英文原著小说阅读 ▏《帕克尔泰德太太打虎》by 萨基 打 卡day 2

今天浪了一天。感觉很有愧疚感。再晚也要坚持英语阅读打卡。滴，打卡！第二篇英文名著第二天！

萨基，英国最杰出的短篇小说家之一。他的作品多以20世纪初英国上层社会和中产阶级有闲无聊人的生活为题材，讽刺他们的浅薄、庸俗、势利和装腔作势。这群人中大多数游手好闲、穷极无聊，用宴乐、清谈、吹牛、养病、争风吃醋、无事生非来填补生活的空虚。

图片来自网络

                                                                Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger

第二段：

Circumstances proved propitious. Mrs. Packletide had offered a thousand rupees for the opportunity of shooting a tiger without overmuch risk or exertion, and it so happened that a neighbouring village could boast of being the favoured rendezvous of an animal of respectable antecedents, which had been driven by the increasing infirmities of age to abandon game-killing and confine its appetite to the smaller domestic animals. The prospect of earning the thousand rupees had stimulated the sporting and commercial instinct of the villagers; children were posted night and day on the outskirts of the local jungle to head the tiger back in the unlikely event of his attempting to roam away to fresh hunting-grounds, and the cheaper kinds of goats were left about with elaborate carelessness to keep him satisfied with his present quarters. The one great anxiety was lest he should die of old age before the date appointed for the memsahib’s shoot. Mothers carrying their babies home through the jungle after the day’s work in the fields hushed their singing lest they might curtail the restful sleep of the venerable herd-robber.

图片发自App

图片发自App

第三段：

The great night duly arrived, moonlit and cloudless. A platform had been constructed in a comfortable and conveniently placed tree, and thereon crouched Mrs. Packletide and her paid companion, Miss Mebbin. A goat, gifted with a particularly persistent bleat, such as even a partially deaf tiger might be reasonably expected to hear on a still night, was tethered at the correct distance. With an accurately sighted rifle and a thumbnail pack of patience cards the sportswoman awaited the coming of the quarry.

图片发自App