Our story today is called "To Build a Fire." It was written by Jack London. Here is Harry Monroe with the story.我们今天的故事是“生火”。作者杰克伦敦。 由哈利门罗为我们讲述。
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STORYTELLER:
The man walked down the trail on a cold, gray day. Pure white snow and ice covered the Earth for as far as he could see. This was his first winter in Alaska. He was wearing heavy clothes and fur boots. But he still felt cold and uncomfortable. 在一个寒冷阴沉的日子，一个男人走在一条小路上。在他眼前是一望无际的洁白的冰雪。这是他在阿拉斯加的第一个冬天。他穿着厚厚的衣服和毛皮靴子，但还是觉得很冷很不舒服。
The man was on his way to a camp near Henderson Creek. His friends were already there. He expected to reach Henderson Creek by six o'clock that evening. It would be dark by then. His friends would have a fire and hot food ready for him. 这个人要去安德森小溪附近的营地。他的朋友在那里。他打算在晚上六点到达安德森小溪。那时候天已经黑了。他的朋友会为他准备好火堆和食物。
A dog walked behind the man. It was a big gray animal, half dog and half wolf. The dog did not like the extreme cold. It knew the weather was too cold to travel. 一只狗跟在他身后。那是一只很大的灰色的狗，一半狼一半狗。狗不喜欢这酷寒的天气。它知道天气太冷不能远行。
The man continued to walk down the trail. He came to a frozen stream called Indian Creek. He began to walk on the snow-covered ice. It was a trail that would lead him straight to Henderson Creek and his friends. 这个人继续走着。他来到一条结冰的叫做印第安小溪的河边。他走上了覆盖着雪的冰面上。这是一条可以直接带他去安德森小溪他朋友那里的小路。
As he walked, he looked carefully at the ice in front of him. Once, he stopped suddenly, and then walked around a part of the frozen stream. He saw that an underground spring flowed under the ice at that spot. It made the ice thin. If he stepped there, he might break through the ice into a pool of water. To get his boots wet in such cold weather might kill him. His feet would turn to ice quickly. He could freeze to death. 他边走边小心的看前面的冰。一次，他突然停下，绕过一块冰面。他看见那块冰面下有一个地下泉在流动。泉水使冰面变薄。如果他踩到那里就会踩碎冰面掉进水里。在这种天气里弄湿脚会要他的命。脚会很快结冰，他会冻死的。
At about twelve o'clock, the man decided to stop to eat his lunch. He took off the glove on his right hand. He opened his jacket and shirt, and pulled out his bread and meat. This took less than twenty seconds. Yet, his fingers began to freeze. 大约十二点，他决定停下来吃午餐。他脱下了右手的手套。他解开了夹克和衬衣，拿出面包和肉。这不超过二十秒，但是，他的手指就冻僵了。
He hit his hand against his leg several times until he felt a sharp pain. Then he quickly put his glove on his hand. He made a fire, beginning with small pieces of wood and adding larger ones. He sat on a snow-covered log and ate his lunch. He enjoyed the warm fire for a few minutes. Then he stood up and started walking on the frozen stream again. 他用手打他的腿好几次，直到感觉到刺痛。然后很快的戴上手套。他点了一堆火，用小柴点着然后加上大些的木头。他坐在盖着雪的原木上吃午餐。他享受了一会儿温暖的火。然后站起来又走上冰河。
A half hour later, it happened. At a place where the snow seemed very solid, the ice broke. The man's feet sank into the water. It was not deep, but his legs got wet to the knees. The man was angry. The accident would delay his arrival at the camp. He would have to build a fire now to dry his clothes and boots. 半小时后，在一个看起来很结实的地方，冰面破了。他的脚掉进了水里。不太深，但膝盖下都湿了。他很生气。这个意外会让他不能及时到达营地。现在，他不得不点火烤干衣服和靴子了。
He walked over to some small trees. They were covered with snow. In their branches were pieces of dry grass and wood left by flood waters earlier in the year. He put several large pieces of wood on the snow, under one of the trees. On top of the wood, he put some grass and dry branches. He pulled off his gloves, took out his matches, and lighted the fire. He fed the young flame with more wood. As the fire grew stronger, he gave it larger pieces of wood. 他向一些小树走去。那些小树被积雪覆盖着。在树枝中有干草很以前洪水带来的木头碎片。他把一些大一点的木头放在一棵树下的雪地上，在木头上放了一些干草和树枝。他脱下手套，拿出火柴，点着了火。他给火上添柴，当火大起来一点时，他又加了大些的木头。
He worked slowly and carefully. At sixty degrees below zero, a man with wet feet must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire. While he was walking, his blood had kept all parts of his body warm. Now that he had stopped, cold was forcing his blood to withdraw deeper into his body. His wet feet had frozen. He could not feel his fingers. His nose was frozen, too. The skin all over his body felt cold. 他慢慢的小心的工作。在华氏零下六十度的天气，一个弄湿了脚的人不能在第一次点火时失败。在走着的时候，血液流动使身体保持温暖。现在他停下来了，寒冷使血液流回身体深处。他的脚冻僵了，感觉不到手指，鼻子也冻僵了。全身的皮肤都感觉冷。
Now, however, his fire was beginning to burn more strongly. He was safe. He sat under the tree and thought of the old men in Fairbanks. The old men had told him that no man should travel alone in the Yukon when the temperature is sixty degrees below zero. Yet here he was. He had had an accident. He was alone. And he had saved himself. He had built a fire. 不管怎么说，火开始着起来了。他安全了。他坐在树下想起了费尔班克斯的老人。那个老人曾告诉他在零下六十度的天气谁也不能独自穿越育空地区。但是他在这里了，遇到了麻烦，一个人，他救了自己，他点着了火。
