英國學(xué)生科學(xué)讀本 Lesson 42 調(diào)皮的麻雀(2)

In this way the sparrows do a great deal of good. If the grubs were not killed, they would eat up our garden plants, and the crops that grow in our fields.

這樣, 麻雀就做了不少好事!如果麻雀不吃小蟲子, 蟲子就會(huì)把我們菜園里長的蔬菜、農(nóng)田里生長的莊稼都吃光了。

In autumn and winter the sparrows feed on wheat and other kinds of grain. For that reason the farmers do not like sparrows, and shoot them whenever they can. But these greedy little birds do more good than harm after all.

秋天和冬天, 麻雀吃的是小麥和其他種類的谷粒。因?yàn)檫@個(gè)原因, 農(nóng)民不喜歡麻雀, 只要一有機(jī)會(huì)就開槍打麻雀。但這些貪婪的小鳥兒, 畢竟還是功大于過的。

Two sparrows were once watched while they were feeding their young ones, and it was found that they carried about forty grubs to the young birds every hour.

有人曾經(jīng)觀察過兩只麻雀給小麻雀喂食, 他們發(fā)現(xiàn), 每小時(shí)這兩只麻雀就給小鳥兒喂了40條小蟲子。

When we think how many sparrows there are in this country, we see that they must kill a very, very great number of grubs every day. If the farmers were to shoot all the sparrows, they would soon be very sorry for it, for all their crops would be eaten up by the grubs.

我們想想英國有多少只麻雀, 就能明白, 它們肯定每天都要?dú)⑺篮芏嗪芏嗟南x子。要是農(nóng)民把麻雀都打光了, 很快就該難過了, 因?yàn)樗麄兊那f稼就會(huì)被蟲子吃光了!

It is a cruel and wicked thing to throw a stone at a sparrow, or at any other bird. The stone might break its leg or its wing, and then the poor bird would die with great pain.

朝麻雀或者其他鳥兒扔石頭, 是一件殘忍的壞事。石頭可能會(huì)打壞它們的腿或者翅膀, 可憐的鳥兒就會(huì)非常痛苦地死去的。

 

英語美文