009 重要发现

旁白 neutral

After carefully examining what Ernest had found, I determined that they were cassava plants

仔细检查了欧内斯特发现的东西后，我确定那是木薯植物。

旁白 neutral

With the plants ' roots, we could lose every other food that we possessed and still not go hungry

有了这些植物的根，我们就算失去所有其他食物也不会挨饿。

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" If we can collect enough roots," I said," we'll attempt to make bread

“如果我们能收集到足够的根，”我说，“我们可以尝试做面包。

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But the plant can be poisonous

但这种植物可能有毒。

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We'll need to take great care in preparing the flour and baking the bread

我们在准备面粉和烤面包时需要格外小心。”

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First we must finish unloading the tub boat and the raft."

首先我们必须把浴盆船和木筏上的东西都卸完。”

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That job took us the rest of the afternoon and part of the next morning

这项工作花了我们那天下午剩下的时间和第二天上午的一部分。

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I had intended to spend the rest of the day at Falconhurst

我本打算那天剩下的时间都在鹰巢度过。

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But the sea was calm, so I decided to make another trip to the wreck

但海面平静，所以我决定再去一次沉船那里。

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Ernest and Franz returned to the tree house with my wife while Jack lingered on the beach

欧内斯特和弗朗茨跟我妻子回到了树屋，而杰克在海滩上逗留。

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" You want to go with us, don't you?" I said to him." Well, come on then."

“你想跟我们一起去，是不是？”我对他说。“那好，来吧。”

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Jack grinned and quickly followed Fritz and me onto the tub boat

杰克咧嘴一笑，迅速跟着弗里茨和我登上了澡盆船。

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When we reached the wreck, Jack went down into the hold

到达沉船处时，杰克下到了货舱里。

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I soon heard a loud rattling noise as he joined me on deck

不一会儿，当他来到甲板上和我会合时，我听到一阵响亮的咔嗒声。

旁白 neutral

" Look what I found — a wheelbarrow!" he said

“看我找到了什么——一辆独轮手推车！”他说。

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" This is just the thing for bringing home potatoes."

“这正好用来把土豆运回家。”

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He was then followed by Fritz, who had made an even more important discovery

他身后跟着弗里茨，弗里茨有了一个更重要的发现。

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" I found a small sailboat!" he announced." All the parts are packed together

“我找到了一艘小帆船！”他宣布道。“所有部件都打包在一起。

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There are even a couple of small brass cannons!"

甚至还有两门小铜炮！”

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If he was right, then this would be a most useful item

如果他说得没错，那这将是一件非常有用的东西。

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I hurried to look at the sailboat

我赶紧去看那艘帆船。

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" Oh," I said with disappointment in my voice

“哦，”我失望地说。

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Yes, it was a sailboat

是的，那是一艘帆船。

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But it was going to take a lot of work to put it together and make it seaworthy

但要把它组装起来并修到能下水航行，还得花很多工夫。

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At the moment we only had time enough to get something to eat and hurry to the tub boat

此刻我们只有时间吃点东西，然后赶紧回到小木盆船上。

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We carried home a copper boiler, iron plates, tobacco graters, and three wheelbarrows

我们带回家一只铜锅炉、几块铁板、几把烟草擦子和三辆手推车。

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At Falconhurst my wife and the other boys had gathered a large supply of potatoes and cassava roots

在猎鹰巢，我妻子和别的孩子已经采集了大批土豆和木薯根。

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I praised them lavishly

我大大地夸奖了他们。

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" Oh, Father!" blurted out little Franz

“哦，爸爸！”小弗朗茨脱口而出。

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" What will you say when Mother and I give you melons and pumpkins and cucumbers?"

“等妈妈和我把甜瓜、南瓜和黄瓜拿给你们的时候，你又该怎么说呢？”

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" You little chatterbox," my wife said fondly." You've let out my secret!

“你这个小话匣子，”妻子疼爱地说，“你把我的秘密泄露了！

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I wanted to surprise Father when my plants sprouted."

我本想等植物发芽时给你父亲一个惊喜。”

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I was puzzled." Where did you get the seeds?"

