Living Water
文章来源: 文章作者: 发布时间:2007-05-26 06:39 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
This happened a long, long time ago, when the cedar1, the fir, and the pine still had needles that yellowed and dropped in the fall instead of staying green all winter.

Once in those olden times a Tofalar went out into the woods to hunt. He walked and walked, and he came farther than any hunter had ever dared to go. He saw a bog2 so vast that no beast could have crossed it, no bird could have flown across.

And the Tofalar said to himself:

"If our animals can't run across this bog, and our birds cannot fly across it, what kinds of animals and birds live on the other side?"

The more he thought about it, the more curious he became.

"I must find out," he said to himself. "Whatever happens, I must get there.

And so he took a good running start, and leaped right clear across the bog. He looked around: the same earth, the same grass, the same trees.

"Silly!" he said. "There was no need to jump."

Suddenly his mouth dropped open with wonder.

In a little clearing stood seven harnessed rabbits. They stood quietly, waiting. Then seven people came out of seven burrows3 in the earth, exactly like all people, only tiny. When the rabbits flattened4 their ears, the people were taller than the rabbits. When the rabbits' ears stood up, the people were smaller than the rabbits.

"Who are you?" asked the Tofalar. "We are immortal5 people," said the tiny men. "We wash ourselves in living water, and we never die. And who are you?"

"I am a hunter."

The little men clapped their hands with joy.

"Oh, good! Oh, good!" they cried in chorus.

And one of them, the eldest6, with white hair and a long white beard, came forward and said:

"A terrible, huge beast has come into our land. We don't know where it came from. The other day it caught one of our people and killed him. We are immortal, we never die ourselves, but this beast killed one of us. You are a hunter---can you help us in this trouble? Can you hunt down the beast?"

"Why not?" answered the Tofalar, but to himself he wondered: "Will I be able to kill such a frightful7 beast?"

However, he went out to track the beast. He looked and he looked, but could find nothing except rabbits' footprints. Suddenly, among the rabbit prints he noticed the track of a sable8.

"Oh, that's too fine a quarry9 to miss," he said. "First I will get the sable, and then I'll go on looking for the terrible, huge beast."

He found the sable and killed it. Then he skinned it and went on with his search. He walked the length and breadth of the little people's land, but could not find any trace of the beast.

So he came back to the little people and said to them: "I could not find your terrible, huge beast. All I have found was this sable." And he showed them the little sable skin.

"That's it, that's it!" they cried. "Oo-h, what a huge skin, what thick paws, what terrible, sharp claws!" And the eldest of the little men said to the Tofalar:

"You have saved us and our people! And we shall pay for your kindness with kindness. Wait for us. We'll come to visit you and bring you living water. You'll wash in it and will become immortal too."

The Tofalar jumped back across the bog and went back to his valley and told his people about the little men.

And the Tofalars began to wait for their guests, the immortal little men.

They waited one day, two days, three days, many, many days. But the guests did not come, and the Tofalars forgot about them and their promise.

Winter came. Everything around was frozen. And the bog was covered with a coat of ice.

One day the village women went to the woods to gather firewood. Suddenly they saw a little herd10 of rabbits galloping11 their way. They looked again, and saw that every rabbit was saddled, and in every saddle sat a tiny man with a little pitcher12 in his hands. The women burst out laughing at the sight.

"Look, look!" they cried to one another. "They are riding on rabbits!"

"And look at the little men, how funny!"

"Oh, what a joke!"

"Oh, I'll die laughing!"

Now, the immortal people were a proud race. They took offense13 at this reception. The one in front, with white hair and a long beard, shouted something to the others, and all of them spilled out the contents of their pitchers14 onto the ground. Then the rabbits turned and hopped15 away so fast that you could only see their white tails flicker16.

And so the Tofalars never got the living water. It went instead to the pine, the cedar, and the fir. And this is why they are fresh and green all through the year. Their needles never die.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 cedar 3rYz9     
n.雪松,香柏(木)
参考例句:
  • The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
  • She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。
2 bog QtfzF     
n.沼泽;室...陷入泥淖
参考例句:
  • We were able to pass him a rope before the bog sucked him under.我们终于得以在沼泽把他吞没前把绳子扔给他。
  • The path goes across an area of bog.这条小路穿过一片沼泽。
3 burrows 6f0e89270b16e255aa86501b6ccbc5f3     
n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘(洞穴),挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 );翻寻
参考例句:
  • The intertidal beach unit contains some organism burrows. 潮间海滩单元含有一些生物潜穴。 来自辞典例句
  • A mole burrows its way through the ground. 鼹鼠会在地下钻洞前进。 来自辞典例句
4 flattened 1d5d9fedd9ab44a19d9f30a0b81f79a8     
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的
参考例句:
  • She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
  • I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。
5 immortal 7kOyr     
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的
参考例句:
  • The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
  • The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽!
6 eldest bqkx6     
adj.最年长的,最年老的
参考例句:
  • The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
  • The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
7 frightful Ghmxw     
adj.可怕的;讨厌的
参考例句:
  • How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊!
  • We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。
8 sable VYRxp     
n.黑貂;adj.黑色的
参考例句:
  • Artists' brushes are sometimes made of sable.画家的画笔有的是用貂毛制的。
  • Down the sable flood they glided.他们在黑黝黝的洪水中随波逐流。
9 quarry ASbzF     
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找
参考例句:
  • Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
  • This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。
10 herd Pd8zb     
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见,只是人云亦云。
11 galloping galloping     
adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The horse started galloping the moment I gave it a good dig. 我猛戳了马一下,它就奔驰起来了。
  • Japan is galloping ahead in the race to develop new technology. 日本在发展新技术的竞争中进展迅速,日新月异。
12 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
13 offense HIvxd     
n.犯规,违法行为;冒犯,得罪
参考例句:
  • I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
  • His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。
14 pitchers d4fd9938d0d20d5c03d355623c59c88d     
大水罐( pitcher的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Over the next five years, he became one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. 在接下来的5年时间里,他成为了最了不起的棒球投手之一。
  • Why he probably won't: Pitchers on also-rans can win the award. 为什麽不是他得奖:投手在失败的球队可以赢得赛扬奖。
15 hopped 91b136feb9c3ae690a1c2672986faa1c     
跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花
参考例句:
  • He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
  • He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车,向市区开去。
16 flicker Gjxxb     
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现
参考例句:
  • There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
  • At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时,光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现,几乎并不灿烂。
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