英语听书《海底两万里》第276期 第21章 在陆地上的两天(8)

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　　Order Passeriforma, division Clystomora, Conseil replied. 燕雀目，直肠亚目。康塞尔回答。

　　Partridge family? Ned Land asked. 鹤鹄科吗?尼德·兰问。

　　I doubt it, Mr. Land. Nevertheless, I'm counting on your dexterity¹ to catch me one of these delightful² representatives of tropical nature! 我想不是，尼德·兰师傅。不过我要靠您的好手段，把这种热带出产的最美丽可爱的东西打下一只来！

　　I'll give it a try, professor, though I'm handier with a harpoon³ than a rifle. 我试试，教授，虽然我用惯了鱼叉，使枪要差一些。

　　Malaysians, who do a booming business in these birds with the Chinese, have various methods for catching⁴ them that we couldn't use.  这种乌是马来亚人对中国人的一宗重要贸易；马来亚人用种种不同的方法来捕捉这种鸟，但我们都不能使用。

　　Sometimes they set snares⁵ on the tops of the tall trees that the bird of paradise prefers to inhabit.  他们或者把罗网安放在无双鸟喜欢居住的高树顶上，

　　At other times they capture it with a tenacious⁶ glue that paralyzes its movements.  或者使用强力的雀胶，使它们粘上不能动。

　　They will even go so far as to poison the springs where these fowl⁷ habitually⁸ drink.  他们甚至于把毒药投到这些鸟经常去喝的泉水中。

　　But in our case, all we could do was fire at them on the wing, which left us little chance of getting one.  至于我们现在，只有在它们飞翔时进行射击这一种办法。

　　And in truth, we used up a good part of our ammunition⁹ in vain. 我们很少有机会可以击中它们。果然我们确实白费了一些弹药。

　　Near eleven o'clock in the morning, we cleared the lower slopes of the mountains that form the island's center, and we still hadn't bagged a thing.  到十一点左右，我们已经走过了构成这岛中心的第：层山脉，可是仍然毫无所得。

　　Hunger spurred us on. The hunters had counted on consuming the proceeds of their hunting, and they had miscalculated. Luckily, and much to his surprise,  腹中作响，饥饿煎熬着我们。打猎人相信自己打猎一定有成果，可是错了，一点猎物也得不到。很幸运，

　　Conseil pulled off a right-and-left shot and insured our breakfast.  康塞尔开了两枪，完全出于意外地获得了午餐的猎物。

　　He brought down a white pigeon and a ringdove, which were briskly plucked, hung from a spit, and roasted over a blazing fire of deadwood.  他打下一只白鸽和一只山鸠。急忙把它们拔掉羽毛，挂在叉子上，放在燃点起来的干木头的旺火上烤着。

　　While these fascinating animals were cooking, Ned prepared some bread from the artocarpus.  当烤炙这些很有意味的动物的时候，尼德·兰就调理着面包果。

　　Then the pigeon and ringdove were devoured¹⁰ to the bones and declared excellent.  一会儿，白鸽和山鸠连骨头都被吃得精光，大家都说很好吃。

　　Nutmeg, on which these birds habitually gorge¹¹ themselves, sweetens their flesh and makes it delicious eating. 这些鸟惯常吃很多的肉豆寇，因此它们的肉像加了香料一般，成为一盘又青又好吃的莱。

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