吹小號的天鵝 第16期 小天鵝(5)

Like all fathers, the cob wanted to show off hischildren to somebody. So he led the cygnets towhere Sam was.

像所有的父親一樣，雄天鵝也想把他的孩子向某人炫耀一番。于是他領(lǐng)著小天鵝往薩姆這邊來。

They all stepped out of the water and stood in frontof the boy--all but the mother swan. She stayedbehind.

他們都走出水面站到了這個男孩的面前——只除了天鵝媽媽。她留在了后面。

"Ko-hoh!" said the cob.

“吭—嗬!”雄天鵝說。

"Hello!" said Sam, who hadn't expected anything like this and hardly dared breathe.

“你好!”薩姆說，他從沒想過會發(fā)生這種事情，因此緊張得氣都不敢喘了。

The first cygnet looked at Sam and said, "Beep." The second cygnet looked at Sam and said, "Beep."

第一只小天鵝望著薩姆說：“嗶。”第二只小天鵝望著薩姆說：“嗶。”

The third cygnet greeted Sam the same way. So did the fourth.

第三只小天鵝用同樣的方式對薩姆打招呼。第四只也是。

The fifth cygnet was different. He opened his mouth but didn't say a thing.

第五只小天鵝則完全不同。他張開了嘴，可什么都沒說出來。

He made an effort to say beep, but no sound came.

他拼命地想說“嗶”，卻怎么也發(fā)不出聲音來。

So instead, he stuck his little neck out, took hold of one of Sam's shoelaces, and gave it a pull.

情急之下，他伸出他的小脖子，叼住薩姆的一只鞋帶，把它拉了起來。他使勁地拽了一會兒。

He tugged at the lace for a moment. It came untied. Then he let it go.

鞋帶松開了。然后他才松開了嘴。

It was like a greeting. Sam grinned.

這也算是一種問候吧。薩姆咧開嘴笑了。

The cob now looked worried. He ran his long white neck between the cygnets and the boy andguided the babies back to the water and to their mother.

雄天鵝現(xiàn)在有些擔(dān)心了。他把白色的長脖子彎到小天鵝和男孩之間，領(lǐng)著孩子們回到水里去找他們的媽媽。

"Follow me!" said the cob. And he led them off, full of grace and bursting with pride.

“跟我來!”雄天鵝說。他帶著他們離開了，一副神氣十足，驕傲得不得了的樣子。

When the mother thought her young ones had had enough swimming and might be chilly, shestepped out onto a sandy shore and squatted down and called them.

當(dāng)天鵝媽媽覺得她的孩子們在水里游得夠久了，再呆下去可能會著涼的時候，她便跨上沙岸，蹲下來招呼他們。

They quickly followed her out of the pond and burrowed down under her feathers to get warm.In a moment there wasn't a cygnet in sight.

他們很快地跟著她離開池塘，鉆到媽媽的羽毛下取暖。片刻之間，一只小天鵝也看不見了。

At noon, Sam got up and walked back to camp, his mind full of what he had seen.

到了下午，薩姆才起身往營地走，滿腦子還想著他剛才所見的一切。

Next day, he and his father heard Shorty's motor in the sky and saw the plane approaching.They grabbed their duffel bags.

第二天，他和他的爸爸聽到了天空中響起的矬子的飛機聲，看到了正在飛過來的飛機。他們拎起了他們的行李袋。

"Good-bye, camp! See you in the fall!" said Mr. Beaver, as he shut the door and gave it a pat.

“再見，營地!秋天再見!”比弗先生說著，關(guān)上了營地的門，還拍了拍它。

He and Sam climbed into the plane and were soon aloft, on their way home to Montana.

他和薩姆爬上飛機，很快地飛上了天，往他們蒙大拿家鄉(xiāng)的方向去了。

Mr. Beaver did not know that his son had seen a Trumpeter Swan bring off her young ones.Sam kept the matter to himself.

比弗先生并不知道他的兒子看到了一只成功地孵出了她的小天鵝的號手天鵝。薩姆把這秘密留給了他自己。

"If I live to be a hundred years old," thought Sam, "I'll never forget what it feels like to have myshoelace pulled by a baby swan."

“即使我活到一百歲，”薩姆想，“我也永遠(yuǎn)不會忘記讓自己的鞋帶被一只小天鵝解開的感覺是怎么樣的。”

Sam and his father were late arriving home at the ranch, but late as it was, Sam got out hisdiary before he turned in for the night. He wrote:

薩姆和他的父親回到他們在牧場的家時已經(jīng)很晚了，但盡管如此，薩姆在睡覺前還是拿出了他的日記本。他寫道：

There are five cygnets. They are sort of a dirty brownish-gray color, but very cute.

有了五只小天鵝。他們都是棕灰色的，看起來有點兒臟，不過很可愛。

Their legs are yellow, like mustard.

他們的腿是黃的，就像芥末的顏色一樣。

The old cob led them right up to me. I wasn't expecting this, but I kept very still.

那個年紀(jì)大的雄天鵝把他們一直帶到了我面前。我沒料到這一點，不過我還是保持了鎮(zhèn)靜。

Four of the babies said beep. The fifth one tried to, but he couldn't.

四只天鵝寶寶說“嗶”。第五只也想說，可他說不出聲來。

He took hold of my shoelace as though it was a worm and gave it a tug and untied it.

他叼住了我的鞋帶，好象它是個小蟲子一樣，他叼著它使勁兒一拉，把它解開了。

I wonder what I'm going to be when I grow up?

我想知道，長大以后我會是什么樣子?

He switched off the light, pulled the sheet up over his head, and fell asleep wondering what hewas going to be when he grew up.

他關(guān)上燈，把被單拉過頭頂，想著自己長大以后會是什么樣子，漸漸地睡著了。