Форум

[fiuri]

The Love letter 迟到的情书~~　　

I was always a little in awe of Great-aunt Stephina Roos. Indeed, as children we were all frankly terrified of her. The fact that she did not live with the family, preferring her tiny cottage and solitude to the comfortable but rather noisy household where we were brought up-added to the respectful fear in which she was held.

我对斯蒂菲娜老姑总是怀着敬畏之情。说实在话，我们几个孩子对她都怕得要死。她不和家人一块生活，宁愿住在她的小屋子里，而不愿住在舒舒服服、热热闹闹的家里--我们六个孩子都是在家里带大的--这更加重了我们对她的敬畏之情。

We used to take it in turn to carry small delicacies which my mother had made down from the big house to the little cottage where Aunt Stephia and an old colored maid spent their days. Old Tnate Sanna would open the door to the rather frightened little messenger and would usher him-or her - into the dark voor-kamer, where the shutters were always closed to keep out the heat and the flies. There we would wait, in trembling but not altogether unpleasant.

　我们经常轮替着从我们住的大房子里带些母亲为她做的可口的食品到她和一名黑人女仆一块过活的那间小屋里去。桑娜老姨总是为每一个上门来的怯生生的小使者打开房门，将他或她领进昏暗的客厅。那里的百叶窗长年关闭着，以防热气和苍蝇进去。我们总是在那里哆哆嗦嗦、但又不是完全不高兴地等着斯蒂菲娜老姑出来。

She was a tiny little woman to inspire so much veneration. She was always dressed in black, and her dark clothes melted into the shadows of the voor-kamer and made her look smaller than ever. But you felt. The moment she entered. That something vital and strong and somehow indestructible had come in with her, although she moved slowly, and her voice was sweet and soft.
　　
一个像她那样身材纤细的女人居然能赢得我们如此尊敬。她总是身穿黑色衣服，与客厅里的阴暗背景融成一体，将她的身材衬托得更加娇小。但她一进门，我们就感到有一种说不清道不明、充满活力和刚强的气氛，尽管她的步子慢悠、声调甜柔。

She never embraced us. She would greet us and take out hot little hands in her own beautiful cool one, with blue veins standing out on the back of it, as though the white skin were almost too delicate to contain them.
　　
她从不拥抱我们，但总是和我们寒暄，将我们热乎乎的小手握在她那双秀美清爽的手里，她的手背上露出一些青筋，就像手上白嫩的皮肤细薄得遮不住它们似的。

Источник--- iciba.com

[fiuri]

Adventure sports enthusiast Ajit Bajaj became the first Indian to ski to the North Pole.

冒险运动爱好者阿吉特•巴贾杰成为第一位滑雪到达北极的印度人。

Bajaj completed his nine-day expedition from the Russian side of the Arctic with four skiers from the United States and one from Britain, his wife Shirley said.

巴贾杰的妻子雪莉说，巴贾杰从俄罗斯境内的北极圈出发，完成了他9天的探险。同行的滑雪者中有四个美国人和一个英国人。

He left India April 14 for Norway from where the team went to a Russian training camp and then they set off for the North Pole on skis," she said.

她说：“他4月14日离开印度，前往挪威。然后，探险队从挪威出发，到达俄罗斯的训练营，接着，他们开始滑雪向北极进军。”

"They would ski for 10 to 11 hours a day and finally at 4:15 am Indian time my husband called me on satellite telephone to announce the team had reached their destination on the North Pole."

" 他们每天要滑10至11个小时，最终在印度时间的凌晨4时15分，我丈夫通过卫星电话告诉我队伍已抵达北极目的地。”

"It's a very proud moment as he becomes the first Indian to successfully withstand such an extreme endurance test and reach the North Pole," said Sherly, who operates an adventure sports club in India with her husband.

雪莉说：“他成功经受住了这个耐力极限的考验，成为第一个抵达北极的印度人，这真是令人自豪的时刻。”雪莉和丈夫巴贾杰在印度开了一个冒险运动俱乐部。

Bajaj, meanwhile, told India's NDTV television by satellite phone that he had planted the Indian flag at the North Pole.

与此同时，巴贾杰通过卫星电话告诉印度NDTV电视台，他将印度的国旗插在了北极。

"It was a very proud moment when I unfurled the tricolor, our national flag given to me by Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma," he said.

