书城童书义犬阿黄
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第8章

I thought I’d had it. The noise of the bulls. wasright in my ears. The hot smell of blood was in mynose. They were stamping all round and over me,andthere was so much dust I couldn’t see a thing.

我想这下子可完了。两头公牛的吼声在我的耳边作响,我的鼻子闻到了强烈的血腥气。它们在我的周围和上方踩来踩去,遍地尘土飞扬,使我什么也看不见。

Then Mama was pulling me by the hand andshouting,“Run ,Tra vis.Run!”

接着,妈妈抓住了我的手,边拖边喊道:“快跑,特拉维斯,快跑!”

She didn’t have to keep shouting at me. I wasrunning as fast as I’d ever run. We got through the

用不着她不停地喊,我已经在拚命跑了。我们刚走进敞开的屋

open cabin door just a second before Reddy threwBlacky against it.

门,红牛就把黑牛甩到门上了。

Blacky almost came through the door on top ofus,but turned sideways,as he was,he was too bigto be pushed through.

黑牛险些儿从我们的头顶上穿进门来,只是它的身子歪斜了过来,这样,它那庞大的身躯就挤不进来了。

Somehow,he got off Reddy’s horns,and awaythey went again,banging their horns together andbellowing.

不知怎么一来,它摆脱了红牛的双角,两头牛又斗起来了,它们吼着,两对牛角乒乒乓乓地交错在一起。

I looked at Mama and Little Arliss. Mama’sface was white.

我 朝妈妈和小阿里斯看了一眼。妈妈吓得脸色发白。

For once,Little Arliss was so frightened hecouldn’t scream. Suddenly I wasn”t afraid anymore. I was angry.

这一次小阿里斯终于也给吓得叫不出声来了。突然间,我不再害怕,我感到愤怒。

I reached for Papa’s whip. That made Mama evenmore frightened.“Oh,no ,Tra vis ,”She cried.

“Don’t go out the re !”

我伸手去拿爸爸的鞭子。这更把妈妈吓坏了。”啊,不行,特拉维斯,“她喊道,“别出去!”

“The y’re going to sma s h down the h ous e ,Ma -ma ,”I said.

“它们会把房子拱倒的,妈妈,”我答道。

“But the y might kill you ,”Mama said. “可是它们会把你给弄死的,”

妈妈说。

I turned and went towards the door. It looked tome as if they might kill us all if they broke throughthe cabin walls.

我 转身向门口走去。在我看来,如果它们把木屋的墙壁给捅穿了,那我们所有的人都会给弄死的。

Mama came running to grab me by the arm.

“Ca ll the dog !”She said.“P ut th e dog a fte r them!”

妈妈跑过来紧紧地抓住了我的手臂。“把狗叫出来,”她说,“让狗把它们赶走!”

That was a good idea. Why hadn’t I thought of

这是个好主意。我自己怎么没

it myself? The old yellow dog could make some returnfor all the trouble he’d been about the place.

想到这一点呢? 这只老黄狗也可以为它在这里所制造的种种麻烦来一个将功补过。

I ran through the dog run to the back of thehouse,calling“He re ,Ye lle r !He re ,Ye lle r!Ge t’emboy!Afte r”em!”

我穿过跑狗道回到屋后,叫道:

“阿黄!过来,阿黄!过来,去咬它们,去赶它们!”

Old Yeller was there all right.But he didn”tcome,and he wasn’t after”em. He took one lookat me running towards him with that whip in myhand and he was sure I’d come to kill him. He putdown his tail,and ran yelling for the woods.

阿黄是在那儿,但是它不过来,也不去赶它们。它朝我看了一下,看到我手中拿着鞭子朝它跑去,一定以为我是去打死它的。它夹着尾巴,吠叫着向树林里逃去。

If there had been any way I could have doneit,that’s when I would have killed him.

如果当时有什么办法可以把它杀死的话,那就会是我把它给宰了的时刻。

But there wasn’t time to wait for a fool dog. Ihad to do something about those bulls. I had to stopthem breaking the place up. Papa had left me tolook after things while he was gone. I ran up to thebulls and went to work on them with the whip. But Icouldn”t stop them. They were too mad. I yelledand whipped them. Still they went right on withtheir fight.

但是那时我没有时间去管这头蠢狗了。我得采取措施对付这两头牛。我不能让它们把房子给毁了。

爸爸让我在他外出期间照管好我们这个家的。我朝那两头牛奔去,用鞭子抽打它们。可是我制止不住它们,它们太疯狂了。我边喊边用鞭子抽打它们,它们还是斗个没完。

I think nothing would have stopped them if ithadn’t been for a funny thing. There was a big cartstanding in front of the cabin just where the groundwent down towards the spring and the creek. Papaused it for carrying wood and hay.

假如不是因为发生了一件可笑的事,我想没有什么办法能使它们停止搏斗。木屋前有辆大车,刚好停放在通向山泉和小河的那块地方。爸爸用这辆车搬运木柴和干草。

It had just come to me that I should get my gunand shoot the bulls when Blacky got that long hornof his under Reddy’s belly. He got Reddy’s feetclean off the ground and rolled him in the air. Nextminute Reddy was on his back in the cart with allfour feet sticking up. The cart began rolling,and awayit went down the hill,carrying Reddy with it.

我刚想到应该拿枪把它们毙了的时候,黑牛突然把它那只长长的牛角伸到红牛的肚子底下。它一下子就把红牛挑离了地面,并在空中翻了一个跟斗。转眼间,红牛四脚朝天,摔在大车上了。大车开始滚动,载着红牛直朝山下滑去。

Blacky was the silliest looking bull you eversaw. He had his tail up and his head high. Hecouldn’t for the life of him think what he’d donewith the red bull.

从来也没有见过比那头黑牛更憨的样子了。它翘着尾巴,高高地抬起头。它怎么也闹不清它究竟把红牛怎么的了。

The cart went wobbling and bumping on all theway to the spring. There it hit a big rock and turnedover. Reddy fell right into the spring. There was watereverywhere. By now all the fight was taken outof Reddy. He made off for the woods,running withhis tail down.

那辆大车一路上摇摇晃晃颠簸着滑到了山泉边。在那儿它撞在一块大岩石上,翻了个底朝天。那红牛一头栽进山泉,溅得到处是水。

至此红牛的斗志已荡然无存了。它夹着尾巴向树林落荒而去。

Blacky saw Reddy then. He went after him. Butwhen he got to the cart he stopped. The cart was onits side and the top wheel was still going round andround. Blacky had never seen anything like that. Helooked for a long time at the wheel. He lifted hisnose up to smell it. Then he reached out a longtongue.

那时黑牛看到了它,追上前去。

但是当它走到那辆大车跟前时却站住了。车子侧倒在地上,上面那只轮子还在滴溜溜地转呢。黑牛从来没见过这种事,它呆呆地对着这个轮子看了好大一会儿。它翘起鼻子嗅嗅那只轮子,然后又伸出长长的舌头去舐它。

How that black bull yelled!He ran off rollinghis tongue and yelling,and with his tail down just

黑牛的吼声真是大得吓人!它转动着舌头吼叫着逃走了,尾巴夹

as far as the red bull’s.

得象红牛一样紧。

It made you laugh the way both those bulls hadbeen frightened to death,and each one thinkinghe’d lost the fight.

这两头牛给吓得半死的那副样子使人大笑不止,它们都以为自己战败了。

But all the same they had made a bad mess ofthe fence.

不过,我们的围栏还是给它们弄得一塌糊涂。