評(píng)論
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Presently, still following the pirates, Tom saw the three men again in the distance.
眼下，湯姆依然跟著這群海盜，他在遠(yuǎn)處又看到了這三名男士。
Hurrying around back of a hill of sand covered with coarse grass,
他匆忙環(huán)繞到長滿野草的沙丘后面，
he came to a point where he could see a little open level space gleaming white in the moonlight.
他到了一處可以看到一小片空曠水平空間的地方，這片地區(qū)在月光下閃爍白光。
The three pirates had been crossing the level of sand, and were now not more than twenty-five paces from him.
三名海盜穿越了這片沙地，離他不到二十五步的距離。
They had again set down the chest upon which the white man with the long queue
他們再次將箱子放在地面上，梳著長辮子，
and the gold earrings had seated himself to rest, the negro standing close beside him.
戴著金耳環(huán)的白人男子坐在箱子上，另一名黑人緊挨著他站立。
The moon shone as bright as day, full upon Tom's face. It was looking so directly at him that Tom drew back with a start,
月光閃爍得和白天一樣亮，完整地照在湯姆的臉上，月光直勾勾地看著他，湯姆突然向后退，
almost thinking he had been discovered. He lay silent, his heart beating heavily in his throat;
他似乎在想他已經(jīng)被發(fā)現(xiàn)了，他在地上安靜地躺著，他的心臟已經(jīng)蹦到嗓子眼，
but there was no alarm, and presently he heard the counting begin again.
但沒有警告，他再次聽到了數(shù)數(shù)聲。
When he looked once more, he saw they were going away straight across the little open.
當(dāng)他再看一遍后，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這些人徑直穿越了這片空曠地區(qū)。
A soft, sliding hillock of sand lay directly in front of them. They did not turn aside,
正對(duì)著他們的是一片柔軟，傾斜的沙丘，他們沒有轉(zhuǎn)彎，
but went straight over it, the leader helping himself up the sandy slope with his cane,
而是徑直走去，那名領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者用手杖攀爬沙丘的斜坡，
still counting and still keeping his eyes fixed upon that which he held in his hand.
仍然數(shù)著數(shù)字，仍然注視著手中拿著的東西。
They then disappeared again on the other side of the hill. So Tom followed them cautiously until they had gone almost half a mile inland.
他們再一次消失在沙丘的另一頭，湯姆小心地跟上去，直到他們向內(nèi)陸走了近半英里。
When he saw them clearly, the white man who had helped to carry the chest was kneeling, busied at some work,
當(dāng)湯姆再次清晰地看到他們時(shí)，那名拿著箱子的白人正在跪著做些事情，
though what it was Tom at first could not see. He was whittling the point of a stick into a long wooden peg.
湯姆第一眼看不清他正在做什么，他正在將木棍削尖成木釘。
When he had finished what he was about, he rose and stepped to the place
當(dāng)他完成這一工作后，他站起身，走到
where the man who seemed to be the captain had stuck his cane upright into the ground as though to mark some particular spot.
似乎是一名船長的位置旁，他已經(jīng)將手杖直直地插入地面，似乎是在做某個(gè)特定幾號(hào)。
He drew the cane out of the sand, thrusting the stick down in its place.
他將手杖拿出沙堆，將手杖刺入記號(hào)內(nèi)。
Then he drove the long peg down with a wooden mallet which the negro handed to him.
之后他用木槌將木釘插入，木槌是那名黑人給他的。
The sharp rapping of the mallet upon the top of the peg sounded loud in the perfect stillness,
在一片寂靜下，木槌在木釘上面的敲擊聲顯得很大，
and Tom lay watching and wondering what it all meant. The man drove the peg farther and farther down into the sand
湯姆躺在那里思考這些事情，之后這名男子將木釘深深地插入沙子里，
until it showed only two or three inches above the surface. Just as he finished his work,
直到木釘顯示在表面時(shí)只有2-3英寸，就在他完成工作以后，
there was another faint flash of light followed soon by another rumble of thunder.
雷電再一次隆隆想起，之后又是發(fā)出微弱的閃電。