他说：“在把外交部长阿南•夏尔马交给我的三色国旗展开的那一刻，我感到十分骄傲。”

Bajaj, a downhill ski specialist, described the cold as "extreme".

巴贾杰是个速降滑雪能手，他说北极“极其”寒冷。

"There is about a metre of ice on the surface and the lowest temperature has been minus 35 degrees Centigrade but with the wind chill, it can go down to about minus 70-80C."

“地表的冰厚度达到1米左右，最低温度为零下35摄氏度，但是因为有风寒，温度可降至零下70至80摄氏度左右。”

"It's freezing up here," he added.

他还说：“这里简直是个冰冻的世界。”

In New Delhi, his wife sweltered in temperatures above 40C.

而远在新德里，他的妻子却饱受40多度高温酷暑的折磨。

Vocabulary:

1 withstand : to resist or endure successfully（经受住）
2 unfurl : to spread（打开；展开<帆，旗帜等>）
3 swelter : to suffer from oppressive heat（中暑；热得难受）

[fiuri]

The Monster In Loch Nessie

More than one slippery creature is said to be living in Loch Nessie[1][2]. In any case, people have reported seeing a humped "what-is-it" for over 30 years.

据说尼斯湖里有不止一个令人难以捉摸的动物。不管怎么说，30年来一直不断有人报导见到了一个有驼峰般隆起的背部的"不知是什么"的动物。

For a long time the mysterious monster was considered just a joke. But things changed in 1966.Then, some photo experts of the Royal Air Force[3] reported on their study of a film of the "monster". They said that there really is some huge objects in Loch Ness--and it's probably alive!

在相当长的一段时间里，人们只不过把尼斯湖的神秘的动物当作是一个玩笑，但是在1966年这种情况改变了，英国皇家空军研究报告表明：尼斯湖里确实有某种巨大的物体，而且这个物体可能是有生命的！

Most scientists agree that Nessie is neither a whale nor a shark. They think that it could be a huge, unknown kind of sea slug. The small garden slug can stretch its body to enter worm holes. So a sea slug could shape its body into the one, two, three or more humps that different people say they have seen.

大多数科学家一致认为"尼西"既不是鲸，也不是鲨鱼。他们认为"尼西"可能是一种庞大的、还不为人类所知的海蛞蝓。渺小的庭院蛞蝓能把身体伸长而钻进虫子洞里。因此，象不同的人所说的那样，海蛞蝓也应该能将它的身体形成一个、二个、三个或更多个的驼峰形隆肉形式。

How did Nessie get into Loch Nessie? From the sea, all say. Until the end of the last Ice Age[4] the lake was an arm of the sea. Then the ice on the rugged rocks melted. The earth's crust rose, leaving the lake separated from the sea. The lake's gloomy bottom is well-stocked with fish. What a perfect place for a settlement of monsters! Gradually, they could get used to fresh water.

"尼西"是怎么进入尼斯湖的呢？所有的人都认为是从大海进而进去的。最后一次冰期以前，尼斯湖一直是同海洋连为一体的。后来嶙峋的岩石上的冰融化了，地壳上升，把尼斯湖同大海分开了。尼斯湖昏暗的湖水深处蕴藏着丰富的鱼类资源。这是大型怪兽的一个多么好的栖息地啊！它们逐渐地能够适应淡水了。

注释：

[1]Loch Nessie：尼斯湖。Loch 是苏格兰语，意思和英语中的 lake （湖）相同。

[2]这个句子是英语中非常常见的被动句。被动态在科技文章中出现的频率相当高，这是它的一个显著特点。你可以留心一下，看看科技文章中到底有多少被动句。

[3]the Royal Air Force：英国皇家空军。成立于1918年4月1日的英国皇家空军已经走过了风风雨雨的八十余年，她的全盛时期是在一战结束后，当时共有30万余人（其中有25，000女兵），规模相当庞大。二战期间，英国皇家空军为维护和平、打击纳粹立下了不朽的战功，当然损失也相当惨重。近年，她依然活跃于联合国的维持和平任务中。

[4]the last Ice Age： 最后一次冰期，时间大约是在两万年以前。