荒野小屋(2)
文章来源:未知 文章作者:enread 发布时间:2016-03-09 05:18 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
I live in rural Virginia, and my high school, believe it or not, was in between two pastures in a very agrarian1 area. Although I was never much into sports, I had a few friends who were, and several were on the cross-country running team.
 
The course lay out for the cross-country track took a meandering2 path around the school, then out into the pastures around the school (with the permission of the farmers, of course). One part of the course took the runners past an immense old farmhouse3, abandoned and dilapidated on the crest4 of a hill overlooking the school. There were, of course, rumors5 that it was haunted, but to my knowledge no one ever saw or heard anything there. It was just a big, old, spooky, abandoned house.
 
At times, the CC runners did see someone poking6 around there, but it was obviously the owner of the property as they would see his truck parked in front of the place, and they could see that he was using the downstairs rooms to store equipment and surplus hay.
 
That being said, I shall relate the story of my friend on the CC run, and the subsequent discovery made by myself and some intrepid7 companions one day...
 
Her name was Candy, and she was on the CC team. She was hardly the star member, and would, unfortunately, often find herself running alone. That never dampened her spirits, however, and she remained on the team doing her part. One day, when as usual the pack had left her far behind, she found herself alone as she trudged8 up the hill towards the old house. Glancing up, she saw someone walk past an upstairs window. She thought nothing of it, of course, assuming it was the farmer. It didn't dawn on her until later that his truck was not in its usual place in front of the house.
 
She told this to her circle of friends, and some of us decided9 to check the place out the following day (which was, fortunately, a Saturday). So, we met in the field at noon and tromped off to explore. What we found there was the typical old falling-apart farmhouse. Empty rooms (except for the equipment and such), creaky floorboards, and piles of wet shattered plaster, beer bottles, graffiti, and cigarette butts10. Then we rounded the corner from the old living room to go upstairs, and each of us stopped dead in our tracks....
 
There were no stairs. Apparently11, the stairwell had collapsed12 into the cellar long ago, leaving only a yawning opening 10 feet above a tangled13 pile of old timbers on the cellar floor below. And yet, Candy had sworn she had seen someone walk by an upstairs window. We explored the house more completely, now being VERY careful since we knew just how bad off the place really was. We didn’t find any second staircase, and there was no way to reach the second floor. Its a mystery that has remained unsolved, as in the middle of our exploration we heard the truck door slam outside, and we all beat a hasty retreat out the back so we wouldn’t get caught trespassing14.
 
I don't know if it was a ghost she saw, or if it were someone who could climb like an orangutan, but it's all a moot15 point now. That house was demolished16 only one year later, and a nice shiny new modern split-level was erected17 in its place. I wonder if the owners of that house have any late night visitors...
 
我家住在弗吉尼亚州郊外。信不信由你,我上高中的学校正好位于两个牧场之间的一块地地道道的庄稼地上。我是不大喜欢体育运动,但是有几个朋友在田径队练越野跑。
 
越野跑的路线是一段围绕着学校弯弯曲曲的路,还要穿过附近的牧场(当然,事先已经取得了主人的许可)。路线的一部分还要穿过一座非常大的农舍,已经废弃了很久,坐落在一座小山顶上,从那里可以俯瞰我们的学校。因为很久没有人住了,所以很自然地一直传说那里闹鬼,但是据我所知没人在那看见过什么,也没听到过什么特别的声音。那只不过是一座很大、很古老、有些神秘的遗弃了的房子。
 
有时,跑步的人见到有人在里面走来走去,但是谁都知道那就是房子的主人,因为他的卡车就停在大门口。大家也都知道他是用楼下的房间储存一些机器和剩下的干草。
 
讲到这里读者应该明白了,我的这个故事是与练越野跑的朋友有关的,下面我要说的是我和几个胆大的朋友某一天的发现…
 
她叫做坎迪,也是田径队的成员。但是她永远也成不了队里的明星,而且还总是被其他队员远远的落在后面。然而,她的积极性却从来没有减弱,一直留在队里训练、比赛。一天,像往常一样她又被大部队甩到后面很远,这时她一个人朝着山上的老房子艰难的跑过去。不经意间向上瞥了一眼,她看见有个人影透过楼上的窗户闪了一下。当时她没在意,以为又是房子主人在那了。直到没在以往的地方看见他的卡车,坎迪才觉得有点不对劲。
 
