美国小学英语教材5:第272课 约翰去了玩具谷(2)（在线收听）

Father Hofer placed the sled carefully and firmly on the platform of snow at the top. Then he seated himself and John got on behind, his arms around his father’s waist and his legs drawn well up out of the way. He had often taken short sled trips with his father down the mountain-side near home, but he had never yet gone down the long slide to the village in the valley. He had often come there to see his father start and had held his breath as he saw him flash down and out of sight under the great rock. Then he and his mother would wait patiently for the father to return, for they did not know until he got back whether or not he had reached the bottom alive. Now they were both going down, and the poor mother stood alone with clasped hands and murmured a prayer as she watched them.

霍弗神父小心而坚定地把雪橇放在顶上的雪台上。然后他坐了下来，约翰坐在后面，胳膊搂着父亲的腰，两腿伸得远远的。他经常和父亲一起坐着雪橇沿着离家不远的山坡走一段很短的路，但他从来没有滑过长长的滑道到山谷里的村庄去。他常常到那里去看他的父亲被吓一跳，当他看到他在大石头下闪过，消失在视野之外时，他都屏住了呼吸。然后他和他的母亲就耐心地等着父亲回来，因为直到他回来他们才知道他是否已经活着到达了海底。现在他们两人都下去了，可怜的母亲独自站着，双手合十，望着他们，嘴里念念有词。