美國語文第四冊 第144期：鳥類趣聞（04）
How wonderful is that instinct by which the bird of passage performs its annual migration!
候鳥具有每年準(zhǔn)確遷徙的驚人本能！
But how still more wonderful is it when the bird, after its voyage of thousands of miles has been performed,
可是當(dāng)鳥兒在飛行了上千里，在新家過冬后，
and new lands visited, returns to the precise window or eaves where, the summer before, it first enjoyed existence!
依然能準(zhǔn)確地飛回前一年夏天出生的那個窗戶或屋檐，這是多么奇妙??！
And yet, such is unquestionably the fact.
可是，毫無疑問事實就是這樣。
Four brothers had watched with indignation the felonious attempts of a sparrow to possess himself of the nest of a house martin, in which lay its young brood of four unfledged birds.
四兄弟憤怒地看到一只麻雀試圖奪取一只燕子的巢窠，里面有四只羽翼未豐的小燕子。
The little fellows considered themselves as champions for the bird which had come over land and sea, and chosen its shelter under their mother's roof.
四兄弟覺得自己是英雄，因為鳥兒飛躍陸地和海洋后，選擇了自家的屋頂。
They therefore marshaled themselves with blowguns, to execute summary vengeance; but their well-meant endeavors brought destruction upon the mud-built domicile they wished to defend.
因此他們拿著氣槍匆忙向麻雀討公道，可是他們的嘗試給他們要保衛(wèi)的用泥土壘成的巢窠帶來了災(zāi)難。
Their artillery loosened the foundations, and down it came, precipitating its four little inmates to the ground.
巢窠的根基被炮火動搖了，掉落在地上，四只雛燕摔到了地上。
The mother of the children, Good Samaritan-like, replaced the little outcasts in their nest, and set it in the open window of an unoccupied chamber.
四兄弟的媽媽，就像善良的撒馬利亞人一樣，把四只雛燕放回巢窠，放在一扇未住人的房間的窗戶上方。
The parent birds, after the first terror was over, did not appear disconcerted by the change of situation,
經(jīng)歷了最初的恐慌后，成年燕子沒有因為環(huán)境改變而顯得不安，
but hourly fed their young as usual, and testified, by their unwearied twitter of pleasure, the satisfaction and confidence they felt.
仍然每隔一小時給小鳥喂食，不知疲倦唧唧喳喳的歡叫著，充滿滿足和信心。
There the young birds were duly fledged, and from that window they began their flight, and entered upon life.
在這個窗戶上方四只小鳥長大了。
The next spring, with the reappearance of the martins, came four, which familiarly flew into the chamber, visited all the walls, and expressed their recognition by the most clamorous twitterings of joy.
第二年春天，隨著燕子遷徙歸來，四只燕子熟悉地飛到那個房間的窗口，在墻上飛來飛去，唧唧喳喳地，顯得非常熟悉。
They were, without question, the very birds that had been bred there the preceding year.
毫無疑問，這是頭一年在那里出生的四只雛燕。
