惊险的旅程
The preparations had taken place in the lee of the tent, but the fisherman now pushed the sled out into the wind and gave it as good a start as his strength would permit. For a moment it seemed as if the scheme would prove a failure. The sled seemed to lose speed, rather than gain it, although the sail bellied out with a force that almost jerked Pat from his seat on the pig. But slowly the sled responded to the force of the wind, and the strain on Pat’s arms gradually lessened. “Oho!” he cried happily. “Sailin’ is a fine sport when ye get goin’. ’Tis restin’ to the legs, anyhow.”
渔夫已经在帐篷的背风处进行了准备工作，但是他现在把雪橇推到风中，尽可能给它一个良好的开端。过了段时间，经证实，计划似乎失败了。雪橇似乎失去了速度，而不是增加速度，尽管船帆使风力聚集，几乎把帕特从座位上猛拉到猪身上。但雪橇渐渐地受到了风力影响，帕特手臂上的压力逐渐减轻。“哦！”他开心的叫了起来。“冰上滑行是一项很好的运动。起码我解放了双腿。”
Presently, however, he became nervous. His speed was steadily increasing, and he found that the slightest move on his part made the sled swerve a little. Once or twice he almost lost his balance, and only by experimenting could he adjust himself properly. He saw Marion Island looming up ahead of him in the moonlight, and this gave him another fright. “If I hit it, goin’ like this,” he exclaimed, “I’ll take it along or leave the sled behind and go sailin’ over it like a bird! And I can’t stop! Oho! I got the fiyin’- machine now, and no brake on it!” His only hope of avoiding the island was to change his course slightly, which was no easy matter. And to which side should he go? It would be easier to take the east passage, but two or three miles beyond, on that side, Neahtawanta jutted out from the peninsula. He would have to swerve to the east for the island and to the west for Neahtawanta. Unquestionably it would be better to go to the west of both—if possible.
然后，他不久就变得紧张起来。他的速度在稳步地增加，他发现自己身体上的一点轻微的移动都会使雪橇有点转向。有一两次他几乎失去了平衡，他只能通过试验来不断适当地调整自己。他看见玛丽安岛在月光下若隐若现，就在他面前，这使他又吓了一跳。“如果我撞到岛，像这样，”他喊道，“雪橇会留在原地并被我落在后面，我会像鸟一样在上面飞过！我停不下来！哦！我现在抓住了那台机器，没有刹车！”他避开这个岛的唯一希望就是稍微改变一下航向，这可不是件容易的事。他应该去哪边？走东边的通道比较容易，但是在两到三英里以外的东边，尼塔万塔伫立在半岛上。他遇见岛的的时候向东转，遇到尼塔万塔时向西转。毫无疑问，如果可能的话，最好一直向西走。
来源:可可英语 http://www.kekenet.com/xiaoxue/202009/617495.shtml
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