她就把这件事告诉了我们这些朋友,有些人就决定转天去看看究竟是怎么回事(正好第二天是星期六)。于是,星期六中午我们就在牧场集合去探险了。进去之后,我们发现其实这就是一所废弃了的农舍,空空的屋子(除了那些机器和甘草),踩上去咯吱咯吱的地板,一堆一堆潮湿的墙皮脱落下来,满地的啤酒瓶、烟蒂,还有墙上的涂鸦。随后我们走过起居室来到拐角处准备上楼,这时所有人都被眼前的景象惊呆了…#p#分页标题#e#
 
根本就没有楼梯!明显可以看出,很久以前楼梯就塌了,楼梯井足足有十英尺高,底下地窖的地板上摞着一堆不知道多少年了的老木头缠在一起。可是,坎迪发誓说她看见了有人从楼上的窗户走过。于是我们更仔细地继续搜索,每个人都很小心,因为大家都知道房子已经年久失修了。我们并没发现其他的楼梯,而且绝对不可能有办法到楼上去。肯定有秘密我们还没发现。我们正在搜寻的时候,听到外面卡车门砰的一声关上了,因为是擅自闯进来的,于是我们赶忙从后门出去了。
 
我不知道坎迪是不是看见了鬼,或者有人能像猩猩那样爬上楼去,总之一切都没有定论。一年后人们拆了老房子,随后一座漂亮的现代建筑矗立在那里。我就在想,新房子的主人会不会有夜半来客呢…


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 agrarian qKayI     
adj.土地的,农村的,农业的
参考例句:
  • People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
  • This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。
2 meandering 0ce7d94ddbd9f3712952aa87f4e44840     
蜿蜒的河流,漫步,聊天
参考例句:
  • The village seemed deserted except for small boys and a meandering donkey. 整个村子的人都像是逃光了,只留下了几个小男孩和一头正在游游荡荡的小毛驴。 来自教父部分
  • We often took a walk along the meandering river after supper. 晚饭后我们常沿着那条弯弯曲曲的小河散步。
3 farmhouse kt1zIk     
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房)
参考例句:
  • We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
  • We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。
4 crest raqyA     
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖
参考例句:
  • The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
  • He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。
5 rumors 2170bcd55c0e3844ecb4ef13fef29b01     
n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷
参考例句:
  • Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 poking poking     
n. 刺,戳,袋 vt. 拨开,刺,戳 vi. 戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢
参考例句:
  • He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
  • He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。
7 intrepid NaYzz     
adj.无畏的,刚毅的
参考例句:
  • He is not really satisfied with his intrepid action.他没有真正满意他的无畏行动。
  • John's intrepid personality made him a good choice for team leader.约翰勇敢的个性适合作领导工作。
8 trudged e830eb9ac9fd5a70bf67387e070a9616     
vt.& vi.跋涉,吃力地走(trudge的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • He trudged the last two miles to the town. 他步履艰难地走完最后两英里到了城里。
  • He trudged wearily along the path. 他沿着小路疲惫地走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
10 butts 3da5dac093efa65422cbb22af4588c65     
笑柄( butt的名词复数 ); (武器或工具的)粗大的一端; 屁股; 烟蒂
参考例句:
  • The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
  • The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。
11 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
12 collapsed cwWzSG     
adj.倒塌的
参考例句:
  • Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
  • The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。
13 tangled e487ee1bc1477d6c2828d91e94c01c6e     
adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了,我梳不动。
  • A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。
14 trespassing a72d55f5288c3d37c1e7833e78593f83     
[法]非法入侵
参考例句:
  • He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
  • Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。
15 moot x6Fza     
v.提出;adj.未决议的;n.大会;辩论会
参考例句:
  • The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point.那个在董事会上提出讨论的问题仍未决的。
  • The oil versus nuclear equation is largely moot.石油和核能之间的关系还很有争议。
16 demolished 3baad413d6d10093a39e09955dfbdfcb     
v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 );推翻;拆毁(尤指大建筑物);吃光
参考例句:
  • The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
  • They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来,为了不让拆除他们的房子,他们一直在进行最后的努力。
17 ERECTED ERECTED     
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立
参考例句:
  • A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
  • A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。
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