美国小学英语教材5:第243课 祖母的那不勒斯之旅(12)（在线收听）

Both boys, indeed, worked so hard and fast that their mother reminded them of an old saying:

事实上，这两个男孩学习都非常努力和迅速，以至于他们的母亲让他们想起一句老话：

Of a mulberry leaf and a little patience silk is made.

桑叶和一点耐心就做成了丝。

Patience indeed! Nothing else would bring those tiny, spoiled little creatures to the point of spinning their cocoons. Mother said that silkworms had even been known to go on hunger strikes. Ah, what uncertain creatures they were!

真的需要耐心！没有别的办法能把这些娇生惯养的小动物逼到结茧的地步。母亲说，蚕甚至会绝食。啊，他们是多么靠不住的生物啊！

In mid-July when cocoon-spinning time was approaching, the boys arranged branches and twigs upon the shelves, so that the silkworms might have something to which they could attach their silken threads. This was an anxious time, and, moreover, it was the time of wheat harvest, when Ugo, having cut the golden grain, needed the help of the boys to put it into shocks. Margaretta, too, gave a helping hand in the field one warm, sunny morning. The harvesters all sang as they worked; the two girls, busily braiding straw on the veranda, could hear the harvest song.

七月中旬，当结茧的时间临近的时候，孩子们把树枝和小树枝放在架子上，这样蚕就有了可以把丝线系在上面的东西。这是一个焦虑的时候，而且，这是小麦丰收的时候，乌戈砍下了金色的谷粒，需要孩子们的帮助来把它放在禾束堆中。在一个温暖、阳光明媚的早晨，玛格蕾塔也来帮忙了。收割的人都一边工作一边唱歌；两个姑娘在阳台上忙着编麦秆，听得见丰收的歌声。