题外话: 读不下去书的时候怎么办?一个字,硬抗。出去跑跑步,举举哑铃健健身,继续往下读。这是经常会在原版书阅读或者听有声书的时候见到的情况。和健身一样,大脑也会像身体一样疲劳,发出偷懒的信号。唯一不同的是,身体该休息就要休息,读书则要该硬着头皮上还是要硬着头皮上。适度调整就够了。
相信豹豹,我也是一样会有阅读的疲倦感,过了一个坎就会有一定的进步。
4. Animal Pills
At this point, George suddenly had an extra good wheeze. Although the medicine cupboard in the house was forbidden ground, what about the medicines his father kept on the shelf in the shed next to the henhouse?
就在这个节骨眼,乔治有了个绝妙的主意。虽然药架是禁区,可是爸爸妈妈没说鸡舍旁边的小鹏子不能去啊!那里有很多的动物药品呢。
wheeze一般常见是气喘吁吁,但它还是个名词表示花招。以前在纳尼亚也见过一个词,stratagem,但这里的wheeze表示a clever idea, a trick
forbidden ground禁区,哈利波特中出现的禁林就是the forbidden forest
...they will no doubt cause some splendid explosions inside the old geezer, but what the magic mixture now needs is a touch of the real stuff, real pills and real tonics, to give it punch and muscle.
这些喷雾剂,洗面膏,擦鞋油等等是很了不起的成分,可是药水毕竟需要药品来合成啊,真正的药片才有药效。
(mainly Brit, informal, old-fashioned)Some people use geezer to refer to a man. 人; 家伙
A tonic is a medicine that makes you feel stronger, healthier, and less tired. 补药; 补剂; 滋补药
He knew his father wouldn’t be there. He was out haymaking in one of the meadows.
于是乔治一路就往鸡舍去了,他知道爸爸不在那里,不会知道他要做的事。因为爸爸去弄干草去了。
hay+make→晒干草,其实词库只有haymaker这个词。
hen+house→鸡舍
meadow是日常词汇很常见,草地。因为乔治的家在农场附近,现代生活中的草坪用lawn就可以了。
乔治在鸡舍旁边的旧板棚里发现了了不得的东西,五个大玻璃瓶,两个满是药片,两个满是药水,还有一个满是药粉。
于是他又添加了如下几样物品:
1) The first bottle he took down contained an orange-coloured powder. The label said, FOR CHICKENS WITH FOUL PEST, HEN GRIPE, SORE BEAKS,GAMMY LEGS, COCKERELITIS, EGG TROUBLE, BROODINESS OR LOSS OF FEATHERS. MIX ONE SPOONFUL ONLY WITH EACH BUCKET OF FEED.
第一个是橘黄色药粉,专治鸡的各种毛病——鸡瘟、肠绞痛、嘴痛、跛脚、长不大、不下蛋、脱毛等等。每桶饲料只要放一汤匙。
鸡瘟也可以用chickenpest
gammy:
(brit, slang (esp of the leg))malfunctioning, injured, or lame; game 瘸的,游戏
cockerel是指小公鸡,在动物农场中会见到。
这些词汇真的不知道如何解释,所以这一段直接贴的中文版本,仅供参考。
2) The next bottle he took down had about five hundred gigantic purple pills in it. FOR HORSES WITH HOARSE THROATS, it said on the label. THE HOARSE-THROATED HORSE SHOULD SUCK ONE PILL TWICE A DAY.
第二个大瓶子里有500多个大药片,这是给马吃的。专治HOARSE THROATS,哈哈。其实这里玩了一个文字游戏,因为horse与hoarse发音相同。
3) Then there was a bottle of thick yellowish liquid. FOR COWS, BULLS AND BULLOCKS, the label said. WILL CURE COW POX, COW MANGE, CRUMPLED HORNS, BAD BREATH IN BULLS, EARACHE, TOOTHACHE, HEADACHE, HOOF-ACHE,TAILACHE AND SORE UDDERS.
第三个是一瓶黄色的药剂,给牛牛们用的,母牛公牛还有小牛,没有红牛,因为红牛叫RedBull。
专治牛病——牛痘、牛疥癣、犄角病、气急、耳疼、牙疼、头疼、蹄疼、尾疼等。
牛痘就是cow pox, 天花考研词汇,印象太深,smallpox
mange: an infectious disorder mainly affecting domestic animals, characterized by itching, formation of papules and vesicles, and loss of hair: caused by parasitic mites 兽疥癣
中文部分依旧取了故事的中文版本,看来翻译这个工作也不好做。
4) The next bottle contained a brilliant red liquid. SHEEPDIP, it said on the label. FOR SHEEP WITH SHEEPROT AND FOR GETTING RID OF TICKS AND FLEAS. MIX ONE SPOONFUL IN ONE GALLON OF WATER AND SLOSH IT OVER THE SHEEP. CAUTION, DO NOT MAKE THE MIXTURE ANY STRONGER OR THE WOOL WILL FALL OUT AND THE ANIMAL WILL BE NAKED.
接下来的是一瓶亮晶晶的红色液体,专治羊病——治腐蹄病、除虱子和跳蚤。一汤匙药水加上一加仑水,抹在羊身上。注意:药万勿多放,太浓了羊毛会脱落,羊就光秃无毛了。
tick这个词除了表示钟表滴滴答答,还表示√,比如练习中常见的tick or cross
在这里tick就是指虫子啦,蜱,壁虱,扁虱(吸血寄生虫,有些种类传播疾病);
Slosh:If a liquid sloshes around or if you slosh it around, it moves around in different directions. (使)(液体) 来回晃荡
这里slosh应该类似于smear就是涂抹的意思。
5) The last bottle on the shelf was full of pale green pills. PIG PILLS, the label announced. FOR PIGS WITH PORK PRICKLES, TENDER TROTTERS, BRISTLE BLIGHT AND SWINE SICKNESS. GIVE ONE PILL PER DAY. IN SEVERE CASES TWO PILLS MAY BE GIVEN, BUT MORE THAN THAT WILL MAKE THE PIG ROCK AND ROLL.
最后一瓶是淡绿色的药片,给猪猪们吃的,专治猪身上刺痛、蹄软、脱毛等病,一天一片,病情严重可服两片。但注意,超过此量会令猪摇摇摆摆。
blight:. N-VAR 可变名词 [usually with supp]
You can refer to something as a blight when it causes great difficulties, and damages or spoils other things. 破坏因素; 祸根; 阴影
乔治往炖锅里倒完这些药后就开始搅和起来,可是药片并不能分解,于是乔治决定把这些混合物煮一煮。One good quick boil on the stove is all it needs. 在回厨房的途中,小乔治又路过了爸爸的车库,于是他又添加了最后的材料。
Half a pint of ENGINE OIL – to keep Grandma’s engine going smoothly.
Some ANTI-FREEZE – to keep her radiator from freezing up in winter.
A handful of GREASE – to grease her creaking joints.
半品脱机油——保持姥姥的机器平滑开动。
一些防冻剂——保持姥姥的发动机冬天不冻住。
一团油脂——给她嘎吱嘎吱响的关节加油。
这一章也不算长,不过读下来略有些小崩溃。不过不管怎样,终于要过渡到相对好读的章节了。
下一章小乔治就要大开金手指了,今天如果有空,会再更一章。
注:药品部分说明取自故事中文版本,单词注释取自柯林斯。