英国语文第五册(双语):冰岛和间歇泉(2)
"Irritated by this false alarm, we determined to avenge ourselves by going and tormenting the Strokkur. Strokkur, or the churn, you must know, is an unfortunate Geyser, with so little command over his temper and his stomach that you can get a rise out of him whenever you like. All that is necessary is to collect a quantity of sods, and throw them down his funnel. As he has no basin to protect himself from these liberties, you can approach to the very edge of the pipe, about five feet in diameter, and look down at the water, which is perpetually boiling at the bottom.
“我们被这个假警报激怒了，决心来报复一下。你一定知道，振动器或称搅拌器，其实就是一个不幸的间歇喷泉，只要你喜欢，任何时候都能因为丢进它胃里的小东西而使它勃然大怒。而你所要做的，只要收集一点草皮，扔进它的漏斗口。因为它的周围没有可以让自己维持自由的盆地，所以你能轻易地走进它——一个直径仅仅约5英尺的管状喷泉，只要低头向下望，便能看到底部永久沸腾的水。
"In a few minutes the dose of turf you have just administered begins to disagree with him. He works himself up into an awful passion. Tormented by the qualms of sickness, he groans, and hisses, and boils up, and spits at you with malicious vehemence, until at last, with a roar of mingled pain and rage, he throws up into the air a column of water forty feet high, which carries with it all the sods that have been cast in, and scatters them scalded and half digested at your feet.
“几分钟后，你刚刚喂食的那块草皮开始搅扰它了。它表现出极其可怕的愤怒状，由于受到了呕吐的不安的折磨，它开始呻吟起来，发出嘶嘶的声音，接着便沸腾起来，恶意地朝着你喷洒口水，终于，按耐不住的它带着混杂了痛苦与愤怒的咆哮，朝着天际喷出一道约四十英尺高的水柱，其中夹杂着刚刚吞下的那堆草皮，四散落下的草皮已经被煮熟，散落在你脚下的残渣说明大概有一半已经被消化。
"So irritated has the poor thing's stomach become by the discipline it has undergone, that even long after all foreign matter has been thrown off, it goes on retching and sputtering, until at last nature is exhausted, when, sobbing and sighing to itself, it sinks back into the bottom of its den.
“这个可怜的家伙，被刚刚经历的惩罚触痛了胃部，以至于在一段时间内，几乎倒空了胃里所有的杂质，可它继续干呕着，喷溅着杂质，直到最后筋疲力尽，哭泣着叹息着，慢慢沉入它巢穴的底部。
