We couldn”t leave the dead bull to lie thereso close to the cabin. In a few days the smell woulddrive us out.Also，the body lay too close to thespring. Mama was afraid of what it might do to ourdrinking - water.
我们不能让死牛躺在离我们木屋那么近的地方。不然的话，几天之后那种臭味就会把我们赶跑的。
再说，尸体离山泉那么近，妈妈担心它会污染我们的食用水。
“We”ll ha ve to burn it，”she said.
“我们必须把它烧掉，”妈妈说。
“Burn it？ ”I said in surprise.“Why c a n’t we jus tle a ve it for the buzz a rds a nd othe r a nima ls to cle a nup ？”
“烧掉它？ ”我惊奇地问道。
“干嘛不让帝鸟肩鸟和其他的动物把它吃掉呢？”
“Be ca us e the n the s ickne s s might ge t a ll ove rthe pla c e ，”Mama said.“lf the a nima ls e a t it，the ymight ge t the s ickne s s ，too .”
“因为如果那样的话，这种病可能会在这儿蔓延开，”妈妈说。“如果那些野兽吃了它，它们也就可能会传染上这种病。”
It was going to mean a terrible lot of woodgathering. We’d lived there long enough to use upall the dead wood close to the cabin. So Mama andLisbeth had to go far into the woods for it.I got apiece of rawhide string and patched up the chain，and Mama and Lisbeth used Jumper to drag up big
这意味着要去拾大量的柴禾。
我们已经在那儿住得很久了，靠近木屋的枯树都已经用光。因此，妈妈和丽丝贝只得到很远的树林里去捡集。我找了一根生牛皮绳子，把链条修补好。妈妈和丽丝贝让“跳高能手”牵拖大根的枯木。我帮她
dead logs. I helped them pile the logs on top of thebull. We piled them up until the bull’s body wascovered. Then we set fire to them.
们把木头堆在牛身上。我们把木头一直堆到把牛的身体全部覆盖住为止，然后把火点着。
Soon the file was roaring. The flames shot highinto the air. The heat and the smell of burnt hairand hide drove us back.
熊 熊的烈火很快就燃烧了起来。火苗直窜空中。火焰的热浪、烧焦的皮毛所发出的味道使我们向后退去。
It was the biggest fire I’d ever seen. I thoughtthere was enough fire there to burn three bulls. Butwhen it began to die down two hours afterwards，thebull still wasn”t half burnt up. Mama and Lisbethwent on dragging wood.
这是我所见过的最大的火。我想这场大火足可烧掉三头牛。可是两个小时以后，火开始熄灭了，连半头牛也没有烧掉。妈妈和丽丝贝只得继续去拖木头。
It took two days and nights to burn up thatbull. We worked all day long each day，with Mamaand Lisbeth dragging up the wood while I fed thewood on to the fire. Then at night we couldn’t reallysleep. The smell of roasting meat had broughtwolves，and they were fighting and howling allnight.They didn’t get any of it，they were too afraidof the hot fire，but all night long，on bothnights，Old Yeller kept going，weak as he was，betweenthe fire and the cabin. He barked savagely，telling the wolves to keep away.
花 了两天两夜才把这头牛烧掉。我们每天都从早到晚地干活，妈妈和丽丝贝拖木头，我把木头往火里丢。到了晚上我们也不能真正地安睡。烤肉的香味引来了狼群，它们整夜在那儿争斗着，嚎叫着。
但是它们一点儿也没有吃到，因为它们太惧怕那灼热的火了，阿黄虽然还相当虚弱，但是这两个晚上它都是通宵达旦地在火堆和木屋之间不停地来回走动着。它恶狠狠地吠叫着，不让狼群接近火堆。
Both nights，I lay there watching the eyes ofthe watching wolves. They were like coals in thefirelight. And I lould still hear the weak bellow ofold Spot as she went in her circle. As I lay there，I
这两个晚上，我都躺在那儿，看着那些虎视眈眈的狼眼，就象火光里一块块的煤。而且，我仍然可以听到可怜的阿花在转圈圈时所发出
had pictures of Bud Searcy’s uncle in my mind.
的微弱的叫声。我躺在那儿，脑海里浮现出一幅幅塞西的那个叔叔的形象。
I did wish Papa would come home. 我真希望爸爸能回来啊！
As soon as the job of burning the bull was finished，Mama told us we would have to do the samefor Spot. That was all Mama said about it. but Icould tell from the look in her eyes how sad shewas. She’d had great hopes of Spot making us a realmilk - cow，but they were all gone now.
烧牛的活儿刚结束，妈妈就对我们说我们也得将阿花同样地处理掉。妈妈只说了这句话，但是从她的眼神中我可以看出她是多么的伤心。她对阿花抱有很大的希望，想使它成为我家一头名副其实的奶牛，可是现在一切都成了泡影。
Mama looked tired，and I knew she was thinkingwhat I was thinking- that if rabies had sickenedone of our cows it might get them all.
妈妈看上去很疲劳，我知道她正在想我所想的事，--如果一头奶牛患了狂犬病，其它的奶牛也会给染上的。
“I’ll do the sho oting，”I told her.“But I’m goingto follow h e r s ome wa y from the c a bin be fore I doit. Th e n it’ll be clo s e r to some wood.”
“我来开枪，”我对妈妈说。
“但是，我要跟着它走到一个远离木屋的地方再开枪。这样它就可以死在靠近树林的地方。”
“How a bout your le g ？”Mama asked.
“你的腿能行吗？”妈妈问道。
“The le g’s doing fine ，”I told her.“I think it’lldo it s ome good to be wa lke d on.”
“腿挺好的，”我对她说。“我想，走动一下对腿也有好处。”
“We ll，try to do it on some b a re g roun d，”Mamasaid.“It’s s o dry now，we sha ll be in da nge r o f s e ttingthe woods on fire if the re”s much gra s s a bout.”
“好吧，想办法在空地上把它打死，”妈妈说。“现在气候这样干燥，如果四周草太多，我们就有火烧森林的危险。”
I waited till Spot circled past the cabin again，then took my gun and followed her.
我在那儿一直等到阿花再一次兜到木屋时才拿起枪跟在它后面。
By now，Spot was so sick and thin I didn’t likelooking at her. She was just skin and bones. Shewas so weak that she kept nearly falling as shewalked. I kept waiting for her to cross a bare patchof ground where it would be safe to build a fire.
那时，阿花已经病得很厉害，身体消瘦，我都不忍心看它了。它只剩下一副皮包骨头，虚弱得走起路来老是要摔倒。我一直等着它穿过一块能够安全地架起一堆火的空地。