Folk Tale

时间：2014-11-24 05:59:26

（单词翻译:单击）

Folk Tale
Chelsea Woodard
               for Nonny Hogrogian
 
 
In the story, I remember a hungry young fox 
         rendered in pastels. He has stolen 
 from a strict-mannered woman in town, his tail's been cut off, his lot 
         cast to repay her: stomach still swollen 
 
with her Guernsey cow's milk, his head hung 
         as he trudges1 the sad route she has mapped 
 for him. In the story, I remember bright sun 
         glaring, the fox hunched2 and tailless, his tongue lolling, lapping 
 
at air, his shame-path dry and sorrowful. 
         And reading, I knew the author had lived 
 in our house -- rust-colored shutters3, fall- 
         wormed, rattling4 rose hips5, frost, pewter-halled air. 
 
And in the book, every page held a trade: a pail 
         bartered for rare, lazuli beads6, a brown-speckled egg 
 for milled grain, straw for the mule7 pulling 
         the plow8. And I knew that each time, the fox had begged 
 
for their pity -- a sack of clean down, a gold coin, a gift -- 
         and that he'd at last made it back, the cold pail 
 handle clenched9 in his teeth, milk sloshing the step 
         of the stern woman's house. And I pictured the blood-matted tail 
 
handed back to him, dragged over our slab-granite walk, 
         smelled the freezing ground 
 swelling -- stumbled with apples, damp now, half rotten -- 
         the author's fingers rust-smudged from the work, 
 
mine smeared10 with the chalk dust we found 
         decades later on baseboards and rimed sills of doors -- 
 the fine powder set into skin, each tenuous11 history 
         heart-learned, unwritten.

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1 trudges 5a4935627dc4006e86ed723c446d7ad3     
n.跋涉，长途疲劳的步行( trudge的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • She trudges, schlepps, trains, drags, trascines her load. 她吃力地跋涉，schlepps、trains、drags、trascines重荷。 来自互联网
  • Matvey, who has not tasted food or drink all day, trudges up the hill again. 玛特威从一大早起就什么也没吃过，什么也没喝过，这时候却又爬上坡去。 来自互联网
2 hunched 532924f1646c4c5850b7c607069be416     
（常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的
参考例句：
  • He sat with his shoulders hunched up. 他耸起双肩坐着。
  • Stephen hunched down to light a cigarette. 斯蒂芬弓着身子点燃一支烟。
3 shutters 74d48a88b636ca064333022eb3458e1f     
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门
参考例句：
  • The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
  • The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。
4 rattling 7b0e25ab43c3cc912945aafbb80e7dfd     
adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词
参考例句：
  • This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
  • At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。
5 hips f8c80f9a170ee6ab52ed1e87054f32d4     
abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的
参考例句：
  • She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
  • They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 beads 894701f6859a9d5c3c045fd6f355dbf5     
n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链
参考例句：
  • a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
  • Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。
7 mule G6RzI     
n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人
参考例句：
  • A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
  • He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。
8 plow eu5yE     
n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough
参考例句：
  • At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
  • We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。
9 clenched clenched     
v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
  • She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 smeared c767e97773b70cc726f08526efd20e83     
弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上
参考例句：
  • The children had smeared mud on the walls. 那几个孩子往墙上抹了泥巴。
  • A few words were smeared. 有写字被涂模糊了。
11 tenuous PIDz8     
adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的
参考例句：
  • He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
  • The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

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