Chapter VI

VI. Arrival of the Female — A Terrible Combat —“Game Fellows Meet Here!”

LOOKING on his hapless victim, Tartarin’s first impulse was one of vexation. There is such a wide gap between a lion and poor Jack¹! His second feeling was one of pity. The poor bourriquot was so pretty and looked so kindly². The hide on his still warm sides heaved and fell like waves. Tartarin knelt down, and strove with the end of his Algerian sash to stanch³ the blood; and all you can imagine in the way of touchingness⁴ was offered by the picture of this great man tending this little ass⁵.

At the touch of the silky cloth the donkey, who had not twopennyworth of life in him, opened his large grey eye and winked⁶ his long ears two or three times, as much as to say, “Oh, thank you!” before a final spasm⁷ shook it from head to tail, whereafter it stirred no more.

“Noiraud! Blackey!” suddenly screamed a voice, choking with anguish⁸, as the branches in a thicket⁹ hard by moved at the same time.

Tartarin had no more than enough time to rise and stand upon guard. This was the female!

She rushed up, fearsome and roaring, under form of an old Alsatian woman, her hair in a kerchief, armed with large red umbrella, and calling for her ass, till all the echoes of Mustapha rang. It certainly would have been better for Tartarin to have had to deal with a lioness in fury than this old virago¹⁰. In vain did the luckless sportsman try to make her understand how the blunder had occurred, and he had mistaken “Noiraud” for a lion. The harridan¹¹ believed he was making fun of her, and uttering energetical “Der Teufels!” fell upon our hero to bang him with the gingham. A little bewildered, Tartarin defended himself as best he could, warding¹² off the blows with his rifle, streaming with perspiration¹³, panting, jumping about, and crying out:

“But, Madame, but”—

Much good his buts were! Madame was dull of hearing, and her blows continued hard as ever.

Fortunately a third party arrived on the battlefield, the Alsatian’s husband, of the same race; a roadside innkeeper, as well as a very good ready-reckoner, which was better. When he saw what kind of a customer he had to deal with — a slaughterer¹⁴ who only wanted to pay the value of his victim — he disarmed¹⁵ his better-half, and they came to an understanding.

Tartarin gave two hundred francs, the donkey being worth about ten — at least that is the current price in the Arab markets. Then poor Blackey was laid to rest at the root of a fig-tree, and the Alsatian, raised to joviality¹⁶ by the colour of the Tarascon ducats, invited the hero to have a quencher¹⁷ with him in his wine-shop, which stood only a few steps off on the edge of the highway. Every Sunday the sportsmen from the city came there to regale¹⁸ of a morning, for the plain abounded¹⁹ with game, and there was no better place for rabbits for two leagues around.

“How about lions?” inquired Tartarin.

The Alsatian stared at him, greatly astounded²⁰.

“Lions!”

“Yes, lions. Don’t you see them sometimes?” resumed the poor fellow, with less confidence.

The Boniface burst out in laughter.

“Ho, ho! bless us! lions! What would we do with lions here?”

“Are there, then, none in Algeria?”

“‘Pon my faith, I never saw any, albeit²¹ I have been twenty years in the colony. Still, I believe I have heard tell of such a thing — leastwise, I fancy the newspapers said — but that is ever so much farther inland — down South, you know”—

At this point they reached the hostelry, a suburban²² pothouse, with a withered²³ green bough²⁴ over the door, crossed billiard-cues painted on the wall, and this harmless sign over a picture of wild rabbits, feeding:

“GAME FELLOWS MEET HERE.”

“Game fellows!” It made Tartarin think of Captain Bravida.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

3 stanch   

v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的

参考例句：

• Cuttlebone can be used as a medicine to stanch bleeding.海螵蛸可以入药，用来止血。
• I thought it my duty to help stanch these leaks.我认为帮助堵塞漏洞是我的职责。

4 touchingness   

易动气，过分敏感

参考例句：

• "My touchiness about trifles, dear master and mistress." “都怪我太爱计较小事了，亲爱的主人主妇。”
• Many observers doubt that radical proposals are in the works, however, because of touchiness about sovereignty. 但是，许多观察人士指出，由于触及到敏感的主权问题，彻底的监管方案仍在讨论中。

5 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

6 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 spasm   

n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作

参考例句：

• When the spasm passed,it left him weak and sweating.一阵痉挛之后，他虚弱无力，一直冒汗。
• He kicked the chair in a spasm of impatience.他突然变得不耐烦，一脚踢向椅子。

8 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

9 thicket   

n.灌木丛，树林

参考例句：

• A thicket makes good cover for animals to hide in.丛林是动物的良好隐蔽处。
• We were now at the margin of the thicket.我们现在已经来到了丛林的边缘。

10 virago   

n.悍妇

参考例句：

• The virago vomited out curses on that tramp.那悍妇怒骂那流浪汉。
• His wife is a virago.他的妻子是母老虎。

11 harridan   

n.恶妇；丑老大婆

参考例句：

• She was a mean old harridan.她是个刻薄的老泼妇。
• Homer's epic is not just composed of harridan wives and brave men.荷马的史诗不是只有暴躁的妻子和勇敢的战士。

12 warding   

监护，守护（ward的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Magina channels a powerful warding magic damping the negative effects of spells. 敌法师用守护魔法来抵御负面法术的攻击。
• Indeed, warding off disruption is the principal property of complex systems. 的确，避免破损解体是复杂系统主要的属性。

13 perspiration   

n.汗水；出汗

参考例句：

• It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了，我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
• The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。

14 slaughterer   

屠夫，刽子手

参考例句：

15 disarmed   

v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。
• The swordsman disarmed his opponent and ran him through. 剑客缴了对手的械，并对其乱刺一气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 joviality   

n.快活

参考例句：

• However, there is an air of joviality in the sugar camps. 然而炼糖营房里却充满着热气腾腾的欢乐气氛。 来自辞典例句
• Immediately he noticed the joviality of Stane's manner. 他随即注意到史丹兴高采烈的神情。 来自辞典例句

17 quencher   

淬火，骤冷； 猝灭

参考例句：

• Conclusion AAQ-2 was proven to be a suitable quencher of ascorbic acid in clinical samples. 结论非酶类物质AAQ-2可消除抗坏血酸对尿酸测定的干扰。

18 regale   

v.取悦，款待

参考例句：

• He was constantly regaled with tales of woe.别人老是给他讲些倒霉事儿来逗他开心。
• He loved to regale his friends with tales about the many memorable characters he had known as a newspaperman.他喜欢讲些他当记者时认识的许多名人的故事给朋友们消遣。

19 abounded   

v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Get-rich-quick schemes abounded, and many people lost their savings. “生财之道”遍地皆是，然而许多人一生积攒下来的钱转眼之间付之东流。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Shoppers thronged the sidewalks. Olivedrab and navy-blue uniforms abounded. 人行道上逛商店的人摩肩接踵，身着草绿色和海军蓝军装的军人比比皆是。 来自辞典例句

20 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

21 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

22 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

23 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

24 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。