美國語文第五冊 第297期：野鴿過客（06）
Here and there the perches gave way under the weight with a crash,
接連不斷的墜落沖力，使得方才落腳來及站穩(wěn)的鳥們紛紛墜下，壓翻甚至撞死下端的同類；
and falling to the ground destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, forcing down the dense groups with which every stick was loaded.
每一根墜彎的樹枝上，到處站滿了密密麻麻的鴿子，騷動混亂的恐怖氣息，在偌大森林里鋪開彌漫。
It was a scene of uproar and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak or even to shout to those persons who were nearest to me.
我感到自己的孤零無助，無法與哪怕離我最近的人說上幾句話，甚至叫上幾嗓子；
Even the reports of the guns were seldom heard, and I was made aware of the firing only by seeing the shooters reloading.
我?guī)缀趼牪灰娙魏螛屄?，直到看到持槍的人們不停地裝卸子彈，才驚悚意識到一場瘋狂嗜血的屠殺正在緊鑼密鼓進行。
The uproar continued the whole night; and as I was anxious to know to what distance the sound reached,
血腥喧囂持續(xù)了整整一夜。我當(dāng)時急切想知道這場殘忍的殺戮究竟傳及多遠，
I sent off a man, accustomed to perambulate the forest,
于是便派出一位熟悉當(dāng)?shù)厣值匦蔚娜饲叭チ私馇闆r。
who, returning two hours afterwards, informed me he had heard it distinctly when three miles distant from the spot.
兩小時后，他回來告訴我，哪怕距此三英里開外的地方，激烈的槍聲亦能清晰聽見。
Towards the approach of day, the noise in some measure subsided; long before objects were distinguishable,
天將破曉時，嘈雜聲逐漸平息下來。其實，天亮前很久，
the pigeons began to move off in a direction quite different from that in which they had arrived the evening before,
鴿群已開始飛離，與當(dāng)晚它們飛來降落的方向截然不同。
and at sunrise all that were able to fly had disappeared.
太陽冉冉升起，所有再度起飛的野鴿早已消逝得無影無蹤。
