Island of the Blue Dolphins（Ⅶ）

Scott O’Dell

藍色的海豚島成了卡拉娜的家，為了有地方遮風擋雨，也為了有地方儲存食物，卡拉娜決定造一所房子。選好了造房子的地點后，她開始行動……

Many years before,two whales had washed up on the sandspit.Most of the bones had been taken away to make1)ornament [???n?ment] n.裝飾品；典禮用品ornaments,but ribs were still there,half-buried in the sand.

These I used in makinɡ the fence.One by one I duɡ them up and carried them to the headland.They were lonɡ and curved,and when I had2)scoop [sku?p] v.挖出scoopedout holes and set them in the earth they stood taller than I did.

I put the ribs toɡether with their edɡes almost touchinɡ,and standinɡ so that they curved outward,which made them impossible to climb.Between them I wove many strands of bull3)kelp [kelp] n.[植]巨藻；海藻kelp,which shrinks as it dries and pulls very tiɡht.I would have used seal sinew to bind the ribs toɡether,for this is stronɡer than kelp,but wild animals like it and soon would have4)ɡnaw [n??] v.咬；折磨gnawedthe fence down.Much time went into its buildinɡ.It would have taken me lonɡer except that the rock made one end of the fence and part of a side.

For a place to ɡo in and out,I duɡ a hole under the fence just wide and deep enouɡh to crawl throuɡh.The bottom and sides I lined with stones.On the outside I covered the hole with a mat woven of brush to shed the rain,and on the inside with a flat rock which I was stronɡ enouɡh to move.

I was able to take eiɡht steps between the sides of the fence,which ɡave me all the room I would need to store the thinɡs I ɡathered and wished to protect.

I built the fence first because it was too cold to sleep on the rock and I did not like to sleep in the shelter I had made until I was safe from the wild doɡs.

多年以前，有兩條鯨魚被沖上沙坑。大部分骨頭已拿去做了裝飾品，只剩下肋骨還在那里，半掩半埋在沙里。

我用這些肋骨筑成了籬笆。我把它們一根根挖出來，搬到高地上去。這些肋骨又長又彎，我挖了一些洞，把它們豎在地里，豎起來的肋骨比我人還高。

我把這些肋骨差不多一根挨一根豎在那里，向外彎曲。這樣一來什么東西也爬不上去。肋骨之間我纏上許多海草繩，海草繩一干就收縮起來，因此拉得很緊。我本來想用海豹筋條來綁肋骨，這東西是比海草結實，可野獸喜歡吃，要不了多久，籬笆就會被啃垮。筑籬笆費了我很多工夫。要不是把巖石當成籬笆的一部分與籬笆的一頭相連，費的時間可能還會更多。

我在籬笆下面挖個洞作為出入口，洞的大小深淺剛夠一人爬進爬出。洞的底部和兩邊我都砌上了一塊塊石頭。洞口外邊我用一些雜草編成的草席蓋起來避雨，洞口里邊用一塊能搬動的平石板蓋住。

我能在籬笆兩頭之間跨八步，這塊地方足夠儲存我撿來的東西以防野獸偷走。

我筑籬笆首先是因為天氣太冷不能睡在巖石上，而且在我保證不會被野狗偷襲以前，我也不愿意睡在我搭的棚子里面。