美国语文第四册 第144期：鸟类趣闻（04）
How wonderful is that instinct by which the bird of passage performs its annual migration!
候鸟具有每年准确迁徙的惊人本能！
But how still more wonderful is it when the bird, after its voyage of thousands of miles has been performed,
可是当鸟儿在飞行了上千里，在新家过冬后，
and new lands visited, returns to the precise window or eaves where, the summer before, it first enjoyed existence!
依然能准确地飞回前一年夏天出生的那个窗户或屋檐，这是多么奇妙啊！
And yet, such is unquestionably the fact.
可是，毫无疑问事实就是这样。
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.
四兄弟愤怒地看到一只麻雀试图夺取一只燕子的巢窠，里面有四只羽翼未丰的小燕子。
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.
四兄弟觉得自己是英雄，因为鸟儿飞跃陆地和海洋后，选择了自家的屋顶。
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.
因此他们拿着气枪匆忙向麻雀讨公道，可是他们的尝试给他们要保卫的用泥土垒成的巢窠带来了灾难。
Their artillery loosened the foundations, and down it came, precipitating its four little inmates to the ground.
巢窠的根基被炮火动摇了，掉落在地上，四只雏燕摔到了地上。
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.
四兄弟的妈妈，就像善良的撒马利亚人一样，把四只雏燕放回巢窠，放在一扇未住人的房间的窗户上方。
The parent birds, after the first terror was over, did not appear disconcerted by the change of situation,
经历了最初的恐慌后，成年燕子没有因为环境改变而显得不安，
but hourly fed their young as usual, and testified, by their unwearied twitter of pleasure, the satisfaction and confidence they felt.
仍然每隔一小时给小鸟喂食，不知疲倦唧唧喳喳的欢叫着，充满满足和信心。
There the young birds were duly fledged, and from that window they began their flight, and entered upon life.
在这个窗户上方四只小鸟长大了。
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，随着燕子迁徙归来，四只燕子熟悉地飞到那个房间的窗口，在墙上飞来飞去，唧唧喳喳地，显得非常熟悉。
They were, without question, the very birds that had been bred there the preceding year.
毫无疑问，这是头一年在那里出生的四只雏燕。
