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LESSON 1 A perilous adventure
第一課 危險的冒險活動
Three or four lads are standing in the channel below the great Natural Bridge of Virginia. They see hundreds of names carved in the limestone buttresses, and resolve to add theirs to the number. This done, one of them is seized with the mad ambition of carving his name higher than the highest there! His companions try to dissuade him from attempting so dangerous a feat, but in vain. He is a wild, reckless youth; and afraid now to yield, lest he should be thought a coward, he carves his way up and up the limestone rock, till he can hear the voices, but not the words of his terror-stricken playmates.
三四個小伙子站在維吉尼亞天然大橋下的過道中，他們看到石灰?guī)r壁上刻著成百上千的名字，于是決定將自己的名字加上去。刻完名字后，他們中有一個人爆發(fā)了 近乎瘋狂的野心，他想將自己的名字刻在最高處！他的同伴們試圖勸阻他這個及其危險的行為，但是勸告無果。他是這樣一個狂野不羈、魯莽大膽并且不愿認(rèn)慫的年輕人，他不想成為一名懦夫，他在石灰?guī)r壁上鑿來鑿去，沿途一直能聽見聲音，而這些聲音并非來自他驚恐的玩伴們。
One of them runs off to the village, and tells the boy's father of his perilous situation. Others go for help in other directions; and ere long there are hundreds of people standing in the rocky channel below, and hundreds on the bridge above, all holding their breath, and awaiting the fearful catastrophe. The poor boy can just distinguish the tones of his father, who is shouting with all the energy of despair,—"William! William! don't look down! Your mother, and Henry, and Harriet are all here praying for you! Don't look down! Keep your eyes towards the top!"
一位小男孩兒沖向村莊告訴那名男孩的父親這一冒險行為。其他人則分散各處找人求助。不久，數(shù)千人都站在巖石過道下，數(shù)百人站在橋頭觀望，所有人都屏住呼吸，等待著可怕的悲劇降臨。那個可憐的男孩兒只能分辨出自己父親的聲音，他正絕望地大喊兒子的名字“威廉！威廉！別往下看，你的媽媽和亨利還有哈利特都在為你祈禱！千萬別往下看，眼睛要一直向上看。”
The boy does not look down. His eye is fixed towards heaven, and his young heart on Him who reigns there. He grasps again his knife. He cuts another niche, and another foot is added to the hundreds that remove him from the reach of human help from below.
男孩沒有向下看。他定睛望著天空，他年輕氣盛，向往著那居高臨下的位置。他抓起刀，再次刺入巖壁，又向上邁了一腳，他離前來救援的人們越來越遠(yuǎn)。
