39_Nothing_to_Worry_About

39 Nothing to Worry About

原文译文

The rough road (across the plain) soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village (we had come from). Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.

As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders. The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.

What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!

穿越平原的道路高低不平，开车走了不远，路面愈加崎岖。我们想劝说布鲁斯把车开回我们出发的那个村庄去。尽管路面布满石头，坑坑洼洼，但布鲁斯却一点儿不慌乱。他瞥了一眼地图，告诉我们前面再走20英里就有一个村庄。这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难，而是他压根儿没有一点儿危险感。他认为不管路面情况如何，车必须以最高速度前进。

我们在尘士飞扬的道路上颠簸，车子东拐西弯，以躲开那些大圆石。车轮搅起的石块锤击着车身，发出不祥的锤击声。我们想念迟早会飞起一个石块把油箱砸开一个窟窿，或者把发动机砸坏。因此，我们不时地掉过头，怀疑车后是否留下了机油和汽油的痕迹。

突然大石块不见了，前面是一片平地，唯一的障碍只有一簇簇灌木丛。这使我们长长地松了口气。但是更糟糕的事情在等着我们，离我们不远处，出现了一个大裂缝。我们再次央求布鲁斯小心，他这才把车停了下来。我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上。我们告诉他那个大裂缝长50码，宽2英尺，深4英尺。这也没有对他产生任何影响。布鲁斯挂上慢档，把两只前轮分别搁在裂缝的两边，顺着弯弯曲曲的裂缝，以发疯的速度向前开去。我们还未来得及担心后果，车已重新开上了平地。布鲁斯又看了一眼地图，告诉我们那座村庄离我们只有15英里了。下一个障碍是一片约半英里宽的浅水塘。布鲁斯向水塘冲去，但车开到水塘当中，嘎吱一声停住了。仪表盘上一盏黄灯闪着刺眼的光芒，布鲁斯兴致勃勃地宣布发动机里没油了！

Words

• rough /rʌf/ adj. 崎岖的
  1. Seeing the rough mountain path in front of me reduced me to tears.
• boulders /ˈboldɚz/ n. 大石块
  1. It suddenly dawned on me that there was an old man standing beside that boulder on my way home.
  2. I should have lodged a complaint to have the large boulder on the road removed.（N2L65&L37）
• pitted /ˈpɪtɪd/ 坑使洼
• perturbed /pɚˈtɝbd/ v. 不安
  1. Up to the time of my investigation, I discovered that the whole neighborhood was perturbed by the rising crimes.
  2. It suddenly dawned on me that she seemed perturbed by the name of a man during the inquiry.
• bumped /bʌmpt/ 颠簸
• track /træk/ 小道
• swerved /swɝvd/ v. 急转变
  1. The driver [who was previously looking at his phone] swerved sharply to avoid driving into a tree.
  2. We can deduce that the driver swerved to avoid hitting the child [who suddenly ran into the street].
• scooped /skupt/ v. 挖出
  1. When I took a long walk in the forest yesterday, I scooped up some fallen leaves.
• hammered /ˈhæmɚd/ v. 击打
  1. It seems reasonable to assume that she hammered at the door then because she was frightened.
• ominously /ˈɑmənəsli/ adv. 有预兆的
  1. He was bewildered by the fact that the streets were ominously quiet.
  2. As he walk in, he found the woman lying ominously on the floor.
• rip /rɪp/ v. 划破
  1. It is no use pretending that you are trying to rip off her picture.
  2. It was the unexpected news that made him want to rip up the newspaper.
• petrol /ˈpɛtrol/ n. 汽油
  1. Faced with an empty tank, we were relieved to find a petrol station just in time.
  2. The clues [I found at the petrol station] might shed light on this matter.
  3. She reprimanded me for stopping for petrol when we were in a hurry.
• relief /rɪˈlif/ 安慰
• stretch /strɛtʃ/ n. 一大片
  1. We put up our camp along a stretch of the river, where the water flowed gently, and the view was incredible.
  2. Driving along a stretch of road through the plains, we met a group of nomads.
• obstacles /ˈɑbstəkəlz/ n. 障碍
  1. There are many obstacles to overcome before one can sing with considerable ease.
  2. To her dismay, she realized that overcoming the obstacles in front of her was going to be much harder than she had anticipated.
• clumps /klʌmps/ n. 丛
  1. The ancient ruins, surrounded by clumps of grass and trees, remain connected with the region's history.
  2. The health of bird populations in the area is strongly correlated with the number of clumps of bushes and trees.
• fissure /ˈfɪʃɚ/ n. 裂缝
  1. It is all too easy to underestimate the dangers of exploring deep fissures in the earth.
  2. Having studied them for years, she is well acquainted with the fissures in the region.
  3. It would be naive to believe that exploring a deep fissure has no significant risks.
• renewed /rɪˈnud/ adj. 重复
  1. The team's recent success has given them renewed confidence in their abilities.
  2. The success stories of others who had overcome similar obstacles gave her renewed hope.
• pleadings /ˈplidɪŋz/ n. 恳求
  1. Despite her constant pleadings, Sarah couldn't convince her parents that she had to attend the concert on a school night.
• gear /ɡɪr/ n. 档位
  1. The truck went into a low gear and roared down the mountain.
  2. It seems that whether I go into a low or high gear doesn’t make any difference.（L29&L9）
• astride /əˈstraɪd/ prep. 骑跨
  1. She mustered up the courage to sit astride the horse.
  2. I felt puzzled by his action of driving astride the deep fissure.
• crack /kræk/ n. 缝隙
  1. The symbols depicted on the wall had been damaged by the water that went through a crack.
  2. I noticed with dismay that there was a small crack in the ceiling.
  3. The result is based on the assumption that the detectives can see them through a crack in the wall.
• zigzag /ˈzɪɡzæɡ/ n. 之字形
  1. It’s so odd that the man is walking in a zigzag pattern on the street.
  2. I’ll never forget the day when I saw you running happily in a zigzag course in the park.（L14）
• shallow /ˈʃælo/ adj. 浅的
  1. We found scanty clues in the shallow soil.
  2. The car attempted to drive through the shallow water but got stuck in the mud.（L8&L35）
  3. The water is too shallow in the pond, which makes it impossible to swim here.
• grinding /ˈɡraɪndɪŋ/ v. 摩擦
  1. If there had been oil in the engine, the car wouldn’t have come to a grinding halt.
  2. The overloaded truck had difficulty climbing up the mountain and ground to a halt halfway.
• halt /hɔlt/ n. 停
  1. The heavy fog brought the air travel to a halt.
  2. Not only did the accident bring the traffic to a halt, but it also resulted in the death of two men.
  3. The car came to a halt when the driver noticed the red light.

