绿野仙踪 第90期:找寻恶女巫(11)

 Dorothy went to work meekly¹, with her mind made up to work as hard as she could;  多萝茜顺从地干活，她决定不辞辛苦地做下去；

for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided² not to kill her. 因为恶女巫不会杀死她，她已经很欣慰了。

With Dorothy hard at work, the Witch thought she would go into the courtyard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse;  多萝茜在辛苦地忙碌着。这个女巫想，现在她可以到院子里去，像一匹马那样地驾御着那只庞大的狮子了；

it would amuse her, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever she wished to go to drive.  她想从中找乐，便决定让狮子拉游览车，她想到什么地方去就让它拉着去。

But as she opened the gate the Lion gave a loud roar and bounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid, and ran out and shut the gate again. 当她打开栅门时，狮子却对她大吼，凶猛地向她冲过去，女巫怕极了，急忙跑出去，锁上了铁门。

"If I cannot harness you," said the Witch to the Lion, speaking through the bars of the gate, "I can starve you. You shall have nothing to eat until you do as I wish." “我倒是有办法治你，”女巫从门柱的缝里对狮子说：“我先把你饿起来。直饿到你愿意为我做事，在你顺从以前，你不会有任何东西吃。”

So after that she took no food to the imprisoned³ Lion;  以后几天里，她不拿食物给被囚的狮子吃；

but every day she came to the gate at noon and asked, "Are you ready to be harnessed like a horse?" 总是每天中午，她跑到门旁去问：“你想好没有，像一匹马那样地为我拉车？”

And the Lion would answer, "No. If you come in this yard, I will bite you." 狮子坚定地回答说：“不，如果你进来，我要咬死你。”

The reason the Lion did not have to do as the Witch wished was that every night, while the woman was asleep, Dorothy carried him food from the cupboard.  其实那狮子并没有饿到那种地步，原来每天夜里，女巫熟睡了，多萝茜便从厨房拿食物给它吃。

After he had eaten he would lie down on his bed of straw,  在它吃饱以后，就躺下在稻草铺的床上，

and Dorothy would lie beside him and put her head on his soft, shaggy mane, while they talked of their troubles and tried to plan some way to escape.  多萝茜在它的旁边，她的头枕在它那柔软的、蓬松的长鬣上，他们便讨论如何摆脱困境，想方设法逃出去。

But they could find no way to get out of the castle,  然而他们仍一筹莫展，

for it was constantly guarded by the yellow Winkies, who were the slaves of the Wicked Witch and too afraid of her not to do as she told them. 因为那些黄色的温基人，时时刻刻看守着，他们是女巫的奴隶，不敢违抗她的命令，更不敢做多萝茜要他们做的事。

1 meekly   

adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地

参考例句：

• He stood aside meekly when the new policy was proposed. 当有人提出新政策时，他唯唯诺诺地站 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He meekly accepted the rebuke. 他顺从地接受了批评。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。