04 The Terrible Shovels

4 The Terrible Shovels Down the hole, Mrs Fox was tenderly licking the stump of Mr Fox's tail to stop the bleeding. 'It was the finest tail for miles around,' she said between licks. 'It hurts,' said Mr Fox. 'I know it does, sweetheart. But it'll soon get better.' 'And it will soon grow again, Dad,' said one of the Small Foxes. 'It will never grow again,' said Mr Fox. 'I shall be tail-less for the rest of my life.' He looked very glum.

在洞里，狐狸太太温柔地舔着狐狸先生的残尾巴，想止住它的血。 “这是方圆几英里内最漂亮的尾巴，”她在舔尾巴的间隙说。 “很痛，”狐狸先生说。“我知道，亲爱的。 但很快就会好起来的。“它很快就会再长出来的，爸爸，”一只小狐狸说。 “它永远不会再长了，”狐狸先生说。 “我的余生都将没有尾巴了。”他看上去很忧郁。

There was no food for the foxes that night, and soon the children dozed off. Then Mrs Fox dozed off. But Mr Fox couldn't sleep because of the pain in the stump of his tail. 'Well,' he thought, 'I suppose I'm lucky to be alive at all. And now they've found our hole, we're going to have to move out as soon as possible. We'll never get any peace if we… What was that?' He turned his head sharply and listened. The noise he heard now was the most frightening noise a fox can ever hear – the scrape-scrape-scraping of shovels digging into the soil. 'Wake up!' he shouted. 'They're digging us out!'

那天晚上狐狸没有吃的，孩子们很快就睡着了。 然后狐狸太太打起了瞌睡。但是狐狸先生睡不着，因为他的尾巴残肢痛得很。 “好吧，”他想，“我想我能活着就已经很幸运了。 现在他们已经找到了我们的洞，我们必须尽快搬出去。 我们永远得不到安宁，如果我们……那是什么?”他猛地转过头，仔细听着。 他现在听到的声音是狐狸所能听到的最可怕的声音——铲子在土里挖洞的刮擦声。 “醒来!他喊道。“他们在把我们挖出来!”

Mrs Fox was wide awake in one second. She sat up, quivering all over. 'Are you sure that's it?' she whispered. 'I'm positive! Listen!' 'They'll kill my children!' cried Mrs Fox. 'Never!' said Mr Fox. 'But darling, they will!' sobbed Mrs Fox. 'You know they will!' Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch went the shovels above their heads. Small stones and bits of earth began falling from the roof of the tunnel. 'How will they kill us, Mummy?' asked one of the Small Foxes. His round black eyes were huge with fright. 'Will there be dogs?' he said. Mrs Fox began to cry. She gathered her four children close to her and held them tight.

福克斯太太立刻完全清醒了。 她坐起来，浑身发抖。 “你确定就是这个吗?”她低声说。 “我肯定!听!“他们会杀了我的孩子的!”狐狸太太叫道。 “从来没有!”狐狸先生说。“可是亲爱的，他们会的!”狐狸太太抽泣着说。 “你知道他们会的!”铁锹在他们头顶上嘎吱嘎吱地响着。 小石块和泥土开始从隧道的顶部掉下来。 “他们会怎么杀我们，妈妈?”一只小狐狸问。 他那双又圆又黑的眼睛吓得瞪得大大的。 “会有狗吗?”他说。 狐狸太太哭了起来。她把四个孩子抱在身边，紧紧地抱着他们。

Suddenly there was an especially loud crunch above their heads and the sharp end of a shovel came right through the ceiling. The sight of this awful thing seemed to have an electric effect upon Mr Fox. He jumped up and shouted, 'I've got it! Come on! There's not a moment to lose! Why didn't I think of it before!' 'Think of what, Dad?' 'A fox can dig quicker than a man!' shouted Mr Fox, beginning to dig. 'Nobody in the world can dig as quick as a fox!' The soil began to fly out furiously behind Mr Fox as he started to dig for dear life with his front

突然，他们头顶上传来一声特别响亮的嘎吱声，一把铲子的尖头正好从天花板上钻了进来。 这可怕的景象似乎对福克斯先生产生了电流般的影响。 他跳起来喊道:“我找到了!”来吧!一刻也不能耽搁了!我以前怎么没想到呢!“想什么，爸爸?”“狐狸挖得比人还快!”狐狸先生喊道，开始挖土。 “世界上没有人能像狐狸挖得那么快!”狐狸先生开始用他的前腿拼命地挖，泥土开始疯狂地从他身后飞出来

feet. Mrs Fox ran forward to help him. So did the four children. 'Go downwards!' ordered Mr Fox. 'We've got to go deep! As deep as we possibly can!' The tunnel began to grow longer and longer. It sloped steeply downward. Deeper and deeper below the surface of the ground it went. The mother and the father and all four of the children were digging together. Their front legs were moving so fast you couldn't see them. And gradually the scrunching and scraping of the shovels became fainter and fainter. After about an hour, Mr Fox stopped digging. 'Hold it!' he said. They all stopped. They turned and looked back up the long tunnel they had just dug. All was quiet. 'Phew!' said Mr Fox. 'I think we've done it! They'll never get as deep as this. Well done, everyone!'

的脚。狐狸太太跑上前帮助他。 四个孩子也一样。“向下走!狐狸先生命令道。 “我们得往深处走!”越深越好!”隧道开始变得越来越长。 它向下倾斜得很陡。 它在地表下越钻越深。 爸爸妈妈和四个孩子在一起挖土。 它们的前腿移动得太快了，你根本看不见它们。 渐渐地，铁锹的嘎吱声和刮擦声越来越微弱了。 大约一个小时后，狐狸先生停止了挖掘。 “抓住它!他说。他们都停了下来。 他们转过身，回头看了看刚刚挖好的长隧道。 一切都很安静。“唷!狐狸先生说。 “我想我们成功了!”他们永远不会这么深的。 大家干得好!”

They all sat down, panting for breath. And Mrs Fox said to her children, 'I should like you to know that if it wasn't for your father we should all be dead by now. Your father is a fantastic fox.' Mr Fox looked at his wife and she smiled. He loved her more than ever when she said things like that.

他们都坐了下来，喘着气。 狐狸太太对她的孩子们说:“我想让你们知道，如果不是你们的父亲，我们现在早就死了。 你父亲是一只了不起的狐狸。”狐狸先生看着他的妻子，她笑了。 当她说那样的话时，他比以前更爱她了。