03 The Shooting

3 The Shooting 'Well, my darling,' said Mr Fox. 'What shall it be tonight?' 'I think we'll have duck tonight,' said Mrs Fox. 'Bring us two fat ducks, if you please. One for you and me, and one for the children.' 'Ducks it shall be!' said Mr Fox. 'Bunce's best!' 'Now do be careful,' said Mrs Fox. 'My darling,' said Mr Fox, 'I can smell those goons a mile away. I can even smell one from the other. Boggis gives off a filthy stink of rotten chicken-skins. Bunce reeks of goose-livers, and as for Bean, the fumes of apple cider hang around him like poisonous gases.'

“喂，亲爱的，”狐狸先生说。 “今晚要吃什么?”“我想我们今晚吃鸭子，”狐狸太太说。 “请给我们拿两只肥鸭子来。 一个给你和我，一个给孩子们。“该死!”狐狸先生说。 “Bunce最好的!“现在一定要小心，”狐狸太太说。 “亲爱的，”狐狸先生说，“一英里外我就能闻到那些暴徒的味道。 我甚至能闻到它们之间的气味。 Boggis散发出一股腐烂的鸡皮臭味。 邦斯散发着鹅肝的臭味，至于比恩，苹果酒的气味像有毒气体一样萦绕在他周围。”

'Yes, but just don't get careless,' said Mrs Fox. 'You know they'll be waiting for you, all three of them.' 'Don't you worry about me,' said Mr Fox. 'I'll see you later.' But Mr Fox would not have been quite so cocky had he known exactly where the three farmers were waiting at that moment. They were just outside the entrance to the hole, each one crouching behind a tree with his gun loaded. And what is more, they had chosen their positions very carefully, making sure that the wind was not blowing from them towards the fox's hole. In fact, it was blowing in the opposite direction. There was no chance of them being 'smelled out'.

“是的，但是不要粗心大意，”狐狸太太说。 “你知道他们三个都会等着你的。“别为我担心，”狐狸先生说。 “回头见。”但是，如果福克斯先生确切地知道那三个农民在什么地方等着，他就不会那么自大了。 他们就在洞口外面，每个人都蹲在一棵树后面，枪上了膛。 更重要的是，他们非常仔细地选择了自己的位置，确保风不会从他们那里吹向狐狸的洞。 事实上，它吹向了相反的方向。 他们不可能被“嗅出来”。

Mr Fox crept up the dark tunnel to the mouth of his hole. He poked his long handsome face out into the night air and sniffed once. He moved an inch or two forward and stopped. He sniffed again. He was always especially careful when coming out from his hole. He inched forward a little more. The front half of his body was now in the open. His black nose twitched from side to side, sniffing and sniffing for the scent of danger. He found none, and he was just about to go trotting forward into the wood when he heard or thought he heard a tiny noise, a soft rustling sound, as though someone had moved a foot ever so gently through a patch of dry leaves. Mr Fox flattened his body against the ground and lay very still, his ears pricked. He waited a long time, but he heard nothing more.

狐狸先生爬上黑暗的隧道，来到洞口。 他把英俊的长脸伸到夜晚的空气中，吸了一口气。 他向前移动了一两英寸，然后停了下来。 他又闻了闻。他从洞里出来的时候总是特别小心。 他又向前挪动了一点。 他身体的前半部分现在露出来了。 他的黑鼻子左右抽动，嗅来嗅去，寻找危险的气味。 他什么也没找到。正当他准备小跑着走进树林时，他听到或者以为听到了一种微小的声音，一种轻柔的沙沙声，好像有人用一只脚轻轻地穿过一片干树叶。 狐狸先生把身子贴在地上，一动不动地躺着，耳朵竖起来。 他等了很长时间，但什么也没听到。

'It must have been a field-mouse,' he told himself, 'or some other small animal.' He crept a little further out of the hole… then further still. He was almost right out in the open now. He took a last careful look around. The wood was murky and very still. Somewhere in the sky the moon was shining. Just then, his sharp night-eyes caught a glint of something bright behind a tree not far away. It was a small silver speck of moonlight shining on a polished surface. Mr Fox lay still, watching it. What on earth was it? Now it was moving. It was coming up and up… Great heavens! It was the barrel of a gun! Quick as a whip, Mr Fox jumped back into his hole and at that same instant the entire wood seemed to explode around him. Bangbang! Bang-bang! Bang-bang! The smoke from the three guns floated upward in the night air. Boggis and Bunce and Bean came out from behind their trees and walked towards the hole. 'Did we get him?' said Bean. One of them shone a flashlight on the hole, and there on the ground, in the circle of light, half in

“那一定是一只田鼠，”他对自己说，“或者别的什么小动物。”他往洞外爬了一点……然后又爬了一点。 他现在几乎是暴露在众人面前了。 他最后仔细地环顾四周。 树林里浑浊而寂静。 月亮在天空的某个地方照耀着。 就在这时，他敏锐的夜眼看到不远处一棵树后面有什么东西在闪烁。 那是一个银色的小点月光照在抛光的表面上。 狐狸先生静静地躺着，看着它。 这到底是什么?现在它在动了。 它越来越高……天哪!那是枪管!狐狸先生像鞭子一样迅速地跳回了自己的洞里，与此同时，他周围的整个树林似乎都爆炸了。 枪战影片!砰砰的枪声!砰砰的枪声!三门炮的烟在夜空中向上飘。 博吉斯、邦斯和比恩从树后走出来，朝洞口走去。 “我们抓到他了吗?”比恩说。 其中一人用手电照了照洞，在地上，在光圈里，有一半在里面

and half out of the hole, lay the poor tattered bloodstained remains of… a fox's tail. Bean picked it up. 'We got the tail but we missed the fox,' he said, tossing the thing away. 'Dang and blast!' said Boggis. 'We shot too late. We should have let fly the moment he poked

在洞外，躺着一条可怜的、残破的、血迹斑斑的狐狸尾巴。 比恩把它捡了起来。“我们得到了尾巴，但我们错过了狐狸，”他说着，把东西扔了。 “该死!”博格斯说。 “我们射得太晚了。他一戳我们就该放了他

his head out.' 'He won't be poking it out again in a hurry,' Bunce said. Bean pulled a flask from his pocket and took a swig of cider. Then he said, 'It'll take three days at least before he gets hungry enough to come out again. I'm not sitting around here waiting for that. Let's dig him out.' 'Ah,' said Boggis. 'Now you're talking sense. We can dig him out in a couple of hours. We know he's there.' 'I reckon there's a whole family of them down that hole,' Bunce said. 'Then we'll have the lot,' said Bean. 'Get the shovels!'

他把头伸出来。邦斯说:“他不会马上把它拔出来的。” 比恩从口袋里掏出一个烧瓶，喝了一大口苹果酒。 然后他说:“至少要过三天，他才会饿得再出来。 我才不要干坐着等那件事。 我们把他挖出来。“啊，”博格斯说。 “现在你说得有理了。 我们可以在几小时内把他挖出来。 我们知道他在那里。“我估计那洞里住着一整个家族。”邦斯说。 “那我们就有一大堆了。”比恩说。 “拿铲子来!”