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As he shambled down the hill other sensations besides that of hunger began to manifest themselves. He realized that he was approaching the domains11 of the Fire Demon12. The atmosphere grew warmer, which troubled him a little. Then as he got further down the hillside he found clouds of white steam swirling13 about on the wind. These struck fear to his heart. Smoke or steam were agents of the Fire Demon and to be avoided. He paused in his hurry and wondered whether it was safe to go further. But still the intoxicating14 odor assailed15 him and urged him on. He crouched16 beside a big rock and watched with eager eyes the progress of the wolf cubs who were making their way through the steamy mist with caution. Yet they kept on, and the hairy boy seeing that nothing had yet happened to them screwed up his courage and followed after them, always watchful17 and alert.
The fog grew thicker. Ahead he seemed to hear a soft hissing18 sound. There was an occasional subterranean19 rumble20 too. This made cold chills race up and down his spine21 and the hair between his shoulders began to bristle22, a sign that fear was making him ready for fight. He stopped now and crouched irresolutely23 beside a stone for[12] a long time, so long that the wolf cubs became lost to him in the mist. He debated in his slow brain whether he should go on or turn back. Thinking was a hard process for him. It took him a long time to come to a decision. Presently, however, he found himself reasoning thus: he was hungry, near to starving; he was foodless now because the wolf cubs were gone, but they had gone on into the mist and until he had lost sight of them nothing had happened to them. If nothing had happened to them perhaps it was safe for him to go on,—then too that enchanting24 odor was strong, very strong. That in the end mastered his fears and he pushed on.
Deeper and deeper into that mysterious and awesome25 steam blanket he penetrated26, his courage screwed up to its highest notch27. He felt he was very brave; indeed he knew he was most brave for he knew that none of the other hairy people would dare venture so far into the domains of the terrible Fire Demon. But then he had the example of the wolf-dog cubs, his terrific hunger and that overpowering odor to carry him on. Presently he discovered that the ground was quite warm even to his feet that had protective pads of callous28 skin nearly an inch thick. Some of the rocks were[13] hot. He stepped on one, and with a grunt29 of surprise jumped aside. Had one of the Fire Demon’s evil spirits bitten him! That burn took a great deal of courage out of him and it was some time before he could force himself to go on. When he did start forward he avoided every stone and trod the ground with care.
Suddenly through the mist he heard a sharp yelp30. It was one of the wolf-dog cubs. The hairy boy knew their language. This was the yelp of one cub1 driving the other away from something to eat. The boy rushed forward determined31 that if there was food to be had he wanted it before the cubs devoured32 it. A moment later he saw a body prone33 on the ground. One of the wolf cubs was standing34 on it and tearing great strips of flesh from it which it devoured with great gusto. But there were other forms on the ground. The hairy boy saw them everywhere. A band of horses had been caught in the valley by the eruption35 of the volcano and killed by the terrific heat. They were little horses with thin legs that ended in three toed feet.
With a cry of joy the all but famished boy hurried forward for he recognized in the dead horses a treat that rarely fell to the hairy people. It was[14] only by means of the greatest skill in hunting and the concerted effort of the whole colony that one of these horses, veritable antelopes36, was ever killed or captured, and when this happened the whole colony had a feast for the flesh was the most desirable meat attainable37 then.
But when the boy reached the nearest of the band of dead horses he stopped and fear showed in his eyes. The horse was dead, smitten38 by the hand of the Fire Demon. Its flesh and hide looked far different from that of any horse he had ever seen. Something had happened. But whatever that something was the hairy boy knew it was also responsible for that delectable39 odor that he had trailed down the hillside. He could not understand that the horse, in fact all of the horses of the band, for there were several hundred scattered40 about, had been killed by the intense heat of the lava41 and roasted to a turn.
He circled the first horse suspiciously and looked it over thoroughly42. It was the one on the top of which the wolf-dog cub was standing and tearing away luscious43 morsels44. The boy watched the cub. It ate and ate like a veritable glutton45, yet nothing strange or out of the ordinary seemed to happen to it. The feast of the cub and the odor[15] of roasted horse were too much for him. He approached the carcass and reached over to where the cub was feasting. The cub growled46 and snarled47 at him. This made the hairy boy angry and he cuffed48 it so hard that he knocked it to the ground. Then he tore off a strip of flesh that the cub had been chewing at and tasted it.
Never in all his life had anything passed his lips that gave him greater pleasure. Horse meat had always seemed wonderful but this horse meat upon which the hand of the Fire Demon had been laid was beyond anything he had ever tasted. Fear, superstition49 and all else were dominated by his overpowering hunger and he crouched beside the cooked horse and glutted50 himself; indeed even when his paunch was distended51 so that his hairy skin was tight, he still pulled off shreds52 of meat and chewed on them. And as he sat there he felt very comfortable and very happy despite the fact that steam clouds swirled53 about him. At this he wondered and as he wondered his primitive54 brain began to reason.
It was a long slow process then and very hard. Sometimes when his reasoning got too deep or too complex he found his thoughts wandering and it was always with an effort that he brought his[16] mind back to the problem of why he was so comfortable. In doing this the hairy boy was perhaps the first of us humans to mentally discipline himself and solve a problem. There were only a few thinkers among the hairy people and their thoughts did not go beyond the making of a stone hammer. They could not even think to the point of providing clothing to help keep themselves warm.
