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Folk Tale

文章来源：未知文章作者：enread 发布时间：2014-11-24 05:59 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

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Folk Tale

Chelsea Woodard

for Nonny Hogrogian

In the story, I remember a hungry young fox

rendered in pastels. He has stolen

from a strict-mannered woman in town, his tail's been cut off, his lot

cast to repay her: stomach still swollen

with her Guernsey cow's milk, his head hung

as he trudges¹ the sad route she has mapped

for him. In the story, I remember bright sun

glaring, the fox hunched² and tailless, his tongue lolling, lapping

at air, his shame-path dry and sorrowful.

And reading, I knew the author had lived

in our house -- rust-colored shutters³, fall-

wormed, rattling⁴ rose hips⁵, frost, pewter-halled air.

And in the book, every page held a trade: a pail

bartered for rare, lazuli beads⁶, a brown-speckled egg

for milled grain, straw for the mule⁷ pulling

the plow⁸. And I knew that each time, the fox had begged

for their pity -- a sack of clean down, a gold coin, a gift --

and that he'd at last made it back, the cold pail

handle clenched⁹ in his teeth, milk sloshing the step

of the stern woman's house. And I pictured the blood-matted tail

handed back to him, dragged over our slab-granite walk,

smelled the freezing ground

swelling -- stumbled with apples, damp now, half rotten --

the author's fingers rust-smudged from the work,

mine smeared¹⁰ with the chalk dust we found

decades later on baseboards and rimed sills of doors --

the fine powder set into skin, each tenuous¹¹ history

heart-learned, unwritten.

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收听单词发音

1 trudges
n.跋涉，长途疲劳的步行( trudge的名词复数 )
参考例句：
She trudges, schlepps, trains, drags, trascines her load. 她吃力地跋涉，schlepps、trains、drags、trascines重荷。来自互联网 Matvey, who has not tasted food or drink all day, trudges up the hill again. 玛特威从一大早起就什么也没吃过，什么也没喝过，这时候却又爬上坡去。来自互联网

2 hunched
（常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的
参考例句：
He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。 Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。

3 shutters
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )；（照相机的）快门
参考例句：
The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。 The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

4 rattling
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常动词rattle的现在分词
参考例句：
This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。 At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

5 hips
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的
参考例句：
She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。 They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。来自《简明英汉词典》

6 beads
n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链
参考例句：
a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链 Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

7 mule
n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人
参考例句：
A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。 He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。

8 plow
n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough
参考例句：
At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。 We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

9 clenched
v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。 She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。来自《简明英汉词典》

10 smeared
弄脏；玷污；涂抹；擦上
参考例句：
The children had smeared mud on the walls. 那几个孩子往墙上抹了泥巴。 A few words were smeared. 有写字被涂模糊了。

11 tenuous
adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的
参考例句：
He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。 The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

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