⁰ a cranky growl⁷. Tanglefoot heard me growl and bit PeeWee on the tail. Then all at once, we exploded out of our snow mound⁴. We were wide awake, wrestling and tumbling, jumping on one another, laughing and biting and pushing.

PeeWee found a twig¹¹, and Tanglefoot and I chased him. First, Tanglefoot had the twig, and then I had it. We scampered¹² about, bumping into the grown-up wolves, growling¹³ and yelping¹⁴. Mama and Aunt Fang and Robert stood up and shook the snow off their backs and then settled down again, watching us play in the moonlight.

Sometimes, we were able to get the grown-up wolves to join us and play, too. Tonight, when I would bump into one of them and fall on my side and then roll on my back with my paws waving in the air, the big wolf would nuzzle me but not get up and romp¹⁵.

Papa appeared out of a little stand of trees. We stopped our game and ran up to him. We reached up and rubbed our faces against his face. Uncle Louis is coming, Papa said. Wee, Uncle Louis, we pups said. We loved Uncle Louis. He was a funny wolf, and always had interesting things to tell us and show us.

How do you know Uncle Louis is coming? Robert asked. Did you see him? Did you smell him? Did you hear him howl? I just know, Papa said. It will be nice to see Uncle Louis, Mama said. Yes, Papa said, though he is not a serious wolf. The pups like him, Mama said. We love Uncle Louis, we pups said.

A little while later, Uncle Louis appeared. We pups did not approach him with respect the way we approached Papa. We flew at him, jumped all over him, and rolled him in the snow. Uncle Louis laughed and batted us with his paws.

What big pups, Uncle Louis said. And what a pretty wolf little Stinkface(ph) has become. Stinkface is my name. I felt my fur tingle¹⁶ when Uncle Louis said I was pretty.

Uncle Louis rubbed faces with the big wolves; just a little rub with Papa and Mama. Robert and Aunt Fang approached with their legs bent¹⁷ and their heads held sideways, and reached up to rub faces almost like pups. Uncle Louis is black all over, with yellow eyes, and he is very tall.

It's the longest night of the year - or just about, Uncle Louis said. Does everyone feel like taking a run through the woods? I want to show you something unusual. Louis, you have not been going near that pack of humans again, have you? They are dangerous to wolves. They are hardly dangerous, Uncle Louis said. They are so clumsy and make so much noise they are not able to get near us - or even see us if we don't want them to. Besides, this is their special night. They are quite peaceful and won't be bothering about wolves.

Oh, please, Papa, let us run through the woods with Uncle Louis and see something unusual, we all yelped¹⁸. It is a fine night, Papa said. I must admit, I do feel like running.

And we were off, all of us, bounding through the woods. The snow felt crisp and crunchy under our feet. The moon made dark shadows. We breathed the cold air deep into our lungs. I stretched my long legs out. I felt strong. I felt light. The moon shone silver on my brother's fur, and the stars were bright. We never got tired. I felt as though we could run forever.

We smelled the place where the humans lived. There were about a hundred smells we had never smelled before, and some of them were nice. We stopped and sat on a hillside. Below us was the humans' place.

The humans live in big, wooden things. Uncle Louis said they put pieces of wood together to make them. They have light in them, and it shines out through holes in the sides. And there were colored lights, like colored stars, everywhere - and hot, smoky smells and strange meat smells and sweet smells.

We didn't see any humans. They were inside the wooden things with the light shining out through the holes, and the glittering lights on the outsides and the smoke coming out and the snow on top.

We didn't see the humans, but we could hear them. They were singing. We listened. It was nice. I thought, even if they are dangerous, they are animals, just like we are. Then we threw back our heads and sitting on the hillside above the place where the humans live, we wolves sang, too

1 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

2 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

3 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

4 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

5 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

6 contented   

adj.满意的，安心的，知足的

参考例句：

• He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
• The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。

7 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

8 growls   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• The dog growls at me. 狗向我狂吠。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The loudest growls have echoed around emerging markets and commodities. 熊嚎之声响彻新兴的市场与商品。 来自互联网

9 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。

10 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 twig   

n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解

参考例句：

• He heard the sharp crack of a twig.他听到树枝清脆的断裂声。
• The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away.细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。

12 scampered   

v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

14 yelping   

v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In the middle of the table sat a little dog, shaking its paw and yelping. 在桌子中间有一只小狗坐在那儿，抖着它的爪子，汪汪地叫。 来自辞典例句
• He saved men from drowning and you shake at a cur's yelping. 他搭救了快要溺死的人们，你呢，听到一条野狗叫唤也瑟瑟发抖。 来自互联网

15 romp   

n.欢闹；v.嬉闹玩笑

参考例句：

• The child went for a romp in the forest.那个孩子去森林快活一把。
• Dogs and little children romped happily in the garden.狗和小孩子们在花园里嬉戏。

16 tingle   

vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动

参考例句：

• The music made my blood tingle.那音乐使我热血沸腾。
• The cold caused a tingle in my fingers.严寒使我的手指有刺痛感。

17 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

18 yelped   

v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelped in pain when the horse stepped on his foot. 马踩了他的脚痛得他喊叫起来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A hound yelped briefly as a whip cracked. 鞭子一响，猎狗发出一阵嗥叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》