英语博客：A feather nest.

 

图片1

　　It's time that I bought a new camera. I need a digital that has a decent zoom¹. I realized that the other day when I was outside, trying to get a good shot of two birds who were nesting. I had been busy throwing the ball to our dogs, when I saw a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to see what it was, I saw a bird, obviously the male, sitting on top of the bird house, with a beak² full of white feathers. There were so many of them, that they covered half of his body. He had seen me looking at him, and was nervously³ twitching⁵ his head back and forth⁶, waiting for an opportunity to get into the house in order to carry on with his project. The female was off to the right; she was hard to see because her coloring was so pale. I inched my way forward with the camera already in focus and zoomed⁷ as far as it could go. However, these smart, nervous little creatures aren't stupid. Their eyes were fixed⁸ on me, and they didn't go anywhere near their birdhouse entrance while I was around. They would fly off and observe me from a distant tree. So, I would back off each time and wait for them to return. This went on a few times, until I realised that I was getting nowhere. So, I did a balancing act on the edge of an outside reclining chair, whilst leaning on a wall, holding the camera around the corner towards the birds. I couldn't even see what I was taking a picture of; I just knew that I had more of a chance of getting a good shot if the birds couldn't see me. I risked my own health for the sake of art, people; I hope you appreciate it. Anyway, I got a fairly good picture of the busy parents-to-be, making the nest cosy⁹ for their future chicks. It was worth the danger. But next time, I'll just get a better camera.
Grammar notes.
Useful expressions: out of the corner of (someone's) eye, decent, to twitch⁴, male and female.
1. He was hiding, but I saw his red shoes out of the corner of my eye.
2. You really should buy yourself a decent suit for the interview; give a good impression.
3. My eye has been twitching the whole morning; it's really annoying.
4. If you want puppies you need to buy a male for your female, you know.

1 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

2 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

3 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

4 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

5 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 zoomed   

v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

9 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。