《风语河岸柳》第2章 宽敞的公路(1)

Chapter¹ 2 The open road

第2章 宽敞的公路

One bright summer morning the Mole² and the Rat³ were out on the river bank, watching the world go by.

一个灿烂的夏日早晨，鼹鼠和水鼠在河岸边散步，欣赏着世界的变幻。

The Rat was writing a song and was singing quietly to himself as he tried different words.

水鼠正在写一首歌，他试着用不同的词轻声地自哼自唱。

'Ratty, 'said the Mole, 'could I ask you something?'

阿鼠，鼹鼠说，我能问你一些事吗？

'Mmm, 'the Rat said, not really listening.

呣，水鼠似听非听地说着，

'Sky, fly, high, die, why…Oh dear! What did you say, Mole?'

天空、飞翔、高潮、死亡，为什么……噢，亲爱的！你说什么，鼹鼠？

'Will you take me to visit Mr Toad⁴? I've heard so much about him, and I do want to meet him. '

你能带我去拜访癞蛤蟆先生吗？我已听了许多有关他的事，我确实想见他。

'Why, of course, 'said the Rat kindly⁵. 'Get the boat out, and we'll row up there now. Toad's always happy to see his friends. '

呃，当然，水鼠和善地说，把船拉出来，我们现在就划过去，蛤蟆一直都很乐意见他的朋友。

'He must be a very nice animal, 'said the Mole, as he got into the boat and took the oars⁶.

他一定是只很不错的动物，鼹鼠边说边走上船拿起双桨。

'He's the best of animals, 'replied the Rat.

他是动物中最好的，水鼠回答道。

'Kind, friendly-not very clever, perhaps, and sometimes he's just a little bit boastful, but he's a good fellow⁷ really. '

善良，友好—也许不很聪明，有时他仅仅有点爱吹牛，但是他确实是个好人。

The Mole rowed hard up the river and in a while they came to a large red house, with beautiful gardens reaching down to the water's edge⁸.

鼹鼠吃力地向上游划着，不一会儿他们到了一所大大的红房子前面，那儿美丽的花园一直延伸到河的边缘。

'There's Toad Hall, 'said the Rat.

'那是蛤蟆宅第，水鼠说，

'It's a lovely old house-Toad is very rich, you know, and this is really one of the nicest houses on the river. But we never say that to Toad, of course.

一所可爱的老宅—癞蛤蟆很富有，你知道吧，这是河边最好的房子之一。当然我们从来没有对蛤蟆这样说过。

They left their boat by the boathouse at the end of the garden.

他们把船停在花园尽头的船室里，

The boathouse was full of expensive boats, which looked new and mostly unused.

船室内停满了昂贵而崭新的船，看上去大多没用过。

1 chapter   

n.章，篇，重要章节

参考例句：

• I will skip the next chapter.我将略过下一章。
• Go and open a wonderful new chapter.去开启美好的新篇章。

2 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

3 rat   

n.鼠，卑鄙的人，变节者；vi.背叛，捕鼠；vt.弄蓬松，告发

参考例句：

• The rat is hated by many people.老鼠被很多人憎恶。
• He stopped up the rat holes.他塞住了那些老鼠洞。

4 toad   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆

参考例句：

• Both the toad and frog are amphibian.蟾蜍和青蛙都是两栖动物。
• Many kinds of toad hibernate in winter.许多种蟾蜍在冬天都会冬眠。

5 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

6 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 fellow   

n.人，家伙；伙伴，同事；对等者，对手；一对中之一，配对物；adj.同伴的，同事的

参考例句：

• I can't stand that fellow.我不能容忍那家伙。
• Who's that old fellow?那个老家伙是谁？

8 edge   

n.边(缘)；刃；优势；v.侧着移动，徐徐移动

参考例句：

• Sight along the edge to see if it's straight.顺着边目测，看看直不直。
• She lived on the extreme edge of the forest.她住在森林的最边缘。