美国语文第四册 第141期：鸟类趣闻（01）
I had once a favorite black hen, "a great beauty," as she was called by everyone, and so I thought her;
我曾经有一只最喜爱的黑色大母鸡，名字叫“大美人”，人们都这么叫她，
her feathers were so jetty, and her topping so white and full!
她真是一只美丽的大母鸡。身上的羽毛漆黑，头顶上的羽毛又白又密！
She knew my voice as well as any dog, and used to run cackling and bustling to my hand to receive the fragments, that I never failed to collect from the breakfast table for "Yarico," as she was called.
她的听觉像狗一样灵敏，能听出我的声音，常常咯咯叫着，跑着到我的手上啄食，我从不忘记拾起桌上的剩饭给雅丽克，雅丽克是她的名字。
Yarico, by the time she was a year old, hatched a respectable family of chickens;
那时雅丽克已经一岁了，她已经孵育了一大群小鸡；
little, cowering, timid things at first, but, in due time, they became fine chubby ones;
这些小东西一开始还蹑手蹑脚的，胆子很小，可是渐渐地，变得胖乎乎的；
and old Norah said, "If I could only keep Yarico out of the copse, it would do; but the copse is full of weasels and of foxes.
老诺拉说：“我得让雅丽克离小树林远点，那里都是黄鼬和狐狸。
I have driven her back twenty times; but she watches till some one goes out of the gate, and then she's off again.
我把她赶回来二十次了；可是她专门瞧着人出门的时候溜出去。
It is always the case with young hens, Miss; they think they know better than their keepers; and nothing cures them but losing a brood or two of chickens.
小姐，小母鸡可都这样；她们自以为比主人聪明；不丢一两窝小鸡她们可记不住。
I have often thought since that young people, as well as young hens, buy their experience equally dear.
此后我就常想，年轻人和小母鸡一样，买个教训总要花上大价钱。
One morning, after breakfast, I went to seek my favorite in the poultry yard; plenty of hens were there, but no Yarico.
一天上午，早饭后，我到养殖场找这只我最喜爱的大母鸡；很多母鸡都在那里，却不见了雅丽克。
The gate was open, and, as I concluded she had sought the forbidden copse, I proceeded there, accompanied by the yard mastiff, a noble fellow, steady and sagacious as a judge.
门开着，我判断她一定是偷着去禁地了，我朝那边走，马士提夫獒犬跟着我；雄赳赳的，步伐稳重，目光敏锐，神态庄重，像法官一样。
