捕鱼网的专利-英语选修八第三单元的 THE PROBLEM

英语选修八第三单元的 THE PROBLEM OF THE SNAKES ...

困扰

THE PROBLEM OF THE SHRIKES

我给住在乡下的母亲打电话的时候，到很心烦。“院子里有几条蛇，”诉我说，“蛇时不时地爬到屋子边上来，可这几条蛇似乎是在屋子附近安家了。你能不能把它们赶走？”

When I called up my mother in the countryside on the telephone she was very upset. 

"There are some snakes in our courtyard," she told me. "Snakes come near the house now and then, and they seem to have made their home here, not far from the walnut tree. Can you get rid of them please?"

我感到很自豪，这回我有机会来表现一下自己了。我要发明某种东西，既可以把蛇捉住，而又不会伤害它们。我知道我的父母亲是不会让我伤害这些生物的。

I felt very proud. Here was a chance for me to distinguish myself by inventing something merciful that would catch snakes but not harm them. I knew my parents would not like me to hurt these living creatures!

我所做的第一件事就是看看有没有现成的产品能帮助我。但是，看来只有一种毒杀蛇的药粉。

The first thing I did was to see if there were any products that might help me, but there only seemed to be powders designed to kill snakes. 

很明显，我得找一种新的方法了。于是我就着手研究蛇的习性，以便能用最简易的方法来捕蛇。好在这些爬行动物都很小，问题比较容易解决。

经过一番研究准备之后，我决定采用三种可能的方法：

A new approach was clearly needed. I set about researching the habits of snakes to find the easiest way to trap them. Luckily these reptiles are small and that made the solution easier.

Prepared with some research findings, I decided on three possible approaches: 

第一，铲除蛇的栖息地；第二，用男人或女人用的香水或食物把它们引进陷阱；第三，降低它们的体温，使它们困乏，这样就很容易把它们捉住。我决定采用一种方法。

firstly, removing their habitat; secondly, attracting them into a trap using male or female perfume or food; and thirdly cooling them so that they would become sleepy and could be easily caught. I decided to use the last one. 

我买了一个制冰激凌的器具，从里面取出一个碗。在碗的内壁和外壁都涂上果冻，这些果冻冷却后会冻结。我把这个碗放进冰箱，冷冻了24小时。与此同时，我还准备了一些冰块儿。

I bought an ice-cream maker which was made of stainless steel. Between the outside and the inside walls of the bowl there is some jelly, which freezes when cooled. 

I put the bowl into the fridge and waited for 24 hours. At the same time I prepared some ice-cubes.

第二天早晨太阳光还不太热，我就起床了。我把冰冻的碗放在蛇窝的上方，再把小冰块儿放在碗上，以使碗保持冷却状态。再用一个大桶把碗罩住。