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  3. The orphanage is high in the Carolina mountains. Sometimes in winter the snowdrifts are so deep that the institution is cut off

The orphanage is high in the Carolina mountains. Sometimes in winter the snowdrifts are so deep that the institution is cut off

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问题     The orphanage is high in the Carolina mountains. Sometimes in winter the snowdrifts are so deep that the institution is cut off from the village below, from all the world. Fog hides the mountain peaks, the snow swirls down the valleys and a wind blows so bitterly that the orphanage boys who take the milk twice daily to the baby cottage reach the door with fingers stiff in an agony of numbness.
    I was there in the autumn. I wanted quiet, isolation, to do some troublesome writing. I wanted mountain air to blow out the malaria from too long a time in the subtropics. I was homesick, too, for the flaming of maples in October, and for corn shocks and pumpkins and black-walnut trees and the lift of hills. I found them all, living in a cabin that belonged to the orphanage, half a mile beyond the orphanage farm. When I took the cabin, I asked for a boy or man to come and chop wood for the fireplace. The first few days were warm; I found what wood I needed about the cabin; no one came, and I forgot the order.
    I looked up from my typewriter one late afternoon, a little startled. A boy stood at the door, and my pointer dog, my companion, was at his side and had not barked to warn me. The boy was probably twelve years old, but undersized. He wore overalls and a torn shirt, and was barefooted.
    He said: "I can chop some wood today."
    I said: "But I have a boy coming from the orphanage."
    "I’m the boy."
    "You? But you’re small."
    "Size don’t matter, chopping wood," he said. "Some of the big boys don’t chop good. I’ve been chopping wood at the orphanage a long time."
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答案 在卡罗来纳的山地里，有一座孤儿院坐落在高处。隆冬时节，风雪交加，有时候积雪堆得老高，将孤儿院与山下的村庄乃至整个外界完全隔断。云雾遮蔽了重重峰峦，雪花飞旋着冲入山谷。在呼啸的寒风中，孤儿院的男孩们将一份份牛奶端到育婴房去，一天得跑两趟呢。当他们走到育婴房门口的时候，手指冻得僵硬，一点儿都不听使唤了。 我秋天就到了那里。我需要安静，与世隔绝，好从事艰辛的创作。我需要山里的清风，把久居亚热带地区染上的疟疾吹散。我还想起家来，老惦记着十月间的枫叶似火，那一垛垛玉米秫秸，南瓜成堆，黑胡桃林子，还有隆起的山丘。我住在孤儿院的一间小屋里，距院农场有半英里，这一切尽收眼底。我住进去的时候，要求派个男孩或者男人帮我劈柴火烧壁炉。头几天还算暖和，我在小屋的四周捡了点木柴，没见人来，也就把这话给忘了。 一个傍晚，我正在打字，猛抬头不禁吃了一惊：有个男孩站在房门口，而跟我做伴的猎狗竟在他身边默默呆着，连个招呼也不跟我打一声。这孩子大概有12岁，不过个子没那么大。他穿着一条工装裤，一件破旧的衬衣，光着两脚。 他说： “我今天可以劈点儿木柴。” 我说： “可我请了孤儿院的孩子来劈。” “我就是。” “是你?可你还小呢。” “劈柴禾可不论个头儿，”他说。“有的大孩子还劈不好呢。我在孤儿院劈了好一阵儿了。”
解析     作者玛乔里-金南-罗林斯(Majorie Kinnan Rawlings，1896～1953)曾以小说《小动物》(The Yearling)获1938年普利策文学奖。本篇原题《妈妈住在曼菲尔》，约于30年代发表，以首篇收入《20篇名作——美国优秀短篇小说集》(Twenty Grand：Great American Short Stories)。故事描写孤儿杰里4岁时便被送到孤儿院，他渴望和一般的孩子一样得到母爱，因此，一直想象自己有个“住在曼菲尔的妈妈”。作者素以描写儿童的心理见长，文笔清新、细腻．语言朴实、流畅。
institution：指“(教育、慈善、宗教性质的)社会公共机构”。譬如，A church．school，university,hospital，asylum，or prison is an institution．(教堂、学校、大学、医院、收容所或监狱等皆属公共机构。)，此处原文为了避免重复，使用“institution”代替“orphanage”，翻译成中文时，可直接译出——孤儿院。
Fog hides the mountain peaks…in an agony ofnumbness：英语可以写出非常漂亮的长句，但译成汉语时，宜将长句分成几个短句，以避免句子不通顺或出现欧化的汉语长句。请对照参考译文。
troublesome：区分这个单词的两个含义——(1)令人烦恼的，令人讨厌的；(2)棘手的，困难的。譬如，“Her stammer is very troublesome for her．(她的口吃令她很苦恼。)／a troublesome state of affairs(棘手的事态)”。文中是形容主人公感到写作的困难。
flaming：通常指“燃烧的；灼热的”，引申为“火焰似的；火红的；热情的；激烈的”。譬如，“a flaming July(酷暑)／the flaming sunset(日落时的火红色天空)／flaming youth(热血青年)／flaming anger(怒火)”。文中形象地描绘了枫树长得旺盛，枫叶红似火。
coln shock：(为晒干等目的直立于地面的)禾束堆。
lift：意为“(地面的)隆起，上升”。
beyond：指空间时，意为“在……的那一边；向……的那一边；远于”。譬如，  “a village beyond the river(河流那边的村子)／There is peak beyond peak．(层峦叠嶂。)
／look beyond one’s staff for counsel(在自己的工作班子以外寻求咨询意见)”。文中指小屋离开孤儿院农场有半英里的路程。
about：此处当介词用，表示“在……周围，在……各处”。譬如，“gather about the table(围桌而坐)／They are about his path continually．(他们老是在他身边打转。)／cottage dotted about the fields(田野上星罗棋布的农舍)”。
pointer dog：(会示意指出猎物位置的)猎犬。如果是第一次碰到这样的词组，也没有关系，可以通过阅读下文，推测这条狗应该是可以保护主人的猎狗。
overalls：复数形式，表示“工装裤”。
Size don’t…don’t chop good：接受过正规教育的学生理应熟练掌握英语语法。比如，第三人称单数、副词修饰名词。正确的表达方式为：Size doesn’t matter…don’t chop well．”作者的写作手法很巧妙，小男孩的只言片语就将他生活的艰辛与悲苦表现得淋漓尽致。
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