胡敏读故事记托福词汇055：一个名字的由来 How It Got the Name
“I think crows are pests,” John said, biting into a crisp biscuit.
“我认为乌鸦是有害动物。”约翰边说，便咬了一口脆饼干。
“I do too, but this one is rather rare,” I replied. “Its feathers are the color of crude oil. It has a crimson head. The pattern resembles a royal crown. It is probably a result of crossbreeding. I learned about crossbreeding when I read a critique of that famous book about bird-breeding. It was a very critical article.”
“我也这样认为，但我们要找的这种却是很稀罕，”我回答到，“它有原油色的羽毛，深红色的头。样式很像一个皇家王冠。它可能是杂交繁殖的结果。我是从阅读那本关于鸟类杂交的著作的评论开始懂得杂交知识的。那是篇很重要的文章。”
“We’ve been crisscrossing this crosscut forest for hours,” John said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “How are we supposed to find it?”
“我们已经来回往返横切森林好几个小时了，”约翰说着，擦了擦头上的汗水。“我们怎样才能找到它呢?”
“There it is,” I replied. “It’s stuck in that crevice near that crooked tree. Call the rest of the rescue crew. We might need some help.”
“它在那。”我回答，“它夹在那棵弯树旁的裂缝里。去呼叫其他救援人员，我们可能需要一些帮助。”
Soon, there was crowd of rescuers around us. “This is a crucial moment,” I told everyone. “Be quiet.”
不久，来了一群救援人员。“现在是紧要关头，”我对大家说，“要保持安静。”
I crept towards the crevice. I cringed when I saw that a branch from a fallen tree had crippled the crow’s legs. It was suffering. This was a critical point in the mission. I called out for someone to hand me a metal tool to pry the branch away from the crow.
我朝裂缝爬过去。来到眼前，当我发现原来是倒下的大树的树枝伤及乌鸦的双腿而致残的时候，我畏缩不前了。它痛苦地挣扎这。这是救援任务的紧急关头。我叫别人递给我一个金属工具把树枝从乌鸦身上撬开。
“Here, use this,” John said, as he handed me a crude looking metal bar.
“给，用这个。”约翰说着，递给我一个外观粗糙的金属棒。
It was a crucial moment. I used the bar to pry the fallen tree from the crevice and to pull the branch off the crow. “Whew, thank goodness for this tool,” I signed. “Hey, John, what do you call this metal bar?”
决定性的时候到了。我用那根棒子把倒在地上的树从裂缝处撬起，把压在乌鸦身上的树枝拉走。乌鸦得救了。“哇!多亏了这个棒子。”我长出了一口气，“嗨，约翰，这跟金属棒叫什么?”
“It doesn’t have name,” John replied. “But perhaps from now on, we should call it s crowbar.”
“它没有名字，”约翰回答到，“但也许从现在开始，我们可以管他叫乌鸦棒，也就是撬棍的意思。”
Words:
crevice n. 缺口，裂缝
crew n. 全体人员，(工作)队
crimson adj. 深红色的
cringe n. 畏缩
cripple vt. 削弱，使残废
crisp adj. 脆的，易碎的
crisscross vi. (十字)交叉;vt. 在…上交叉往来，往返奔波于…
critical adj. 评论的，批评的;危急的;非常重要的
critical point 临界点
critique n. (文艺等的)批评，评论
crooked adj. 狡诈的;弯曲的;蜿蜒的
crossbreeding n. (生物)杂种
crosscut adj. 横切的
crow n. 鸦，乌鸦
crowbar n. 撬棍，铁锹
crowd n. 人群，群众;vi.聚集，拥挤
crown n. 王冠，花冠;顶
crucial adj. 至关重要的，决定性的;紧要关头的
crude adj. 未提炼的，粗糙的
crude oil 原油
