美国小学英语教材6:第47课 金黄色的彩虹泥沼(3)

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very skillful in weaving wheel-shaped webs of great beauty. 这种蜘蛛可以编织轮子形状的大网。

The wonderful webs of these two spiders he was careful not to disturb, 他小心翼翼地不去破坏两只蜘蛛织成的美丽蛛网，

stopping only to leave a grasshopper² or other insect as a token of goodwill³. 只留下了一只蚂蚱或其它昆虫以示友好。

At the foot of an open muddy slope he saw a round, black mass about the size of a dinner plate moving in the water's edge. 在一片空旷泥泞的斜坡脚下，一团大小和餐盘一样的黑色物质在河流边缘移动。

Going closer, he discovered a father catfish⁴, or bullhead, in charge of his multitude of babies. 走近一看，他发现了一条鲶鱼爸爸，也被叫做大头鱼，他正在指挥他的孩子们。

The young ones were swimming round and round while the father guarded just outside in the deeper water. 孩子们在水里游来游去，爸爸在远处的深水区观看。

The boy thought the old bullhead was the mother, and did not learn 小男孩认为老大头鱼是妈妈，但他当时不知道，

until years later that it was the father who takes charge of the eggs and the young. 直到几年后他才懂得父亲负责小鱼们。

While he watched, a small rock bass⁵ stole up to grab a baby catfish, and was promptly⁶ chased away by father bullhead, 他一边看，一边发现一条岩鲈偷偷地逮了一条小大头鱼，并立马遭到父亲的追逐，

but at once another bass stole up from the other side, snatched one, and made his safe getaway. 但突然另一条岩鲈从另外一个方向进入，又逮了一只，并安全逃跑。

Thus these two pirates took turns from one side or the other until the distracted father knew not what to do. 这两只岩鲈轮换着从一边或是另一边进入，直到晕头转向的父亲不知如何做好。

Fascinated, the small boy watched what was going on in the water, 小男孩兴致盎然地看着水里发生的一切，

sympathizing wholly with the catfish but powerless to help. 同情这些大头鱼，但却无能为力。

He knew that the baby multitude had already dwindled⁸ to half its original size, 他知道这些小鱼的数量已经减到了之前的一半，

and would continue to dwindle⁷ until only a thin line remained along the shore in the shallow water. 并继续减少，我们只能在沿岸浅水区看到一条细细的鱼群。

So our young friend went regretfully on his way. At the lotus bed the boy wandered delighted from flower to flower. 我们的这位年轻朋友继续上路，但却十分懊恼，在莲花栖息地，小男孩兴高采烈地在花朵之间漫步。

Breathing deeply the sweet odor from each lily before plucking it, 在摘下百合花之前，他深深闻了每一颗百合的芳香，

he marveled that the blossom could draw such a wealth of sweetness from the stickiest and blackest of mud. 他惊讶地发现，这些百合花能够从厚厚的黑色泥土中渗透出饱满的香味。

The young unopened blossoms had the finest fragrance⁹, and of these he picked a dozen, a fair-sized bouquet¹⁰. 这些未开的百合花散发的香味最诱人，他从中采了十二朵，差不多是一束花的量。

Wrapping a cool lily pad or two about their stems, he tied the whole together with twigs¹¹ of young willow¹². 用一片或两片百合叶子缠绕茎部，他将所有百合用黄色柳树枝缠绕在一起。

 

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