我很纳闷。“你是哪儿来的种子？”

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" From my bag, of course," she replied

“当然是从我的袋子里拿的，”她答道。

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" Every time I've gone for potatoes, I've sown seeds in the ground that we've dug up

“每次我去挖土豆，都会在我们翻过的地里播下种子。

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I've also planted potatoes."

我还种了土豆。”

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My wife looked very pleased

妻子看起来非常高兴。

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But then she caught sight of the tobacco graters that we'd brought from the wreck

可随后她看见了我们从沉船上带回来的烟草擦板。

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" You aren't going to make snuff?" she said in alarm

“你不会是要做鼻烟吧？”她惊慌地问。

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" No," I said." Please treat my graters with respect because they'll provide you with fresh bread."

“不，”我说，“请善待我的擦板，因为它们会为你提供新鲜面包。”

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" What connection can there be between tobacco graters and bread?" asked my wife

“烟草擦板和面包能有什么关系？”妻子问道。

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" Besides, you need an oven to bake bread, and we don't have one."

“而且，烤面包得有烤箱，我们可没有。”

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" You can't expect real loaves," I said

“别指望能做成真正的面包条，”我说。

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" But I think I can bake flat cakes on these iron plates

“但我想可以在这些铁板上烤薄饼。”

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We'll have to make flour first."

“我们得先磨出面粉来。”

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My wife looked skeptical." It's probably a good thing we dug potatoes today."

妻子将信将疑。“今天挖了土豆，说不定是件好事。”

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After thoroughly washing the cassava roots, I spread a large sailcloth on the ground

把木薯根彻底洗净后，我在地上铺了一大块帆布。

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Then I called the boys and gave them each a tobacco grater

然后我叫来孩子们，每人发了一副烟草擦板。

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Everyone worked at grating down the roots

大家一齐动手把根茎擦碎。

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Luckily, no one was tempted to stop and taste the flour because it looked like wet sawdust

幸好，谁也没想尝一口——那面粉看着就像湿锯末。

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When we were finished, we put the damp flour in a canvas bag

磨完后，我们把湿面粉装进一个帆布袋。

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I squeezed and squeezed, but the flour was still wet

我挤了又挤，面粉却还是湿的。

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We laid the canvas bag on a board and put another board over it

我们把帆布袋放在一块木板上，上面再压一块木板。

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Then we found the heaviest things we owned — an anvil, iron bars — and set them on the top board

接着我们找来最沉的东西——铁砧、铁棒——压在上面的木板上。

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The pressure on the bag was enormous, and the liquid flowed from it to the ground

袋子承受着巨大的压力，里面的液体流到了地上。

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" Could we bake some bread now?" asked Fritz

“现在能烤点面包了吗？”弗里茨问。

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" There doesn't seem to be any moisture left."

“看起来已经没有水分了。”

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" Certainly, but I will make only a small sample today

“当然，但今天我只做一小块试试。

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We must first see how it agrees with Knips and the hens."

我们得先看看尼普斯和母鸡吃了会怎么样。”

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I placed an iron plate over the fire

我把一块铁板放在火上。

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While it was getting hot, I mixed the flour with water and salt

铁板烧热的时候，我把面粉、水和盐和在一起。

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After kneading the dough, I laid it on the hot plate to bake

揉成面团后，我把它放到滚烫的铁板上烤。

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The cake smelled delicious!

薄饼闻起来真香！

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I gave a small amount to the monkey and two hens

我掰了一小点给猴子和两只母鸡。

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We watched them all evening for any signs of poisoning

整个晚上我们都在观察它们有没有中毒的迹象。

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The next morning the animals were fine, so we baked more bread

第二天早上，动物们都好好的，我们便烤了更多的面包。

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Each boy busily prepared his own cake

每个孩子都忙着给自己烤饼。

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Some of the bread was burned; some was underdone

有些饼烤焦了，有些还没熟透。

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But much of it was golden brown

但大部分都烤得金黄。

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We were soon enjoying a delicious breakfast of bread and milk

我们很快就享用到了一顿美味的面包和牛奶早餐。