5 The Terrible Tractors 可怕的挖掘机

5 The Terrible Tractors
As the sun rose the next morning, Boggis and Bunce and Bean were still digging. They had dug ahole so deep you could have put a house into it. But they had not yet come to the end of the foxes’
tunnel. They were all very tired and cross.
‘Dang and blast!’ said Boggis. ‘Whose rotten idea was this?’
‘Bean’s idea,’ said Bunce.
Boggis and Bunce both stared at Bean. Bean took another swig of cider, then put the flask¹ backinto his pocket without offering it to the others. ‘Listen,’ he said angrily, ‘I want that fox! I’m goingto get that fox! I’m not giving in till I’ve strung him up over my front porch, dead as a dumpling!’
‘We can’t get him by digging, that’s for sure,’ said the fat Boggis. ‘I’ve had enough of digging.’
Bunce, the little pot-bellied dwarf², looked up at Bean and said, ‘Have you got any more stupidideas, then?’
‘What?’ said Bean. ‘I can’t hear you.’ Bean never took a bath. He never even washed. As a result,his earholes were clogged³ with all kinds of muck and wax and bits of chewing-gum and dead fliesand stuff like that. This made him deaf. ‘Speak louder,’ he said to Bunce, and Bunce shouted back,‘Got any more stupid ideas?’
Bean rubbed the back of his neck with a dirty finger. He had a boil coming there and it itched⁴.
‘What we need on this job,’ he said, ‘is machines . . . mechanical shovels⁵. We’ll have him out in fiveminutes with mechanical shovels.’
This was a pretty good idea and the other two had to admit it.
‘All right then,’ Bean said, taking charge. ‘Boggis, you stay here and see the fox doesn’t escape.
Bunce and I will go and fetch our machinery⁶. If he tries to get out, shoot him quick.’
The long, thin Bean walked away. The tiny Bunce trotted⁷ after him. The fat Boggis stayed wherehe was with his gun pointing at the fox-hole.
Soon, two enormous caterpillar⁸ tractors with mechanical shovels on their front ends came clankinginto the wood. Bean was driving one. Bunce the other. The machines were both black. They weremurderous, brutal-looking monsters.
‘Here we go, then!’ shouted Bean.
‘Death to the fox!’ shouted Bunce.
The machines went to work, biting huge mouthfuls of soil out of the hill. The big tree under whichMr Fox had dug his hole in the first place was toppled like a matchstick. On all sides, rocks were sentflying and trees were falling and the noise was deafening⁹.
Down in the tunnel the foxes crouched¹⁰, listening to the terrible clanging and banging overhead.
‘What’s happening, Dad?’ cried the Small Foxes. ‘What are they doing?’
Mr Fox didn’t know what was happening or what they were doing.
‘It’s an earthquake!’ cried Mrs Fox.
‘Look!’ said one of the Small Foxes. ‘Our tunnel’s got shorter! I can see daylight!’
They all looked round, and yes, the mouth of the tunnel was only a few feet away from them now,and in the circle of daylight beyond they could see the two huge black tractors almost on top of them.
‘Tractors!’ shouted Mr Fox. ‘And mechanical shovels! Dig for your lives! Dig, dig, dig!’


5　可怕的挖掘机
第二天早晨太阳升起来的时候，博吉斯、邦斯和比恩还在继续挖着。他们已经挖了一个很深的洞，你简直可以把一座房子放进去，但是他们仍然没有挖到狐狸洞的尽头。他们一个个筋疲力尽，气得要命。
“他妈的真该死！”博吉斯说道，“这是谁出的馊主意？”
“比恩的主意。”邦斯说道。
博吉斯和邦斯两人都瞪着比恩。比恩又喝了一大口苹果酒，然后把酒瓶子装进口袋里，没有递给他俩喝。“听着，”他气愤地说，“我要逮住那只狐狸！我打算抓住那只狐狸。不把他弄死，像一团肉似的挂在我的前门廊上，我是不会善罢甘休的！”
“我们这样挖是抓不着他的，这是肯定的，”胖子博吉斯说道，“我已经挖够了。”
大腹便便的小矮个邦斯抬头看着比恩，说：“那么你还有什么蠢主意吗？”
“什么？”比恩说道，“我听不见你说的话。”比恩从来也没洗过澡。他甚至连哪儿都没洗过。因此，他的耳朵孔被各种各样像耳屎、污垢以及口香糖和死苍蝇之类的脏东西堵塞了，这样他就成了聋子。“大声说！”他对邦斯说道，于是邦斯大喊着回答：“还有什么蠢主意吗？”
比恩用一根脏手指头挠了挠后颈。他那儿起了一个发痒的疖子。“就这个活儿来说，”他说道，“我们需要机器……挖掘机。我们用挖掘机五分钟就能把他挖出来。”
这是一个相当好的主意，其他两位只好接受。
“那好吧。”比恩开始负起责来，说，“博吉斯，你留在这里，看着别让狐狸跑了。邦斯和我去把我们的挖掘机开来。他要是设法跑出来，你就赶快向他开枪。”
又高又瘦的比恩走了。小矮个邦斯一路小跑着紧随其后。大胖子博吉斯留在原地没动，手里端着枪对着狐狸的洞口。
不久，两台前边带有机械铲的大型履带式挖掘机轰轰隆隆地开进了树林。比恩开着一台，邦斯开着另一台。两台挖掘机都是黑色的。它们看上去就像凶残的杀人怪兽。
“那么，我们就开始了！”比恩喊道。
“那狐狸死定了！”邦斯喊道。
挖掘机开始工作，从小山上大口大口地啃噬着泥土。狐狸先生刚开始挖洞的那个位置的上方有一棵大树，现在那棵树已经像一根火柴杆似的倒下了。碎石向四面八方飞溅，树木纷纷倒落，噪声震耳欲聋。
狐狸们趴在地下的隧道里，倾听着上面轰轰隆隆和砰砰的响声。“爸爸，出什么事了？”小狐狸们大叫道，“他们在干什么？”
狐狸先生不知道出了什么事，或者说不知道他们在干什么。
“是地震了！”狐狸太太大声说。
“看！”其中一个小狐狸说，“我们的洞变短了！我能看见亮光了！”
他们都向四周望去，是的，现在洞口离他们只有几英尺远了，在远处的一圈光亮中，他们可以看到那两台巨大的黑色挖掘机几乎就在他们的头顶上。
“挖掘机！”狐狸先生叫道，“还有机械铲！快拼命挖呀！挖呀，挖呀，挖呀！”

1 flask   

n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱

参考例句：

• There is some deposit in the bottom of the flask.这只烧杯的底部有些沉淀物。
• He took out a metal flask from a canvas bag.他从帆布包里拿出一个金属瓶子。

2 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

3 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

4 itched   

v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Seeing the children playing ping-pong, he itched to have a go. 他看到孩子们打乒乓，不觉技痒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He could hardly sIt'still and itched to have a go. 他再也坐不住了，心里跃跃欲试。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

6 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

7 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

8 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

9 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

10 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。