3. Calamity Jasper

3 Calamity Jasper The tourists dispersed, but Stanley and Arthur hung back with the cowgirl. "What did you mean just then—about it not being an earthquake?" asked Stanley. Calamity spread her arms out to the mountain range around them. "Thar's gold in them thar hills," she said. "Everyone knows about the gold rush of the eighteen seventies… rumor is there's still more in those abandoned mines. I reckon someone's dynamiting to get to it." "Gold?" Arthur repeated. "Real gold in a real gold mine?" "Yep," Calamity answered. "I'm about to get me some myself. I found a map." Stanley and Arthur looked at each other. "Can we come, too?" they blurted out at the same time.

游客们散去了，但斯坦利和阿瑟和女牛仔一起留下来。 “你刚才说不是地震是什么意思?”斯坦利问。 灾难向他们周围的山脉张开双臂。 “那些山里有金子，”她说。 “每个人都知道十九世纪七十年代的淘金热……谣言说在那些废弃的矿井里还有更多的淘金热。” 我想一定是有人想炸毁它。” “黄金?”亚瑟重复。“真金矿里的真金子?”“是的。”灾难回答。 “我自己也要去买一些。 我找到了一张地图。”斯坦利和阿瑟面面相觑。 “我们也能去吗?”他们异口同声地说。

Calamity Jasper yanked her hat down and squinted at the boys. "Okeydoke," she decided at last. "I reckon you fellas could tag along. Might be needing some extra hands if I find a really big vein." The next morning, the Lambchop family awakened in their tent to the sound of birdsong and the scent of piney woods. Everyone was eager to begin the day, but Mrs. Lambchop insisted they wait for a good breakfast. "It's the most important meal of the day," she reminded her family. She was such a skillful cook that she made an excellent breakfast over the little campfire using only the tinned and dried provisions they had packed. The Lambchops ate with the hearty appetites brought on by outdoor living, and then they tidied the campsite. Just as the sleeping bags were being rolled up, a rustling at the tent flap caught their attention. Calamity Jasper strode inside. "Time for all the young'uns to report to powwow!" she announced to Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop. She winked at Stanley and Arthur.

大灾难贾斯帕猛地拉下帽子，眯着眼睛看着两个男孩。 “好吧，”她终于决定了。 “我想你们可以跟着去。 如果我找到一条很大的静脉，可能需要帮手。” 第二天早上，小羊羔一家在他们的帐篷里被鸟鸣声和松林的香味唤醒。 每个人都迫不及待地想开始新的一天，但兰彻太太坚持要等到一顿丰盛的早餐。 “这是一天中最重要的一餐，”她提醒家人。 她是一个技艺高超的厨师，只用他们打包好的罐头和干粮，就在小小的营火上做了一顿丰盛的早餐。 小羊们带着户外生活带来的旺盛食欲吃了起来，然后他们整理了营地。 就在他们把睡袋卷起来的时候，他们注意到了帐篷门的沙沙声。 贾斯珀大步走了进去。 “所有的年轻人都该去参加祈祷仪式了!”她向兰彻先生和太太宣布。 她对斯坦利和阿瑟眨了眨眼睛。

"Did you hear that, George?" exclaimed Mrs. Lambchop. "What a wonderful tour… so much for the boys to do!" "Can we go?" asked Arthur and Stanley, excited. "It's 'may we go,' dears," Mrs. Lambchop corrected her sons. "We are not on a vacation from proper speech." Then she sent a questioning look to her husband. "Sounds like a fine plan to me!" Mr. Lambchop said. So the boys eagerly followed Calamity Jasper to her horse. "This here's Gold Rush, my trusty steed," she said, patting a beautiful palomino. "Arthur, you can ride up on the saddle behind me. And you, hmm…" She eyed Stanley. "I'll roll you like a blanket and tie you on behind, right here under the cantle. That all right with you, buckaroo?" "Oh, sure," Stanley said. "I am very limber." He showed her how he could bend and fold himself about, although normally he was much more modest about his abilities. "Me, too," Arthur chimed in. "I am very limber, too." And he did a couple of somersaults in front

