簡單的英文故事:牛仔佩克斯·比爾
【英文原文】
摘要：佩克斯•比爾是美國西南部的牛仔傳奇人物。據說是他最先使用套索套牲口，最先用烙鐵在牲口身上做標記，還創造了許多別的牛仔技術。
Pecos Bill is a cowboy hero of the American Southwest. He was the legendary inventor of roping, branding, and other cowboy skills. He also invented the six-shooter and train robbery and taught broncos how to buck.
According to legend, Pecos Bill was born in eastern Texas during the 1830’s. He used a bowie knife as a teething ring and played with bears and other wild animals. During a trip west, Bill fell out of the family wagon near the Pecos River in Texas. He became lost and was raised by coyotes. When Bill grew up, he had tamed all the wild animals in the West. He rode a mountain lion and used a rattlesnake as a whip and became known as the West’s king of beasts.
To win a bet, Pecos Bill once rode an Oklaoma cyclone without a saddle. When the great twister came, he gave a loud whistle, and every rattlesnake in Texas rushed up to him. Bill made them into a huge lasso. He threw the lasso into the clouds and it dropped right over the top of the cyclone. He held onto his lasso and managed to sit on the cyclone’s back. The cyclone could not shake him off its back. The cyclone to cry and its tears became rain. The rain fell so heavily that it created the Grand Canyon. Bill crashed in California, and the force of his fall created Death Valley. There are several versions of Bill’s death. In one, he laughed to death after a man from Boston asked him silly questions about the West.
【中文譯文】
佩克斯•比爾是美國西南部的牛仔傳奇人物。據說是他最先使用套索套牲口，最先用烙鐵在牲口身上做標記，還創造了許多別的牛仔技術。他還發明瞭轉輪手槍、搶劫火車的方法，甚至還會教烈馬尥蹶子把騎手甩下去。
據說佩克斯•比爾於19世紀30年代出生在得克薩斯東部。一般人家的孩子出牙時咬些膠皮玩意兒，而比爾咬的卻是一把獵刀。跟他一起玩耍的，是熊和別的野獸。他家西遷時，走到得克薩斯的佩科斯河附近，他從馬車上掉下來，成了沒爹沒孃的孩子，由叢林狼餵養大。成人後，他馴服了西部所有的野獸。他用山獅當坐騎，用響尾蛇做鞭子，成了大名鼎鼎的西部百獸之王。
有一次爲了打賭，佩克斯•比爾不用鞍子就騎上了一般俄克拉何馬的旋風。旋風來時，他吹了一聲口哨，得克薩斯的所有響尾蛇都匆忙趕來。比爾將它們首尾相連，做成一個巨大無比的套索，設法騎到旋風的背上。旋風甩不掉他，就開始哭了，淚水成了瓢潑大雨。雨水成了洪水，在地上衝出一道溝來，這就是大峽谷。風住了，比爾從天上掉下來，在地上砸出一個大坑，這就是死谷。至於佩克斯•比爾是怎麼死的，有幾種不同的說法。據其中一種說法，當一個來自波士頓的人問他有關西部的問題時，這個愚蠢的問題可笑之極，他笑得一口氣沒上來，就這麼死了。
題外話：這個故事頗能反映邊民或牛仔的特點。他們頑強、兇悍、好鬥、喜歡吹牛，講些不着邊際的故事，又不乏幽默感。他們崇拜有本事的強者，對於強者所幹的非法勾當，他們的態度相當曖昧。因爲邊疆地區法律鞭長莫及，適者生存。比如，他們對搶劫銀行、攔截火車的大盜傑西•詹姆斯就頗有好感，有歌頌他的著名歌謠爲證。
