Bob was jumping and snapping at the snake so as to make it strike and throw itself off guard. Bob had killed twenty eight copperheads（铜头蛇） this spring. He knows how to kill a snake. He doesn't rush to do it. He takes his time and does the job well.
为了使蛇进攻及随后丧失警惕，鲍勃跳跃着猛扑向蛇。今年春天，鲍勃已咬死二十八条铜头蛇了。它知道如何杀死一条蛇。它从不仓促行事，而是从容又漂亮地完成这一切。
“Let's don't kill the snake”, I said. “A blacksnake is a harmless snake. It kills poison snakes. It kills the copperhead. It catches more mice from the fields than a cat.”
“别弄死这条蛇，”我说。“黑蛇是无害的。它可以消灭毒蛇。它能杀死铜头蛇。它在田里抓的老鼠比猫还要多。”
I could see the snake didn't want to fight the dog. The snake wanted to get away. Bob wouldn't let it. I wondered why it was crawling toward a heap of black loamy（夹沙松土的） earth at the bench（平而狭的高地） of the hill. I wondered why it had come from the chestnut oak sprouts and the matted greenbriars（杂生的荆棘） on the cliff. I looked as the snake lifted its pretty head in response to one of Bob's jumps. “It's not a bull blacksnake,” I said. “It's a she-snake（雌蛇）. Look at the white on her throat.”
看得出蛇不想与狗争斗。它想逃走。但鲍勃不放过它。我不明白它为什么一直向山顶平狭地的一个黑色松土堆爬去。我不明白它为什么从悬崖边的橡树嫩枝及杂生的荆棘中爬出来。我看着它仰起漂亮的头对鲍勃的跳跃做出反应。这不是一条雄黑蛇。"我说。“是条雌蛇，看它咽部有一块白。”
“A snake is an enemy to me,” my father snapped. “I hate a snake. Kill it, Bob. Go in there and get that snake and quit playing with it!”
“蛇是我的敌人。”父亲厉声说道。“我恨蛇。咬死它，鲍勃。去，抓住它，不要同它玩了。”
Bob obeyed my father. I hated to see him take this snake by the throat. She was so beautifully poised in the sunlight. Bob grabbed the white patch on her throat. He cracked her long body like an ox whip in the wind. He cracked it against the wind only. The blood spurted（喷出） from her fine-curved throat. Something hit against my legs like pellets（小团，小球）. Bob threw the snake down. I looked to see what had struck my legs. It was snake eggs. Bob had slung（掷，抛） them from her body. She was going to the sand heap to lay her eggs, where the sun is the setting-hen（进行孵化的母鸡，此处指太阳） that warms them and hatches them.
