On the third day after the beginning of the storm the snow ceased. The sun broke through the clouds and shone upon a vast, undulating white plain. High mounds, pyramids heaped in fantastic shapes, and impenetrable drifts lay scattered in every direction.
肆虐的暴风雪终于在第三天停止了。太阳穿过云层照耀在绵延起伏的白色原野上,高高的雪丘姿态万千,令人难以置信地向着四面八方散播开来。
Narrow paths were shoveled through the drifts. I put on my cloak and hood and went out. The air stung my cheeks like fire. Half walking in the paths, half working our way through the lesser drifts, we succeeded in reaching a pine grove just outside a broad pasture. The trees stood motionless and white like figures in a marble frieze. There was no odour of pine-needles. The rays of the sun fell upon the trees, so that the twigs sparkled like diamonds and dropped in showers when we touched them. So dazzling was the light, it penetrated even the darkness that veils my eyes.
人们在积雪上踏出了一条条小路。我穿上斗篷系着头巾走到屋外,冷气顿时把我的脸颊刺得火烧火燎地疼。事实上,我们是在一边试探一边行走的。最终,我们总算来到了大牧场外围的那片松树林。松树一动不动地静静矗立着,挂满积雪的树身就像毛茸茸的未经加工的大理石;林子里闻不到松针的味道,阳光洒落在林间,只要轻轻一碰,小树枝上的积雪就像宝石雨一样纷纷坠落。那晶莹剔透的光线是如此炫目,甚至能穿透蒙在我眼睛上的黑面纱。
As the days wore on, the drifts gradually shrunk, but before they were wholly gone another storm came, so that I scarcely felt the earth under my feet once all winter. At intervals the trees lost their icy covering, and the bulrushes and underbrush were bare; but the lake lay frozen and hard beneath the sun.
随着时间的推移,积雪也渐渐融化了。在另一次风暴尚未来临之前,我几乎感觉不到脚下正踩着严冬的土地。在这短暂的宁静时刻,树木丢弃了披在身上的冰衣,芦苇和草丛露出了身形,只有阳光下的冰湖展示着冬日的美景。
Our favourite amusement during that winter was tobogganing. In places the shore of the lake rises abruptly from the water's edge. Down these steep slopes we used to coast. We would get on our toboggan, a boy would give us a shove, and off we went! Plunging through drifts, leaping hollows, swooping down upon the lake, we would shoot across its gleaming surface to the opposite bank. What joy! What exhilarating madness! For one wild, glad moment we snapped the chain that binds us to earth, and joining hands with the winds we felt ourselves divine!
我们最喜爱的冬季娱乐活动是滑雪橇。湖岸突兀地跃出水面,我们跨过陡峭的斜坡下到湖面;坐上了雪橇,一个小男孩会用力从后面一推,我们就嗖地滑了出去!雪橇穿过积雪,越过凹坑,猛地冲向湖心。最后,我们会穿过晶莹闪烁的冰面直到对岸。这是多么有趣、多么疯狂的游戏啊!记得有一次,在那、兴奋的一刻,雪橇上的防护锁链啪地折断了,于是,我们的手紧紧地握在了一起,伴随着耳边的疾风,我们觉得自己就像驾云飞翔的神灵!