Scott O’Dell

蓝色的海豚岛成了卡拉娜的家，为了有地方遮风挡雨，也为了有地方储存食物，卡拉娜决定造一所房子。选好了造房子的地点后，她开始行动……

Many years before,two whales had washed up on the sandspit.Most of the bones had been taken away to make1)ornament [ˈɔːnəment] n.装饰品；典礼用品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 [skuːp] 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 [nɔː] 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，有两条鲸鱼被冲上沙坑。大部分骨头已拿去做了装饰品，只剩下肋骨还在那里，半掩半埋在沙里。

我用这些肋骨筑成了篱笆。我把它们一根根挖出来，搬到高地上去。这些肋骨又长又弯，我挖了一些洞，把它们竖在地里，竖起来的肋骨比我人还高。

我把这些肋骨差不多一根挨一根竖在那里，向外弯曲。这样一来什么东西也爬不上去。肋骨之间我缠上许多海草绳，海草绳一干就收缩起来，因此拉得很紧。我本来想用海豹筋条来绑肋骨，这东西是比海草结实，可野兽喜欢吃，要不了多久，篱笆就会被啃垮。筑篱笆费了我很多工夫。要不是把岩石当成篱笆的一部分与篱笆的一头相连，费的时间可能还会更多。

我在篱笆下面挖个洞作为出入口，洞的大小深浅刚够一人爬进爬出。洞的底部和两边我都砌上了一块块石头。洞口外边我用一些杂草编成的草席盖起来避雨，洞口里边用一块能搬动的平石板盖住。

我能在篱笆两头之间跨八步，这块地方足够储存我捡来的东西以防野兽偷走。

我筑篱笆首先是因为天气太冷不能睡在岩石上，而且在我保证不会被野狗偷袭以前，我也不愿意睡在我搭的棚子里面。