Year by year, too, more little elephants were added to the herd. Now, some fathers have a way of slipping off into the forests when the youngsters are trotting around, letting the mothers have all the bother of bringing up the children, but Kubwa was too much of an overlord for that. He never left his herd. He bossed the mothers, and he saw to it that the mothers bossed the children. None of the tricks that he used to play on his mother for him!
一年又一年,更多的小象加入了象群。現在,有的象爸爸有辦法在小象們小跑的時候溜進森林里,讓象媽媽承擔撫養孩子的所有麻煩,但庫巴太霸道了。他從未離開過象群。他從未離開過象群。他對象媽媽發號施令,并確保象媽媽對小象們發號施令。他以前對他母親耍的花招,現在一個也沒有了!
Every year he grew bigger and stronger, and his tusks grew heavier and longer. They were very long for their weight, sharp and fierce like swords, and very curving, growing toward each other. He used to thrust them into an enemy with such wicked force that no elephant would stand up to him. After a time they grew so long that they began to cross in front of him. They were about seven feet long when they began to cross, and they grew so long that they extended about two feet more beyond the crossing.
每年它都長得越來越大,越來越強壯,象牙也越來越重,越來越長。象牙渴望更重,像劍一樣鋒利和兇猛,而且非常彎曲,彼此靠近。他曾經用如此邪惡的力量把象牙推到一個敵人面前,以至于沒有一頭大象敢反抗他。過了一段時間,它們長得太長了,開始在他面前形成十字。剛要形成十字的時候,約有七尺長,長得以至于延伸出十字兩英尺長。
He could do a great deal with two feet of tusks, but not nearly so much as he wanted the other elephants to keep on believing he could. That crossing would stop his thrust short! He lost all the seven-foot length behind it. He knew this, and he wondered if the other elephants of the herd ever thought of it. Those crossed tusks of his gave him a good deal of secret uneasiness as he grew older and older.
他可以用兩英尺長的長牙做很多事情,但遠不如他希望其他大象繼續相信他能做到的那么多。那個十字路口會使他的沖力突然停止!他失去了后面所有的7英尺長的象牙。他知道這一點,他想知道象群里的其他大象是否也想到過。當他越來越老的時候,那些交叉的長牙給了他許多秘密的不安。