Expressions

• be pitted with 布满（坑洼）
• be/seem perturbed by 被……搅得不安
• be/seem perturbed that +句子 因……而心烦
• underestimate how/what ... 低估……
• underestimate the power of something 低估某物的力量
• swerve to avoid 急转躲避
• scoop up 舀起；捧起
• rip... off/up/out 撕掉/撕碎/撕出
• a stretch of land/river/road 一片土地/一段河流/一段路
• overcome obstacles 克服障碍
• clumps of 一丛丛
• go into a low/high gear 挂低速/高速挡
• grind to a halt=come to a grinding halt 慢慢停下来
• bring... to a halt 使……停下
• come to a halt 停下来
• There was worse to come. 还有更糟糕的
• get sb. to do 说服某人做某事
  1. You can get the salesmen to engrave her name on the gift.
  2. We can deduce that he got someone to fix his car instead of doing it himself.
  3. She got the fire brigade to chip through a wall and saved the thief.
• not in the least 一点也不
  1. He was not in the least sorry for what he said and was bent on winning the argument.
  2. You don’t seem to be in the least interested in geography, so why are you here for this meeting?
  3. The boy is not in the least afraid of ghost stories and begged his father to tell him more.
  4. It was not that...
  5. It was not that I wanted to get rid of you.
  6. It is not that I dread going out alone at night.
  7. It was not that I liked to comment on people’s wearing.
  8. have a/no sense of
• it was not that... 不是...
• have a sense of 有……的感觉
• sooner or later 迟早
  1. Sooner or later, you will overcome the obstacles you find bewildering now.
  2. Sooner or later, you will get back to your family.
  3. Sooner or later, we will be able to settle the argument.
  4. what a relief it was when
  5. What a relief it was when I heard that you are cast in the role you wanted.
  6. What a relief it was when I succeeded in completing the marathon.
  7. What a relief it was when I found that the lost girl had been reunited with her family.
• what a relief it was when 当……时真是松了一口气
• give way to 被...代替
• ahead of 在……之前
• a shallow pool of 一浅滩的……
  1. a pool of 一池……; 一摊…; 一汪...
  2. A guard found him lying in a pool of blood, and a doctor saved him.
  3. After the rain, there was a shallow pool of water in the backyard.
  4. The hotel manager claimed to have solved the problem, but there was still a pool of water in my room.
• charge at 冲向
• sb. announced that 某人宣布……
  1. He announced that their advanced security system would keep the city free from crime.
  2. The teacher announced that punishments would be meted out to students who broke the school rules.
  3. He announced that volunteers would attend to the elderly during the heatwave.