现代大学英语精读(第2版)第五册:U6 The Way to Rainy Mountain(3)
日期:2019-11-15 13:45

(单词翻译:单击)

They acquired horses, and their ancient nomadic spirit was suddenly free of the ground. They acquired Tai-me, the sacred Sun Dance doll, from that moment the object and symbol of their worship, and so shared in the divinity of the sun. Not least, they acquired the sense of destiny, therefore courage and pride. When they entered upon the southern Plains, they had been transformed. No longer were they slaves to the simple necessity of survival; they were a lordly and dangerous society of fighters and thieves, hunters and priests of the sun. According to their origin myth, they entered the world through a hollow log. From one point of view, their migration was the fruit of an old prophecy, for indeed they emerged from a sunless world.
他们得到了马,使得他们那古老的游牧民族的精神突然悬空而起。他们得到了太米,即神圣的太阳舞木偶。自那时起太米就成了他们的崇拜物和象征物,并且在太阳的神力下共有。同样重要的是,他们也拥有了天命感,由此产生了勇气和自豪。当他们进人南部平原时,他们实际上已经被改变了。他们不再是为了简单的生活必需品而奋斗的奴隶,而是一个由专横危险的斗士和小偷、猎人和太阳的牧师所组成的团体。根据有关他们祖先来源的神话,他们是通过一根空心木头来到这世界的。从某种程度上说,他们的迁移是一个古老预言的结果,因为他们确实是从一个没有太阳的世界出现的。
Although my grandmother lived out her long life in the shadow of Rainy Mountain, the immense landscape of the continental interior lay like memory in her blood. She could tell of the Crows, whom she had never seen, and of the Black Hills, where she had never been. I wanted to see in reality what she had seen more perfectly in the mind's eye, and traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin my pilgrimage.
虽然我的祖母是在雨山的阴影下度过了漫长的余生,但那大陆内部的广袤景色却驻扎在她的记忆中。她能谈论关于克罗人的事情,尽管她从未见过;她还可以谈论黑山,尽管她从未去过。实际上我很想见见她想象中的完美的世界,于是我步行了一千五百英里,开始了我的参拜之行。
Yellowstone, it seemed to me, was the top of the world, a region of deep lakes and dark timber, canyons and waterfalls. But, beautiful as it is, one might have the sense of confinement there. The skyline in all directions is close at hand, the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shade. There is a perfect freedom in the mountains, but it belongs to the eagle and the elk, the badger and the bear. The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see, and they were bent and blind in the wilderness.
在我看来,黄石可算是世界上最好的地方,一个遍布着深水湖、深色树木、峡谷和瀑布的地区。虽然那里十分美丽,但人们可能有受束缚、被禁锢的感觉。放眼望去,四周天际线近在咫尺,触手可及。这天际线是一道道树的高墙和一条条树荫形成的幽深裂缝。而在山里却是完全自由的,可是这自由只属于老鹰、美洲赤鹿、獾和熊。克尔瓦人根据他们所能看到的距离来推断他们的领地;但是在荒野中的密林中他们只能弯着腰,看不到很远。

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