英国学生科学读本 第42期:调皮的麻雀(2)

 　　In this way the sparrows² 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.

　　这样, 麻雀就做了不少好事！如果麻雀不吃小虫子, 虫子就会把我们菜园里长的蔬菜、农田里生长的庄稼都吃光了。

　　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, 麻雀吃的是小麦和其他种类的谷粒。因为这个原因, 农民不喜欢麻雀, 只要一有机会就开枪打麻雀。但这些贪婪的小鸟儿, 毕竟还是功大于过的。

　　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.

　　有人曾经观察过两只麻雀给小麻雀喂食, 他们发现, 每小时这两只麻雀就给小鸟儿喂了40条小虫子。

　　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.

　　我们想想英国有多少只麻雀, 就能明白, 它们肯定每天都要杀死很多很多的虫子。要是农民把麻雀都打光了, 很快就该难过了, 因为他们的庄稼就会被虫子吃光了！

　　It is a cruel and wicked³ thing to throw a stone at a sparrow¹, or at any other bird. The stone might break its leg or its wing, and then the poor bird would die with great pain.

　　朝麻雀或者其他鸟儿扔石头, 是一件残忍的坏事。石头可能会打坏它们的腿或者翅膀, 可怜的鸟儿就会非常痛苦地死去的。

1 sparrow   

n.麻雀，雀型鸟类

参考例句：

• The boy has got a hen sparrow.那男孩抓到一只雌雀。
• A sparrow may be small but it has all the vital organs.麻雀虽小,五脏俱全。

2 sparrows   

n.麻雀( sparrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He flung a stone at the sparrows,he missed,scaring all the sparrows away. 他投石子打麻雀，没有击中，把麻雀都吓飞了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I used to snare small birds such as sparrows. 我曾常用罗网捕捉麻雀等小鸟。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wicked   

adj.邪恶的，恶劣的，缺德的；淘气的

参考例句：

• Let everyone know all the wicked things she has done.把她干的坏事给大家抖搂抖搂。
• The wicked must be wiped out.恶人必须除掉。