“你听到了吗，乔治?”兰彻太太叫道。 “多么美妙的旅行啊……男孩们有这么多事情要做!”“我们能去吗?”阿瑟和斯坦利兴奋地问。 “是‘我们可以走了吗，亲爱的，’”兰彻太太纠正儿子们。 “我们并不是在休假，不去做正确的演讲。” 然后她向丈夫投去疑惑的目光。 “听起来是个不错的计划!”兰切普说。 于是，男孩们急切地跟着Calamity Jasper走到她的马上。 “这是我最信任的骏马‘淘金热’，”她拍拍漂亮的帕洛米诺赛马说。 “亚瑟，你可以骑在我后面的马鞍上。 你呢，嗯……”她看着斯坦利。 “我要把你像毯子一样卷起来，把你绑在背后，就在这里，在蜡烛下面。 你这样行吗，牛仔?”“哦，当然，”斯坦利说。 “我很柔韧。”他向她展示了他是如何弯下腰来的，尽管他平时对自己的能力要谦虚得多。 “我也是。”阿瑟插嘴说。 “我也很柔韧。”他在前面翻了几个筋斗

of the cowgirl. "Also, I am very good at holding on," Stanley said. "Remember yesterday? How I held on to Lincoln's face?" Arthur stepped in front of his brother, holding out his lasso and his harmonica. "Also," he said, "I have a lot of authentic cowboy gear." "Time's a-wastin'," Calamity said, shaking her head at the boys. She rolled Stanley up, being careful to leave his head sticking out, and lashed him to the saddle. Then she stuck one boot into a stirrup and swung herself onto her horse. Last, she pulled Arthur up behind her. "Giddyap!" she called to Gold Rush, and they were off.

那个女牛仔。“而且，我很善于坚持，”斯坦利说。 “还记得昨天吗?我是怎么抓住林肯的脸的?”阿瑟走到哥哥面前，拿出套索和口琴。 “还有，”他说，“我有很多正宗的牛仔装备。” “时间在浪费。”灾难说着，朝两个男孩摇了摇头。 她把斯坦利卷起来，小心翼翼地不让他的头伸出来，把他绑在马鞍上。 然后，她把一只靴子插在马镫上，跨上了马。 最后，她把阿瑟拉到身后。 “出发!”她对“淘金热”喊道，他们就出发了。

Trotting along the trail was very pleasant. The Lambchop boys, being from a big city, were delighted to be out in so much nature. To pass the time, Calamity taught them cowboy songs, about painful longings for home, about faithful horses, and about wide-open spaces. Things like that. The children were surprised to find that their voices were in perfect harmony, soaring and twining in the clear mountain air with astonishing beauty. Probably, in fact, no three people had ever sung cowboy songs that beautifully before. If a talent scout had happened to hear them that day, he would have signed them up to a record contract on the spot. But that's not what happened. What happened was they ran out of songs. After that, Calamity pointed out the plants and animals along the trail. They saw pine and spruce trees and many wildflowers. They saw prairie dogs, red squirrels, deer, and even a herd of bison in the distance. "Mountain lions are native here, too," Calamity said. "And look," said Stanley. "Mountain goats!" "They're not native, though," Calamity Jasper told the boys. "In nineteen twenty-four, Canada gave Custer State Park six goats. They escaped

沿着小径小跑是很愉快的。 小羊排的孩子们来自大城市，他们很高兴能到这么多大自然中去。 为了打发时间，Calamity教他们唱牛仔歌，唱对家的痛苦思念，唱忠实的马，唱广阔的天地。 诸如此类。孩子们惊奇地发现，他们的声音非常和谐，在清新的山间空气中盘旋盘旋，美得惊人。 事实上，以前可能没有三个人唱过如此优美的牛仔歌曲。 如果那天有星探碰巧听到了他们的表演，他会当场和他们签下一份唱片合同。 但事实并非如此。 结果是他们没歌了。 然后，Calamity指着小路上的植物和动物。 他们看到了松树、云杉和许多野花。 他们看到了远处的草原土拨鼠、红松鼠、鹿，甚至还有一群野牛。 “美洲狮也是这里的原生动物，”Calamity说。 “看，”斯坦利说。“山羊!”“不过，他们不是本地人。”大灾难贾斯帕告诉孩子们。 1924年，加拿大给卡斯特州立公园六只山羊。 他们逃了出来

their pen and began to live in the wild. There are about two hundred of them now." Calamity was an excellent guide, and the boys were interested in all the things she told them as they rode along. But after a while, what they were really interested in was getting to the gold mine. At last they did.

他们的笔，开始在野外生活。 现在大约有200只。” 灾难是一位出色的向导，孩子们对她一路上告诉他们的一切都很感兴趣。 但过了一段时间，他们真正感兴趣的是找到金矿。 最后他们做到了。