英国语文第五册(双语):弗吉尼亚州(3)
The emigrants had landed in early spring. Summer came with its burning heat. Supplies of food ran low. "Had we been as free from all sins as from gluttony and drunkenness," Smith wrote, "we might have been canonized as saints." The colonists sickened and died. From those poor blistered fingers dropped for ever the unaccustomed axe. Before autumn every second man had died. But the hot Virginian sun, which proved so deadly to the settlers, ripened the wheat they had sowed in the spring, and freed the survivors from the pressure of want. Winter brought them a healthier temperature and abundant supplies of wild-fowl and game.
早春的时候移民们登陆。随着夏天的到来，烈日与酷热一并而来。食物供应出现不足。史密斯写到：“如果我们摆脱了暴饮暴食，饮酒狂欢，或许就摆脱了所有的罪恶，或许可以把自己封为圣徒。”殖民者一批批的病死，斧头从可怜的起了泡的手上永远滑落。到了秋天的时候，一半的人死去。弗吉尼亚炽热的太阳炙烤着移民，烈日催熟了春天种下的小麦，剩下的幸存者摆脱了食物匮乏的压力，终于得以吃饱。冬天的时候，温度适中，他们能狩猎到充足的野禽和猎物。
When the welfare of the colony was in some measure secured, Smith set forth with a few companions to explore the interior of the country. He and his followers were captured by the Indians. The followers were summarily butchered. Smith's composure did not fail him in the worst extremity. He produced his pocket-compass, and interested the savages by explaining its properties. He wrote a letter in their sight—to their infinite wonder. They spared him, and made a show of him in all the settlements round about. He was to them an unfathomable mystery. He was plainly superhuman. Whether his power would bring to them good or evil, they were not able to determine.
当殖民者的衣食多少得到保障之后，史密斯派出一些人去打探这个地区内陆的情况。但他和随从被印第安人抓到。随从被立刻处死，史密斯的镇定使得他免遭厄运。他口袋里的指南针引起了原住民的兴趣，于是他向他们解释了它的功能。在他们的注视下，他写了一封信，这个举动让他们极为吃惊。他们饶恕了他，只是在殖民地附近把他展示了一番。对于他们来说，史密斯是一个深不可测的谜，他显然是超人。他们难以判定史密斯的力量究竟带给他们的是好运还是灾难。
After much hesitation they chose the course which prudence seemed to counsel. They resolved to extinguish powers so formidable, regarding whose use they could obtain no guarantee. Smith was bound and stretched upon the earth, his head resting upon a great stone. The mighty club was uplifted to dash out his brains. But Smith was a man who won golden opinions from all. The Indian chief had a daughter, Pocahontas, a child of ten or twelve years. She could not bear to see the pleasing Englishman destroyed. As Smith lay waiting the fatal stroke, she seized him in her arms and interposed herself between him and the club. Her intercession prevailed, and Smith was set free.
犹豫之下，众人一起商量决定采取审慎的方式。他们决心压制这股可怕的力量，因为谁也无法保证这能给他们带来什么。史密斯被捆住，四肢绑在地上，头靠着一块大石头。他们就要举起棍棒打出他的脑浆来，但众人交口称赞他这个人。印第安人的首领有一个女儿，叫宝嘉康蒂，大概十二岁。她不忍心看到这个讨人喜欢的英国人被打死。当史密斯躺在地上等着致命一击的时候，她用胳膊护住史密斯，挡在他和棍子之间。她的调解奏效了，然后史密斯就被释放了。
