英国语文第三册 第5期:蜂鸟

 　　LESSON 5 The humming-bird 第五课 蜂鸟

　　Under the shade of a tree, at the end of one of the twigs¹, hangs a tiny little nest. 在树荫下,树梢中,挂一个小巢.

　　It swings in the air, and is as light as a feather; for it is made chiefly of moss² and down. 在空中摇荡,它轻如鸿毛;它主要由苔藓构成.

　　It is very snug³; and within it lie two tiny eggs, of the size of peas, and as white as snow. 它非常舒适;在这躺两个小鸟蛋蛋,豌豆大小的,洁白如雪.

　　Watch a moment, and we shall see what bird it is that has built the nest; for she has only gone to have a sip⁴ of honey. 看一下,我们将看到什么鸟,建造了鸟巢,因为她只去喝花蜜.

　　It is a lovely place to watch in. Flowers scent⁵ the air. 这是一个可爱的地方.花香四溢.

　　Yonder is a deep wood; and strange flowers of every shape and size grow all about. 绿树成荫;奇花异遍地.

　　Some are like monkeys, some like bees, some like butterflies. These flowers are called orchids⁶. 有的像猴子,有的像蜜蜂,有的像蝴蝶.这些花叫做兰花.

　　They grow in England, only not nearly so large as in warm countries. 他们只生长在英格兰,在温暖的国家远没有这么大.

　　Hark! the bird is coming. It is the smallest bird in the whole world. 听!这只鸟来了.这是全世界最小的鸟.

　　Its body is no bigger than a hazel-nut. But its feathers are more lovely than I can describe. 它的身体是没有比榛子.但是比我可以描述它的羽毛更可爱.

　　It has a green crest⁷ on its head, which sparkles like a little star. 它头上有一个绿色的波峰,火花像个小明星.

　　The colours on its body are green, and gold, and purple. 身体的颜色是绿色的,黄金,和紫色.

　　You can scarcely tell where one ends and another begins. 你几乎很难辨别哪里开始,哪里结束.

　　If you look about, you will see more of these little creatures. 如果你看到,你会看到更多的这些小动物.

　　They are called humming-birds, and live in hot countries,—in India, as well as in America. 他们被称为只蜂鸟,生活在炎热的国家,像在印度,以及在美国.

　　The woods and groves⁸ are alive with them. They flash about here and there, clad in all the colours of the rainbow. 它们给深林增添了活力.他们窜来窜去,,穿着彩虹的所有颜色.

　　The eye is never tired of watching them. 看着他们,眼睛永远不会累.

　　The humming-bird in the picture is sitting on its eggs, to hatch its young ones. 图片上是一只蜂鸟坐在它的卵上,孵化它下一代.

　　When the mother bird is tired, her mate comes and takes her place. 当鸟妈妈累了,她的伴侣就会代替她.

　　Then up she springs, and darts⁹ away into the woods, where she chooses some flower that has honey in it. 然后飞起她的泉水,和飞镖走到树林里,她选择一些有蜜的花.

　　As she hovers¹⁰ in the air, she moves her wings about so quickly that you can hardly see them. 当她在空中盘旋着,她煽动她的翅膀太快,你很难看到她们.

　　Her wings make a humming sound as she hovers over the flower; and it is from this that she gets her name. 她的翅膀发出嗡嗡作响的声音徘徊在花;丛中,并从这个,她得到了她的名字.

　　But she is thinking now about the insects. 但她现在想着她的昆虫.

　　There are a great many of these, hidden at the bottom of the flower. 有很多这样的虫子隐藏在花的底部.

　　She soon spies them out, and she darts her long tongue into the midst of them. 她很快发现,她伸出长舌.

　　Some insects stick to it; for the tongue is sticky, as if it had been rubbed with glue. 一些昆虫粘着花瓣,舌头是粘性的,好像被抹上胶水.

　　The insects are drawn¹¹ into her mouth; she swallows them, and then darts out her tongue for more. 昆虫是卷入她的嘴,她吞下他们,然后快步吐出她的舌头.

　　All this time, she is hovering¹² over the flower, and humming with her wings. 她一直在花的上空,用她的翅膀嗡嗡作响.

　　When she has had enough of insects, she sips¹³ a little honey, and flies back to her nest. 当她已经吃够了昆虫、喝小口蜂蜜,就回巢.

1 twigs   

细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
• Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。

2 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

3 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

4 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

5 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

6 orchids   

n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She breeds orchids in her greenhouse. 她在温室里培育兰花。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

8 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

9 darts   

n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• His darts trophy takes pride of place on the mantelpiece. 他将掷镖奖杯放在壁炉顶上最显著的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I never saw so many darts in a bodice! 我从没见过紧身胸衣上纳了这么多的缝褶！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 hovers   

鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovers in the sky. 一只老鹰在天空盘旋。
• A hen hovers her chicks. 一只母鸡在孵小鸡。

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

13 sips   

n.小口喝，一小口的量( sip的名词复数 )v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• You must administer them slowly, allowing the child to swallow between sips. 你应慢慢给药，使小儿在吸吮之间有充分的时间吞咽。 来自辞典例句
• Emission standards applicable to preexisting stationary sources appear in state implementation plans (SIPs). 在《州实施计划》中出现了固定污染的排放标准。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法