吹小号的天鹅 第37期：爱情(4)

For birds, spring is the time to find a mate.

对鸟类来说，春天是求偶的季节。

The warm sweet airs of spring stir strange feelings inyoung swans.

温和甜美的春风使年轻的天鹅们心里漾起一种奇特的感觉。

The males begin to notice the females. They show offin front of them.

雄天鹅开始留意雌天鹅了。他们在她们面前炫示着。

The females begin to notice the males, too, but theypretend they are not noticing anything at all. Theyact very coy.

雌天鹅也开始留意雄天鹅了，不过她们却装出一副什么都不在意的样子。她们表现得非常羞涩。

Louis felt so queer one day, he knew he must be in love.

有一天，路易斯有种奇怪的感觉，他意识到他一定是恋爱了。

And he knew which bird he was in love with.

他知道他所爱的是哪一只鸟儿。

Whenever he swam past her, he could feel his heart beat faster,

每当她游过她的身边，他都会感到心跳加速，

and his mind was full of thoughts of love and desire.

心中充满了情思和渴望。

He thought he had never seen such a beautiful young female swan.

他觉得自己从没见过一只这样美的年轻雌天鹅。

She was a trifle smaller than the others,

她比其他的雌天鹅更娇小，

and she seemed to have a more graceful neck and more attractive ways than any of his otherfriends on the lake.

也比他在湖上的其他朋友有着更雅洁的脖子和更妩媚的神态。

Her name was Serena.

她叫塞蕾娜。

He wished he could do something to attract her attention.

他希望能做出些吸引她的事情。

He wanted her for his mate but was unable to tell her so because he couldn't make a sound.

他想要她做他的爱侣，可却无法对她倾诉，因为他不能发声。

He swam in circles around her and pumped his neck up and down

他在她身边一圈圈地游着，上下摆动着他的脖子，

and made a great show of diving and staying down to prove he could hold his breath longerthan any other bird.

拼命炫耀着他的潜水本领，在水下长时间呆着，想借此显示他能比其他的鸟儿屏息得更久。

But the little female paid no attention to Louis's antics. She pretended he didn't exist.

可这只小雌天鹅根本不去注意路易斯的这些古怪举动。她装出一副他根本不存在的样子。

When Louis's mother found out that Louis was courting a young female,

当路易斯的妈妈注意到路易斯在追求一只年轻的雌天鹅时，

she hid behind some bulrushes and watched what was going on.

便躲到几丛灯心草后面观察事情的进展如何。

She could tell that he was in love by the way he acted, and she saw that he was having nosuccess.

从路易斯的表现看来，她明白他一定是恋爱了，可是她却看不到他有任何成功的迹象。

Once, in desperation, Louis swam up to Serena, his beloved, and made a bow.

有一次，近乎绝望的路易斯游到他所爱的塞蕾娜身边，鞠了一个躬。

His slate, as usual, was around his neck.

像通常一样，他的石板仍挂在他的脖子上。

Taking the chalk pencil in his mouth, he wrote "I love you" on the slate and showed it to her.

他用嘴叼起那枝石笔，在石板上写了“我爱你” 这几个字，然后举给她看。

She stared at it for a moment, then swam away.

她看了一眼，然后又游开了。

She didn't know how to read, and although she rather liked the looks of a young cob who hadsomething hanging around his neck,

她不知道怎样阅读，尽管她相当喜欢这位脖子上挂着什么东西的年轻雄天鹅的外貌，

she couldn't really get interested in a bird that was unable to say anything.

可她却不会对一只什么话都不会说的鸟真正感兴趣。

A Trumpeter Swan that couldn't trumpet was a bust as far as she was concerned.

在她看来，一只号手天鹅若是不能吹号就只能算个摆设而已。