英文版《伊索寓言》:THE WOLF AND THE LAMB
2017-01-11 17:08阅读:
《伊索寓言》THE WOLF AND THE LAMB A WOLF
【英文原文】
A WOLF came upon a Lamb straying from the flock, and felt
some compunction about taking the life of so helpless a creature
without some plausible excuse; so he cast about for a grievance and
said at last,
“ Last year, sirrah, you grossly insulted
me.”
“ That is impossible, sir,” bleated
the Lamb, “ for I
wasn’t born
then.”
“ Well,” retorted the Wolf,
“ you feed in my
pastures.”
“ That cannot be,” replied the
Lamb, “ for I have never yet tasted
grass.”
“ You drink from my spring, then,”
continued the Wolf.
“ Indeed, sir,” said the poor
Lamb
,
“ I have never yet drunk anything but my
mother’s milk.” “
Well, anyhow,” said the
Wolf, “ I’m not
going without my dinner ” : and he sprang
upon the Lamb and devoured it without more ado.
【重点解析】
A WOLF came
upon a
Lamb
straying from the flock, and felt some
compunction about taking the life of so helpless a
creature without some
plausible
excuse; so he
cast about for a
grievance and said at last,
【知识点】
1.lamb
羊羔,小羊;汉语里,我们只需要把动物前面加一个“小”就变成了动物的幼崽,但是英语里很多单词并不是这样的。U君给大家列举几个非常常见的:cat-kitty;duck-duckling;dog-puppy;rabbit-bunny;kangaroo(袋鼠)--joey;leopard(豹)--cub.
2.stray
v.
流浪;adj.迷路的;比如我们常听说的的stray
dog流浪狗;
3.compunction
悔恨;词根punct来自拉丁语pungere,表示“点,刺”
compunction这个词,U君理解为心里刺痛的。其他的同源词还有punctuation标点符号;punctual准时的,准点的。
4.plausible
貌似可信的;
5.cast about
想方设法;
6.grievance
不满,委屈。
【译文】
狼偶然碰见一只离群的小羊,似乎觉着平白无故杀死这么弱小无助的生命有点良心不安,于是他竭力寻找自己受过的各种委屈,最后说:
“
Last year, sirrah, you grossly insulted me.
”
“
That is impossible, sir,” bleated the Lamb,
“ for I
wasn’t born
then.”
“
Well,” retorted the Wolf,
“ you feed
in my pastures.
”
“
That cannot be,” replied the
Lamb, “ for I have never yet tasted
grass.”
【知识点】
1.sirrah
老兄,小子;
2.grossly
很,非常;
3.bleat
咩咩叫;这里U君还得提一下,汉语里不同的动物叫声有很多拟声词,例如咩咩,哞哞,汪汪,呱呱等等。英语也一样,例如:
bark
:狗及狐狸的叫声
bleat
:(羊或小牛)叫声;咩咩声
buzz
:(蜜蜂、蚊子等)嗡嗡叫声
cackle
:(母鸡下蛋后)咯咯声
chirp
: (小鸟、昆虫等)唧唧声、嘤嘤声
chuck
:(母鸡)咯咯声
coo
: (*鸽子、斑鸠等)咕咕声
crow
:(公鸡)啼鸣;喔喔声
grunt
:(猪等)咕噜声
hum
:(蜜蜂等)嗡嗡声
meow
:猫叫声
moo
: 牛叫声
neigh
:(马等)嘶叫声
quack
:(鸭等)嘎嘎声
roar
: (狮虎等)咆哮声
squeak
:(鼠等)吱吱声
twitter
:(鸟)吱吱叫、鸣声
whistle
:(画眉等)鸟鸣声
4.retort
反驳,顶嘴;
5.pasture
牧场,草地;pastor牧师;
【译文】
“小子,去年你可是侮辱过我。”“这不可能,先生。”小羊低声说,“那时,我还没出生呢。”狼反驳道:“嗯,你在我的牧场里吃草来着。”“这更不可能啦,”小羊回答说,“我到现在还没尝过草的滋味呢。”
“
You drink from my spring, then,”
continued the Wolf.
“
Indeed, sir,” said the poor
Lamb, “ I have never yet drunk anything
but my mother’s milk.”
“ Well, anyhow,
” said the Wolf,
“ I’m not going
without my dinner ” : and he
sprang
upon the Lamb and
devoured it without more ado.
【知识点】
1.anyhow
总之,无论如何;
2.spring-sprang(sprung)-sprung
弹起,跳起;
3.devour
吞食;词根vor/vour
表示“吃”,例如:voracious
(a.)
胃口极大的,狼吞虎咽的;carnivorous (a.)
肉食的;herbivore (n.)
草食动物;omnivorous (a.)
杂食的。
4.without more ado=without further
ado
立刻,二话不说;这里表达了狼实在是无计可施时,原形毕露的急切心态。
【译文】
“那么,你喝过我的泉水。”狼继续编造借口。“说实在的,先生,”可怜的小羊说,“除了妈妈的奶水,我从没喝过其它东西呢。”“好吧,不管怎么说,”狼说,“我总不能不吃晚饭。”于是,他扑向小羊,干脆痛快地把他吞了下去。
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