大学体验英语(第三版)课文原文及翻译

Frog Story蛙的故事

A couple of odd things have happened lately.最近发生了几桩怪事儿。

I have a log cabin in those woods of Northern Wisconsin.I built it by hand and also added a greenho use to the front of it.It is a joy to live in.In fact,I work out of my home doing audio production and en vironmental work.As a tool of that trade I have a computer and a studio.我在北威斯康星州的树林中有一座小木屋。是我亲手搭建的，前面还有一间花房。住在里面相当惬意。实际上我是在户外做音频制作和环境方面的工作——作为干这一行的工具，我还装备了一间带电脑的工作室。

I also have a tree frog that has taken up residence in my studio.还有一只树蛙也在我的工作室中住了下来。

How odd,I thought,last November when I first noticed him sitting atop my sound-

board over my computer.I figured that he(and I say he,though I really don’t have a clue if she is a he or vice versa)would be more comfortable in the greenhouse.So I put him in the greenhouse.Back he ca me.And stayed.After a while I got quite used to the fact that as I would check my morning email and online news,he would be there with me surveying the world.去年十一月，我第一次惊讶地发现他（只是这样称呼罢了，事实上我并不知道该称“他”还是“她”）坐在电脑的音箱上。我把他放到花房里去，认为他待在那儿会更舒服一些。可他又跑回来待在原地。很快我就习惯了有他做伴，清晨我上网查收邮件和阅读新闻的时候，他也在一旁关注这个世界。

Then,last week,as he was climbing around looking like a small gray/green human,I started to won der about him.可上周，我突然对这个爬上爬下的“小绿人或小灰人”产生了好奇心。

So,there I was,working in my studio and my computer was humming along.I had to stop when Tree Frog went across my view.He stopped and turned around and just sat there looking at me.Well,I sat b ack and looked at him.For five months now he had been riding there with me and I was suddenly over taken by an urge to know why he was there and not in the greenhouse,where I figured he’

d liv

e a happier frog life.于是有一天，我正在工作室里干活，电脑嗡嗡作响。当树蛙从我面前爬过时，我不得不停止工作。他停下了并转过身来，坐在那儿看着我。好吧，我也干脆停下来望着他。五个月了，他一直这样陪着我。我突然有一股强烈的欲望想了解他：为什么他要待在这儿而不乐意待在花房里？我认为对树蛙来说，花房显然要舒适得多。

“Why are you here,”I found myself asking him.“你为什么待在这儿？”我情不自禁地问他。

As I looked at him,dead on,his eyes looked directly at me and I heard a tone.The tone seemed to h it me right in the center of my mind.It sounded very nearly like the same one as my computer.In that tone I could hear him“say”to me,“Because I want you to understand.”Yo.That was weird.“Understa nd what?”my mind jumped in.Then,after a moment of feeling this communication,I felt I understoo d why he was there.I came to understand that frogs simply want to hear other frogs and to communic ate.Possibly the tone of my computer sounded to him like other tree frogs.我目不转睛地盯着他，他也直视着我。然后我听到一种叮咚声。这种声音似乎一下子就进入了我的大脑中枢，因为它和电脑里发出来的声音十分接近。在那个声音里我听到树蛙对我“说”：“因为我想让你明白”。唷，太不可思议了。“明白什么？”我脑海中突然跳出了这个问题。然后经过短暂的体验这种交流之后，我觉得我已经理解了树蛙待在这儿的原因。我开始理解树蛙只是想听到其他同类的叫声并与之交流。或许他误以为计算机发出的声音就是其他树蛙在呼唤他。

Interesting.真是有趣。

I kept working.I was working on a story about global climate change and had just received a fax fro m a friend.The fax said that the earth is warming at1.9degrees each decade.At that rate I knew that the maple trees that I love to tap each spring for syrup would not survive for my children.My beautiful Wisconsin would become a prairie by the next generation.我继续工作。我正在写一个关于全球气候变化的故事。有个朋友刚好发过来一份传真，说地球的温度正以每十年1.9度的速度上升。我知道，照这种速度下去，每年春天我都爱去提取树浆的这片枫林，到我孩子的那一代就将不复存在。我的故乡美丽的威斯康星州也会在下一代变成一片草原。

At that moment Tree Frog leaped across my foot and sat on the floor in front of my computer.He th en reached up his hand to his left ear and cupped it there.He sat before the computer and reached up his right hand to his other ear.He turned his head this way and that listening to that tone.Very focuse d.He then began to turn a very subtle,but brilliant shade of green and leaped full force onto the com puter.此刻，树蛙从我脚背跳过去站在电脑前的地板上。然后他伸出手来从后面拢起左耳凝神倾听，接着他又站在电脑前伸出右手拢起另一支耳朵。他这样转动着脑袋，聆听那个声音，非常专心致志。他的皮肤起了微妙的变化，呈现出一种亮丽的绿色，然后他就用尽全力跳到电脑上。

And then I remembered the story about the frogs that I had heard last year on public radio.It said fr ogs were dying around the world.It said that because frogs’skin is like a lung turned inside out,their s