介绍:
Walden [ˈwɔldən] (Issue 190)
15. Winter Animals (7)
[10] One old hunter who has a dry tongue, who used to come to bathe[beɪð] in Walden once every year when the water was warmest, and at such times looked in upon me, told me that many years ago he took his gun one afternoon and went out for a cruise[kruːz] in Walden Wood; and as he walked the Wayland road he heard the cry of hounds approaching, and ere long a fox leaped the wall into the road, and as quick as thought leaped the other wall out of the road, and his swift bullet had not touched him. Some way behind came an old hound and her three pups in full pursuit[pəˈsjuːt], hunting on their own account, and disappeared again in the woods. Late in the afternoon, as he was resting in the thick woods south of Walden, he heard the voice of the hounds far over toward Fair Haven still pursuing the fox; and on they came, their hounding cry which made all the woods ring sounding nearer and nearer, now from Well Meadow, now from the Baker Farm. For a long time he stood still and listened to their music, so sweet to a hunter's ear, when suddenly the fox appeared, threading the solemn aisles with an easy coursing pace, whose sound was concealed by a sympathetic rustle of the leaves, swift and still, keeping the round, leaving his pursuers far behind; and, leaping upon a rock amid the woods, he sat erect and listening, with his back to the hunter. For a moment compassion restrained the latter's arm; but that was a short-lived mood, and as quick as thought can follow thought his piece was levelled, and whang[wæŋ]! - the fox, rolling over the rock, lay dead on the ground. The hunter still kept his place and listened to the hounds. Still on they came, and now the near woods resounded[rɪˈzaʊnd] through all their aisles with their demoniac[dɪˈməʊnɪˌæk] cry. At length the old hound burst into view with muzzle[ˈmʌzl] to the ground, and snapping the air as if possessed, and ran directly to the rock; but, spying[ˈspaɪɪŋ] the dead fox, she suddenly ceased her hounding as if struck dumb[dʌm] with amazement, and walked round and round him in silence; and one by one her pups arrived, and, like their mother, were sobered into silence by the mystery. Then the hunter came forward and stood in their midst, and the mystery was solved. They waited in silence while he skinned the fox, then followed the brush a while, and at length turned off into the woods again. That evening a Weston squire came to the Concord hunter's cottage to inquire for his hounds, and told how for a week they had been hunting on their own account from Weston woods. The Concord hunter told him what he knew and offered him the skin; but the other declined it and departed. He did not find his hounds that night, but the next day learned that they had crossed the river and put up at a farmhouse for the night, whence, having been well fed, they took their departure early in the morning.
一个老猎人说话嗓音干巴巴的，年年当瓦尔登湖水最暖和的时候都常来湖里沐浴，每当这时就来看我，给我讲了好多年前一个下午带着自己的猎枪在瓦尔登的林子里寻猎；就在他走上维兰德路的时候，听到猎狗们的吠[fèi]叫接近了，不久，一只狐狸越墙进了大路，快到来不及想，越过另一堵墙出了大路，连那飞速的子弹都没碰着它。不一会儿，一头老猎犬和她的三只猎犬崽全速追过来了，自顾自地搜寻，又消失在林中。后来的下午，当他在瓦尔登南边稠密的林子里休息，他仍能听到猎犬的吠叫声一直上了纽黑文还在追那只狐狸；他们赶过来了，他们在林子里回荡的吠叫越来越近了，现在到了威尔草地, 到贝克田庄了。好长时间，猎人站着不动听那狗叫的音乐，对于一个猎人的耳朵如此甜美，猛然，那狐狸出现了，以轻松的步履踏上了那庄严的走廊，那声响被一阵富于同情心的树叶的窸窣掩藏了，迅捷而沉默，绕着圈子，把追逐者远远甩在身后；而且跃上了林中的一块岩石，坐直了听，背正对着那猎人。有那么一会儿[yī huìr]，同情心使得后者下不了手，但很快被克服，快的就像飞射而出的思想，他扣动了扳机[bān jī]，砰！——那狐狸翻滚下岩石，死在了地上。猎人仍待在原处听那些猎狗的叫声。狗们过来了，现在附近的林子到处都回荡着他们那恶魔般的叫声。终于那老猎犬扑出来了，鼻头嗅[xiù]着地面，猛咬着空气仿佛被攫[jué]住了，直奔岩石；可是看到的是那死狐狸，她猛然停止了吠叫仿佛被打蒙了，沉默地绕着死狐狸一圈儿一圈儿转；她的小崽子也跟上来了，像他们的母亲，也被这神秘的一幕弄得哑然失声。接着猎人上前站在他们中间，神秘的面纱才被揭开。他们就那么静静等着他给那死狐狸扒皮，还跟了那毛尾巴一会儿，最后又折回林子里去了。那天夜里，维斯顿的一个乡绅[xiāng shēn]进了那康科德猎人的屋子来询问他的猎犬，并说了他们如何是一个星期以来在维斯顿的林子里自顾自地寻猎来着。那康科德猎人也对他讲了他知道的情况并给他送上狐狸皮；可是那人拒绝接受并离开了。那天晚上他没有找到自己的猎犬，第二天才知道他们过了河在一家农舍[shè]过夜并受到很好款待，一大早他们就离开了。
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