新概念美音版第三冊 Lesson 39 Nothing to worry about 不必擔心

 
Lesson 39 Nothing to worry about 不必擔心
        
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。

What was the difference between Bruce's behaviour and that of other people?

    The rough 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 eh 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 of 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 years and was tow 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 half. A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

     rough
adj. 崎嶇不平的

     boulder
n.   大石塊

     pit
v.   使得坑坑窪窪

     perturb
v.   使不安

     underestimate
v.   低估

     swerve
v.   急轉變

     scoop
v.   挖出

     hammer
v.   （用錘）擊打，錘打

     ominously
adv. 有預兆的，不祥的

     rip
v.   劃破，撕，扯

     petrol
n.   汽油

     stretch
n.   一大片（平地或水）

     obstacle
n.   障礙

     clump
n.   叢，簇

     fissure
n.   （石，地的）深縫

     renew
v.   重複

     pleading
n.   懇求

     gear
n.   汽車排檔

     astride
prep.騎，跨

     crack
n.   縫隙

     zigzag
n.  “之”字形

     shallow
adj. 淺的

     grind (ground, ground)
v.   磨擦

     halt
n.   停
 
     dashboard
n.   （汽車上的）儀表盤

參考譯文

    穿越平原的道路高低不平，開車走了不遠，路麵愈加崎嶇。我們想勸說布魯斯把車開回我們出發的那個村莊去。盡管路麵布滿石頭，坑坑窪窪，但布魯斯卻一點兒不慌亂。他瞥了一眼地圖，告訴我們前麵再走不到20英裏就是一個村莊。這並不是說布魯斯總是低估困難，而是他壓根兒沒有一點兒危險感。他認為不管路麵情況如何，車必須以最高速度前進。

    我們在塵士飛揚的道路上顛簸，車子東拐西彎，以躲開那些大圓石。車輪攪起的石塊錘擊車身，發出不祥的錘擊聲。我們想念遲早會飛起一個石塊把油箱砸開一個窟窿，或者把發動機砸壞。因此，我們不時地掉過頭，懷疑車後是否留下了機油和汽油的痕跡。

    突然大石塊不見了，前麵是一片平地，唯一的障礙隻有一簇簇灌木叢。這使我們長長地鬆了口氣。但是更糟糕的事情在等著我們，離我們不遠處，出現一個大裂縫。我們再次央求布魯斯小心，他這才把車停了下來。我們紛紛下車察看那個大裂縫，他卻呆在車上。我們告訴他那個大裂縫長50碼，寬2英尺，深4英尺。這也沒有對他產生任何影響。布魯斯掛上慢檔，把兩隻前輪分別擱在裂縫的兩邊，順著彎彎曲曲的裂縫，以發瘋的速度向前開去。我們還未來得及擔心後果，車已重新開上了平地。布魯斯又看了一眼地圖，告訴我們那座村莊離我們隻有15英裏了。下一個障礙是一片約半英裏寬的淺水塘。布魯斯向水塘衝去，但車開到水塘當中，嘎吱一聲停住了。儀表盤一盞黃燈閃著刺眼的光芒，布魯斯興致勃勃地宣布發動機裏沒油了！