CHAPTER 3

 Deep in among the trees was a place that belonged to Bambi’s mother. It lay only a few steps from the narrow path used by the deer as they made their way through the wood but it was nearly impossible to find for anyone who did not know where the little gap¹ through the dense² bushes was.

 

It was only a narrow space, so narrow that it only just had room for Bambi and his mother to fit in, and it was so low that when Bambi’s mother stood up her head would be in among the twigs³ and branches. Hazel bushes, gorse and dogwood all grew here tangled⁴ in among each other and the little sunlight that came down through the forest canopy⁵ would be caught by them so that it never reached as far as the ground. This was the room where Bambi came into the world and this was where he and his mother made their home.

 

Now, his mother lay asleep, pressed down on the ground. Bambi had slept a little too, but now he had become quite lively. He stood up and looked around.

 

Here, deep in the woods, it was shadowy, it was almost dark. The wood could be heard gently rustling⁶ and soughing. Here and there the tits chirruped, here and there was the bright laughter of a woodpecker or the cheerless bark of a crow. All else, near and far, was quiet. Only the air became warm in the heat of midday, and even that could be heard if you listened carefully. Here in the woods it was humid and sweltering.

 

Bambi looked down at his mother. “Are you asleep?”

 

No, his mother was not sleeping. She had woken up straight away when Bambi had stood up.

 

“What are we going to do now?” Bambi asked.

 

“Nothing,” his mother answered. “We’re going to stay where we are. Just lie down, like a good child, and go to sleep.”

 

But Bambi did not feel like sleeping. “Come on,” he begged. “Let’s go onto the meadow⁷.”

 

His mother raised her head. “To the meadow? Now ... to the meadow ...?” She sounded so astonished and so full of alarm that Bambi became quite frightened.

 

“Can’t we go to the meadow now, then?” he asked shyly.

 

“No,” came his mother’s answer, and it sounded quite conclusive⁸. “No, that isn’t possible right now.”

 

“Why not? asked Bambi as he became aware that there was something very strange going on here. He became more afraid, but at the same time he felt the urge to learn about everything. “Why can’t we go onto the meadow now?”

 

“You’ll learn about all that later, when you’re a bit older ...,” his mother reassured⁹ him.

 

Bambi was insistent¹⁰. “Why won’t you tell me now?”

 

“Later,” his mother repeated. “You’re still just a little child,” she continued gently, “and you don’t talk about things like this with little children.” She had become very serious. “Now ... on the meadow ... I just don’t want to think of it. In broad daylight ...!”

 

“But when we went on the meadow,” Bambi objected, “it was broad daylight then, too.”

 

“That was different,” his mother explained, “that was early in the morning.”

 

“Can you only go there early in the morning then?” Bambi had become too inquisitive¹¹.

 

His mother remained patient. “Only early in the morning or late in the evening ... or at night ...”

 

“And not in the daytime? Never ...?”

 

His mother hesitated. “Yes,” she said at last, “sometimes ... there are some of us who go out there in the daytime too, sometimes. But that’s under special conditions, ... I can’t really explain it to you, ... you’re still too little, ... some go out there, but then they put themselves in great danger ...”

 

“What is it that’s dangerous for them?” By now, Bambi was very excited.

 

But his mother did not want to explain it straight away. “They are in danger ... listen, my child, these are things that you won’t be able to grasp yet.

 

Bambi thought he would be able to understand anything, but he could not understand why his mother did not want to give him more details. But he said nothing.

 

“This is the way we have to live,” his mother went on, “all of us. Even if we love the daytime ... and children are especially fond of the daytime ... we have to live like this, we just have to accept it. We can only move about from the evening until the morning. Can you understand that?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Now, my child, that’s why we have to stay here, where we are now. This is where we’re safe. That’s all there is to it! So now, lie down again and go to sleep.”

 

But Bambi did not want to lie down again. “What makes us safe where we are now?” he asked.

 

“Because all the bushes are watching over us, because the twigs on the bushes rustle¹², because the rough brushwood on the ground cracks and gives us warning, because the dead leaves from last year lie on the ground and rustle to give us a sign, ... because the jays are there, the magpies¹³ too, they keep watch over us, and that’s how we know there’s somebody coming a long time before they reach us ...”

 

“What’s that,” Bambi enquired¹⁴, “the dead leaves from last year?”

 

“Come and sit beside me,” said his mother. “I’ll tell you all about it.” Bambi gladly went and sat beside her and snuggled in close while she explained to him that the trees do not stay green all the time, that the sunshine and the lovely warmth go away. Then it gets cold, the leaves turn yellow because of the frost, they go brown and red and, one by one, they fall off the trees so that they and the bushes reach their naked¹⁵ branches to the sky and look completely forlorn. But the dead leaves lie on the ground, and when they’re disturbed by somebody’s foot they rustle: There’s someone coming! Oh they’re very good, these dead leaves from last year. They do us a good service by being so eager and by keeping watch the way they do. And now, in the middle of summer, there are still lots of them hidden under the things growing on the ground and they warn about any danger long before it gets near.

 

Bambi pressed close against his mother. He forgot all about the meadow. It was so cosy¹⁶ to sit here and listen to what his mother told him.

 

Then, when his mother stopped speaking, he thought about what she had said. He thought it was very nice of the good, old leaves to watch over them so carefully even though they were dead and had been frozen¹⁷ and had gone through so many things already. He tried to think what that danger, that his mother kept talking about, could actually be. But all that thinking tired him out; it was all quiet around him, all you could hear was the heat of the air. And he went to sleep.

1 gap   

n.缺口；间隔；差距；不足，缺陷

参考例句：

• We must see that there is no gap in our defence.我们必须确保我们的防御没有漏洞。
• There is a gap of five miles between towns.镇与镇之间相隔五英里。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 twigs   

细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
• Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。

4 tangled   

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。

5 canopy   

n.天篷，遮篷

参考例句：

• The trees formed a leafy canopy above their heads.树木在他们头顶上空形成了一个枝叶茂盛的遮篷。
• They lay down under a canopy of stars.他们躺在繁星点点的天幕下。

6 rustling   

n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的

参考例句：

• the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
• the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声

7 meadow   

n.草地，牧草地

参考例句：

• The children ran free across the meadow.孩子们在草地里自由地奔跑。
• The meadow is peopled with wild flowers.草地长满了野花。

8 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

9 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。

11 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

12 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

13 magpies   

喜鹊（magpie的复数形式）

参考例句：

• They set forth chattering like magpies. 他们叽叽喳喳地出发了。
• James: besides, we can take some pied magpies home, for BBQ. 此外，我们还可以打些喜鹊回家，用来烧烤。

14 enquired   

打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问

参考例句：

• He enquired for the book in a bookstore. 他在书店查询那本书。
• Fauchery jestingly enquired whether the Minister was coming too. 浮式瑞嘲笑着问部长是否也会来。

15 naked   

adj.裸露的；赤裸裸的，无遮蔽的

参考例句：

• To the east of our school,there's a naked hillside.我们学校东边有片光秃秃的山坡。
• The children stripped off their clothes and swam naked in the river.孩子们脱得光溜溜的在河里游泳。

16 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。

17 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。