LESSON 11 Stories of the elephant
第十一課 大象的故事
In the Island of Ceylon, there are large herds of wild elephants. Many have been caught and tamed, and made useful in helping to build bridges, houses, and churches.
錫蘭的一個(gè)小島上有一大群野象,很多都被捉來加以訓(xùn)練,幫助人們建造橋梁、房子和教堂。
Travellers tell us, that some of them are as careful about the neatness of their work as men could be! An elephant has been known to step back a few yards to see if it had laid a block of wood or stone straight; and then, if not satisfied, to return and push it into its right place!
旅行者告訴我們大象的工作就和男人做的一樣!如果一只大象經(jīng)常躺在樹林中或是石頭上,就會被關(guān)回畜欄中,如果做的還是不盡人意就會送回它原來的地方。
Some years ago, an engineer in Ceylon had to lay pipes to convey water nearly two miles, over hills and through woods where there were no roads. To help him in his work, he had to employ several elephants; and nothing could be more interesting than to watch the way in which the elephant engineers did their work.
好幾年前,錫蘭的一個(gè)建筑師要安放管子--在大約兩英里遠(yuǎn)的兩個(gè)地方之間,沒有公路,要穿過重重山脈、跨過片片樹林。為了加快自己的工作進(jìn)度,他雇傭了幾頭大象--沒有什么會比看“大象建筑師們”工作更有意思的了。
Lifting up one of the heavy pieces of pipe, and balancing it in its trunk, each animal would march off with its load, and carry it safely over every obstacle, to the place where it was to be laid. When it reached the spot, it would kneel down and place the pipe exactly where the driver wished.
把每根沉重的管子用象鼻舉起來并保持平衡,每只大象像行軍般銜著管子小心的穿過重重阻礙,直到抵達(dá)目的地,到了目的地它們就會跪下前腿,把管子放到人們想放的地方。
Once, when one of the elephants found it hard to get one of the pipes it had brought fitted into another, it got up and went to the end of the pipe, and putting its head against it, soon forced it into its right place.
之前,有一只大象很難把管子放正,它就起身走到管子末端,把頭抵著管子,用力放正管子的位置。
In a show of wild beasts at Bath, some years ago, there was a large good-natured elephant. Among the crowd that went to see it was a baker. He thought it a clever thing to tease the elephant, by pretending to give it a cake, and then pulling away his hand.
幾年前,在巴思的一次野獸表演中,出現(xiàn)了一只品種優(yōu)良的大野象。人群中走來一個(gè)面包師,他喜歡欺負(fù)這只大象,就假裝給大象一塊蛋糕然后扔掉。
The elephant bore this for some time well enough, but at last it got angry. Putting its trunk out of the cage, it caught the baker round the waist, lifted him to the top of the caravan, and bumped his head with great force against the roof.
大象很厭煩這種事情,最后它生氣了,就把象鼻伸出來卷著面包師的腰,把他放到大篷車上面,把他的頭大力撞擊篷車頂。
Everybody thought the man would be killed. But all at once the elephant loosened its trunk, and dropped him from the roof to the ground, in the very midst of the people. There he lay for a minute or two, looking half dead; but when the people came to him, he got up and walked away as if nothing had happened.
每個(gè)人都以為面包師要死了,但是大象突然把他從車頂放到地面,放到了人群中。他躺了約一兩分鐘,半生不死的樣子,人們走向他的時(shí)候,他突然起身好像什么事都沒有發(fā)生一樣。
Though he was very much frightened, he was not hurt; but you may be sure he never tried to play tricks upon elephants again.
雖然他自己也非常驚訝自己沒有受傷,但是他再也不敢和大象開玩笑了。
A poor woman, in one of the cities of India, had a stall in the market-place, where she sold fruit. An elephant used to go by, and always stopped to look at her stall. She knew how fond the elephant was of fruit; and she used, now and then, to give him some.
印度一所城市中的一個(gè)老婦人在市場中心擺了一個(gè)水果攤,大象常常經(jīng)過這里都會停下來盯著她的水果,她知道大象有多么喜歡吃水果,她都會給它一些。
One day the elephant fell into a passion with his keeper. He broke loose, and ran through the market, trampling down everything before him.
一天,一只大象因?yàn)橹魅穗x開了,陷入了深深的傷痛之中,掙脫了繩索跑到市場中,踐踏腳下的一切事物。
The people at the stalls ran away as fast as they could. The poor woman left her stall and ran too. But she forgot, in her fright, that her little child was sitting on the ground, close by the stall!
水果攤附近的人們都趕緊跑,老婦人也扔下水果攤跑了,但是她非常害怕因?yàn)樗炎约旱牡男『⑦€坐在水果攤旁的地上。
It was just in the elephant's way, and you would think it must have been trampled to death. But the elephant knew the child again, and knew that this was the stall where he had been fed with fruit.
孩子就在離大象不遠(yuǎn)的地方,不用想也知道被踩到就必死無疑,但是大象也認(rèn)識那個(gè)小孩,知道孩子就在之前吃免費(fèi)水果的水果攤附近。
Though he was in a passion, he stopped. He looked at the child, and picked it up with his trunk. Then he set it out of his way, and went on. You may think how glad the poor woman was to see her child safe.
即使它很悲痛,它還是停下來了。它看著小孩,用象鼻蜷著他,把他放到旁邊,然后繼續(xù)跑。猜也猜得到老婦人見到自己的孩子平平安安是多么開心?。?/p>
QUESTIONS
問題
Where are there large herds of wild elephants? For what are they useful when tamed? What are the elephants in the picture doing? When did this take place? What did one of the elephants do when it could not get the pipe to fit? What did the elephant at Bath do to the baker who teased him? How did the poor woman in India make the elephant her friend? How did he reward her?
一大群野象在哪里?訓(xùn)練野象是用來干嘛?圖片中的大象在干什么?又發(fā)生在哪里呢?當(dāng)大象不能放正管子的時(shí)候它怎么做?巴思的一只大象對戲耍自己的面包師做了什么?印度的老婦人怎樣和大象做朋友的?大象給了婦人什么獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)?
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