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LESSON 39 The skater and the wolves
第39課 滑冰者和狼
I had left my friend's house one evening just before dusk, with the intention of skating a short distance up the noble river which glided directly before the door.
我于傍晚前離開朋友家，想要短途地沿著一條直接通往家門前的高貴的河滑行。
The night was beautifully clear.
夜晚的美是清晰的。
A peerless moon rode through an occasional fleecy cloud, and stars twinkled from the sky and from every frost-covered tree in millions.
舉世無雙的月亮從無比毛茸茸的云層中升起，星星在天空中閃耀，在成百萬顆被霜覆蓋的樹上閃耀。
Light also came glinting from ice, and snow-wreath, and encrusted branches, as the eye followed for miles the broad gleam of the river,
堅冰發出亮光，像花環的雪發出亮光，堅硬的樹枝發出亮光，像在寬闊的河水中的眼睛一樣閃著，
that like a jewelled zone swept between the mighty forests on its banks.
這感覺又像在雄偉的森林岸堤上哭泣的珠寶園。
And yet all was still.
所有的一切都是如此的安靜。
The cold seemed to have frozen tree, and air, and water, and every living thing.
寒冷似乎凍住了樹、空氣和水及一切有生命的東西。
Even the ringing of my skates echoed back from the hill with a startling clearness; and the crackle of the ice,
即使是我的滑冰鞋發出的聲音都能在后面的小山上發出清脆的回響，
as I passed over it in my course, seemed to follow the ride of the river with lightning speed.
我經過的冰面發出輕輕的爆裂聲，似乎是要以閃電般的速度追上河的流動。
I had gone up the river nearly two miles, when, coming to a little stream which empties into the larger, I turned into it to explore its course.
我靠近河流滑了大約兩英尺，到了一個小河流流向更大河流的交叉口，我轉向更大的河流探所它的路程。
Fir and hemlock of a century's growth met overhead, and formed an archway radiant with frost-work.
冷杉與生長了一個世紀的毒芹在我頭上方交匯，在霜的作用下組成了一個拱門的形狀。
All was dark within; but I was young and fearless, and as I peered into an unbroken forest that reared itself on the borders of the stream, I laughed with very joyousness.
所有的都是黑色的，但是年輕的我無所畏懼，我看著一個不可突破的森林，其后面是寬闊的河流，然而我也只是大聲地爽朗地笑了。
My wild hurrah rang through the silent woods, and I stood listening to the echo that reverberated again and again, until all was hushed.
我不羈的笑聲環繞著安靜的樹林，我站著聽我的笑聲在樹林間一遍一遍地回響，一直到消失。
Suddenly a sound arose—it seemed to me to come from beneath the ice;
突然之間，一聲響聲傳來，就像我掉進冰窟窿里那樣，
it was low and tremulous at first, but it ended in one long wild yell I was appalled.
剛開始這叫聲是低沉顫抖的，但是最后卻是長長的野性的叫聲。
Never before had such a noise met my ears. Presently I heard the brushwood on shore crash, as though from the tread of some animal.
我以前從來沒喲聽到過這樣的聲音。我聽見陸地上矮灌木的倒塌的聲音，甚至是一些動物踩踏地面的聲音。
The blood rushed to my forehead—my energies returned, and I looked around me for some means of escape.
血液沖到我的前額，我的能量恢復了，我看看四周尋找一些逃跑的路徑。
The moon shone through the opening at the mouth of the creek by which I had entered the forest, and, considering this the best means of escape, I darted toward it like an arrow.
月亮照著小灣的開口處，那兒是我進入森林的地方，也是我想著逃跑的最佳路徑，我像箭一樣沖向它。
It was hardly a hundred yards distant, and the swallow could scarcely have excelled me in flight;
這大概有100碼的距離，即使燕子在空中飛也不一定有我跑的快，
yet, as I turned my head to the shore, I could see several dark objects dashing through the brushwood at a pace nearly double in speed to my own.
當我回頭看岸上的時候，我看到了許多黑暗的物體在以我奔跑的兩倍的速度向我飛奔來。
By their great speed, and the short yells which they occasionally gave, I knew at once that these were the much dreaded gray wolves.
在他們的飛速及喊叫聲中，我立刻明白了這些是一群可怕的灰狼。