But gradually the hairy boy worked it out. Heat was the reason for his comfortable feeling. The atmosphere was delightfully55 warm, the ground was warm; so wonderfully warm that he stretched himself at full length upon it. The food he had eaten was warm. Assuredly heat was the reason. The only warmth he had ever known was the warmth of the sun, but never had he been able to get as close to real warmth as here. And only occasionally of late years was the sun so warm as the old men of the colony said it used to be, while the cold had gone on year after year being more bitter until the hair of the hairy folk grew thicker and thicker. The boy did not know that a great change was in process; that the earth’s axis56 had swung slowly out of position and that year after year the great ice caps about the poles were[17] edging their way toward the equator and that centuries later great glaciers57 would cover the land miles deep with ice. Neither did he know that the volcanic58 eruption he had witnessed was a forerunner59 of this great change.
He did know though that the nights were very cold and that the days were not the tropical days the old and weazened hairy men told about and as he lay there prone on the warm earth struggling with this new found power of reason, he wondered after all whether the Fire Demon was the fearsome thing the hairy people believed it to be. Here was good that it gave him: the good of warm food, warm air, warm ground to put his back against—yet, and he realized it with a shudder60, here were these hundreds of dead horses on which he and the wolf-dog cubs had feasted, mute testimony61 of the wrath62 of the Fire Demon. Why was it that one who possessed63 so much good could be so fearful? Why was it—but here the problem became too perplexing for even the hairy boy and, being full of stomach and warm of body, he fell asleep, probably the first human being to sleep prone and lying on his back.
And as he slept the wolf cubs, seeing strange shapes in the swirling steam clouds, and hearing[18] strange guttural sounds as of huge animals eating, searched him out and crept closer to him. They were frightened at these menacing apparitions64, and being motherless they looked to the hairy boy for protection, for somehow they felt that it was his presence that had kept them safe from harm up there on the hillside under the cliff.
点击收听单词发音
1 cub | |
n.幼兽,年轻无经验的人 | |
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2 cubs | |
n.幼小的兽,不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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3 famished | |
adj.饥饿的 | |
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4 scrambling | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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5 ledge | |
n.壁架,架状突出物;岩架,岩礁 | |
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6 remarkably | |
ad.不同寻常地,相当地 | |
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7 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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8 clenched | |
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 knuckles | |
n.(指人)指关节( knuckle的名词复数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝v.(指人)指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 );(指动物)膝关节,踝 | |
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10 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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11 domains | |
n.范围( domain的名词复数 );领域;版图;地产 | |
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12 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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13 swirling | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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14 intoxicating | |
a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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15 assailed | |
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
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16 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 watchful | |
adj.注意的,警惕的 | |
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18 hissing | |
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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19 subterranean | |
adj.地下的,地表下的 | |
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20 rumble | |
n.隆隆声;吵嚷;v.隆隆响;低沉地说 | |
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21 spine | |
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊 | |
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22 bristle | |
v.(毛发)直立,气势汹汹,发怒;n.硬毛发 | |
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23 irresolutely | |
adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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24 enchanting | |
a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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25 awesome | |
adj.令人惊叹的,难得吓人的,很好的 | |
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26 penetrated | |
adj. 击穿的,鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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27 notch | |
n.(V字形)槽口,缺口,等级 | |
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28 callous | |
adj.无情的,冷淡的,硬结的,起老茧的 | |
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29 grunt | |
v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
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30 yelp | |
vi.狗吠 | |
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31 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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32 devoured | |
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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33 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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34 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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35 eruption | |
n.火山爆发;(战争等)爆发;(疾病等)发作 | |
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36 antelopes | |
羚羊( antelope的名词复数 ); 羚羊皮革 | |
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37 attainable | |
a.可达到的,可获得的 | |
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38 smitten | |
猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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39 delectable | |
adj.使人愉快的;美味的 | |
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40 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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41 lava | |
n.熔岩,火山岩 | |
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42 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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43 luscious | |
adj.美味的;芬芳的;肉感的,引与性欲的 | |
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44 morsels | |
n.一口( morsel的名词复数 );(尤指食物)小块,碎屑 | |
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45 glutton | |
n.贪食者,好食者 | |
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46 growled | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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47 snarled | |
v.(指狗)吠,嗥叫, (人)咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 );咆哮着说,厉声地说 | |
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48 cuffed | |
v.掌打,拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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50 glutted | |
v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 );(对胃口、欲望等)纵情满足;使厌腻;塞满 | |
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51 distended | |
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52 shreds | |
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件) | |
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53 swirled | |
v.旋转,打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54 primitive | |
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物 | |
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55 delightfully | |
大喜,欣然 | |
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56 axis | |
n.轴,轴线,中心线;坐标轴,基准线 | |
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57 glaciers | |
冰河,冰川( glacier的名词复数 ) | |
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58 volcanic | |
adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 | |
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59 forerunner | |
n.前身,先驱(者),预兆,祖先 | |
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60 shudder | |
v.战粟,震动,剧烈地摇晃;n.战粟,抖动 | |
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61 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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62 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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63 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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64 apparitions | |
n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 );幽灵;鬼;(特异景象等的)出现 | |
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