英国语文第五册(双语):风化角(1)
LESSON 49 Weathering cape horn
第四十九课 风化角
The first introduction of my reader to the good ship Wales, whereby we pass to the Pacific, is as she is lying at the islands called Foul Weather Group, or the Falkland Islands. Cape Horn weather here begins, and the ship and her company put on their Cape Horn suit. This group of islands is so near the gate of the Pacific, though belonging to the Atlantic side, that an account of a ramble over the moss-covered rocks and penguin roosts of the uninhabited land off which we now lie is no inappropriate introduction to the island world we are just entering.
我先向读者们介绍一艘好船威尔士，让我们穿过太平洋时，和她正在一个叫恶劣天气群的岛，或福克兰群岛上行驶着。风华角的恶劣天气在开始了，这艘船和她的所属公司穿上他们那像斗篷角一样的服装。这群岛屿是如此的靠近太平洋的大门，虽然它从属于大西洋侧，但这一系列关于漫步在这布满大岩石和企鹅的无人居住地的陈述对这样一个我们刚刚进入的岛国世界是一种不合适的介绍。
Selecting a small indentation or bight in the cliff as a landing-place, what was our surprise to find what we had thought a facing of white stone to be innumerable penguins, standing erect, in the rank and file of battle array, upon the declivity of the rocks, and occupying at least two acres, in dense columns, away back to the moss and grass!……
在悬崖上选择一个小小的凹痕处或者沟湾处作为卸货港,让我们惊喜的是发现我们原以为面临会遇到无数的企鹅白色石头处,笔直地站立着,成战斗状态排列着,在倾斜的岩石上，并占领至少两英亩的空间,在浓密的列组中，又回到了最初苔草的原始状态!……
To those who have never seen a picture of the penguin, it would be impossible to convey an idea by description of this odd amphibious creature. It has the head, bill, and two web-feet of a bird, and stands erect on land, sometimes two and a half or three feet in height. Penguins have no wings, nor proper feathers, but a covering intermediate between fur and feather, and two fins or flippers like the seal. Their motion on land is by successive hops, in the most awkward manner conceivable. When going down a declivity, the centre of gravity is often thrown too far forward, and away they tumble, and scramble, and roll, till they get to the sea, in which they dive and swim with great celerity.
对于那些从未见过企鹅照片的人来说，,是不可能仅仅靠描述这种奇怪的两栖生物就能传递一种想法的。它的头像海报里画的那样,是一种两脚并排的鸟,矗立在陆地上,有时它有两个半或三英尺高。企鹅没有翅膀,也没有足够多的羽毛,但覆盖毛皮和羽毛之间的中间覆盖着两个鳍鳍像海豹一样的亲密的羽毛。它们在陆地上的运动是连续的跳跃方式,也可能是最尴尬的方式。当它向下倾斜时,它的重心往往向前倾,他们摔倒,连爬带滚向前进,直到他们到达大海,在大海里它们可以非常敏捷地潜水和游泳。
