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Lesson 39 Nothing to worry about 不必担心

The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we triedto get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from. Eventhough the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, heinformed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. Itwas not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simplyhad 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 theonly 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 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 whatmight happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that thevillage was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mileacross. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dash-board flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!

New Words and Expressions 生词和短语​

  • rough（1. 1) /rʌf/adj. 崎岖不平的
  • boulder（1. 3) /'bəuldə/ n. 大石块
  • pit（1. 3) /pit/ v. 使得坑坑洼洼
  • perturb（1. 4) /pə'tə:b/ v. 使不安
  • underestimate（1. 6) /'ʌndər'estimeit/ v. 低估
  • swerve（1. 9) /'swə:v/v. 争转变
  • scoop（1. 9) /sku:p/ v. 挖出
  • hammer（1. 10) /'hæmə/ v. (用锤)击打，锤打
  • ominously（1. 10) /'ɔminəsli/ adv. 有预兆的，不祥的
  • rip（1. 10) /rip/ v. 划破，撕，扯
  • petrol（1. 11) /'petrəl/ n. 汽油
  • stretch（1. 13) /stretʃ/ n. 一大片(平地或水)
  • obstacle（1. 14) /'ɔbstəkəl/ n. 障碍
  • clump（1. 14) /klʌmp/ n. 丛，簇
  • fissure（1. 15)/'fiʃə/n. (石，地的)深缝
  • renew（1. 15) /ri'nju:/ v. 重复
  • pleading（1. 15) /pli:diŋ/ n. 恳求
  • gear（1. 17) /giə/ n. (汽车) 排档
  • astride（1. 18) /ə'straid/ prep. 骑，跨
  • crack（1. 18) /kræk/ n. 缝隙
  • zigzag（1. 18) /'zigzæg/n. “之”字形
  • halt（1. 21) /hɔ:lt/n. 停
  • shallow（1. 20) /'ʃæləu/ adj. 浅的
  • dashboard（11. 21-22) /'dæʃbɔ:d/n. (汽车上的)仪表盘
  • grind（1. 21) /graind/ (ground/graund/, ground) v. 磨擦

Notes on the text 课文注释​

  1. get sb. to do sth. ，说服某人做某事。
  2. in the least，一点儿也不，完全不。
  3. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. 这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难。
  4. sooner or later，作“迟早”、”总有一天”讲。
  5. giving way to a stretch of plain，出现了一片平原。give way to…，此处作“为……所代替”解。
  6. charge at，冲向。

参考译文​

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到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，告诉我们前面再走不到20英里就是一个村庄。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。

我们在尘土飞扬的道路上颠簸，车子东拐西弯，以躲开那些大圆石。车轮搅起的石块锤击车身，发出不祥的锤击声。我们相信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！