Those old men were weak, he thought. A real man could travel alone. If a man stayed calm, he would be all right. The man's boots were covered with ice. The strings on his boots were as hard as steel. He would have to cut them with his knife. 那些老人是软弱的，他想。真正的男人可以独自远行。如果你保持冷静，就没问题。他的靴子冻冰了，鞋带像钢铁一样硬，他必须用刀割断它们。
He leaned back against the tree to take out his knife. Suddenly, without warning, a heavy mass of snow dropped down. His movement had shaken the young tree only a tiny bit. But it was enough to cause the branches of the tree to drop their heavy load. The man was shocked. He sat and looked at the place where the fire had been. 他斜靠在树上拿出他的刀，突然，毫无预兆的，一大块雪掉了下来。他的动作把小树碰动了一点，只是一点，但足够使树枝上沉重的积雪掉下来了。他惊呆了。他坐在那里看着曾经是火堆的地方。
The old men had been right, he thought. If he had another man with him, he would not be in any danger now. The other man could build the fire. Well, it was up to him to build the fire again. This time, he must not fail. 老人是对的，如果现在身边有其他人，他不会有任何危险，另一个人可以生火。现在他必须自己再点一次，这次绝不能失败了。
The man collected more wood. He reached into his pocket for the matches. But his fingers were frozen. He could not hold them. He began to hit his hands with all his force against his legs. 他收集了更多木头。去口袋里找火柴。但是手指已经冻僵了，拿不住火柴。他拼命用手打自己的腿。
After a while, feeling came back to his fingers. The man reached again into his pocket for the matches. But the tremendous cold quickly drove the life out of his fingers. All the matches fell onto the snow. He tried to pick one up, but failed. 一会儿，手指有感觉了。他又一次到口袋里找火柴。但严寒很快又冻僵了手指，火柴都掉进的雪地里，他想捡起一只来，但做不到。
The man pulled on his glove and again beat his hand against his leg. Then he took the gloves off both hands and picked up all the matches. He gathered them together. Holding them with both hands, he scratched the matches along his leg. They immediately caught fire. 他戴上手套又一次打自己的腿。然后脱下两只手套捡起所有的火柴。他把火柴放在一起，用两只手捧着在腿上划，火柴着了。
He held the blazing matches to a piece of wood. After a while, he became aware that he could smell his hands burning. Then he began to feel the pain. He opened his hands, and the blazing matches fell on to the snow. The flame went out in a puff of gray smoke. 他把燃着的火柴放在木头上，一会儿，他闻到了手烧焦的味道。然后感到了疼痛，他张开手，燃烧的火柴掉在雪里，在一股白烟中火焰熄灭了。
The man looked up. The dog was still watching him. The man got an idea. He would kill the dog and bury his hands inside its warm body. When the feeling came back to his fingers, he could build another fire. He called to the dog. The dog heard danger in the man's voice. It backed away. 他看到那只狗还在看着他。他想到一个主意，他要杀了狗，然后把手埋在它的身体里，手指有感觉后，他就可以再点一堆火。他叫那只狗，狗从他的声音里听出了危险，它向后退去。
The man called again. This time the dog came closer. The man reached for his knife. But he had forgotten that he could not bend his fingers. He could not kill the dog, because he could not hold his knife. 他又叫了一次，这次狗走近了一些。他把手伸向他的刀。但他忘了它的手指不能弯曲了。他没能杀了那狗，因为拿不住刀子。
The fear of death came over the man. He jumped up and began to run. The running began to make him feel better. Maybe running would make his feet warm. If he ran far enough, he would reach his friends at Henderson Creek. They would take care of him. 死亡的恐惧笼罩了他。他跳起来开始跑。跑起来他感觉好了一些。也许跑可以让他的脚暖和起来。如果跑的够远，他可以到达安德森小溪，朋友们可以照顾他。
It felt strange to run and not feel his feet when they hit the ground. He fell several times. He decided to rest a while. As he lay in the snow, he noticed that he was not shaking. He could not feel his nose or fingers or feet. Yet, he was feeling quite warm and comfortable. He realized he was going to die. 跑着但感觉不到脚是很奇怪的感觉。他摔倒了几次，然后决定休息一下。在他躺在雪地上时，他发现没有发抖，感觉不到脚，感觉不到鼻子和手指。然而，他感觉很温暖很舒服，他知道自己要死了。
Well, he decided, he might as well take it like a man. There were worse ways to die. 噢，他想，也许该像个男人那样接受死亡，还不算太坏。
The man closed his eyes and floated into the most comfortable sleep he had ever known. 他闭上了眼，漂浮在前所未有的舒适的睡眠里。
The dog sat facing him, waiting. Finally, the dog moved closer to the man and caught the smell of death. The animal threw back its head. It let out a long, soft cry to the cold stars in the black sky. 狗坐在他对面，最后，它凑近了他，闻到了死亡的气息。狗扭过了头。对着夜空中的寒星发出了长长的哀鸣。
And then it tuned and ran toward Henderson Creek…where it knew there was food and a fire. 然后它转身向安德森小溪跑去，它知道那里有食物和火堆。
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