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For birds, spring is the time to find a mate.
對鳥類來說，春天是求偶的季節。
The warm sweet airs of spring stir strange feelings in young swans.
溫和甜美的春風使年輕的天鵝們心里漾起一種奇特的感覺。
The males begin to notice the females. They show off in front of them.
雄天鵝開始留意雌天鵝了。他們在她們面前炫示著。
The females begin to notice the males, too, but they pretend they are not noticing anything at all. They act very coy.
雌天鵝也開始留意雄天鵝了，不過她們卻裝出一副什么都不在意的樣子。她們表現得非常羞澀。
Louis felt so queer one day, he knew he must be in love.
有一天，路易斯有種奇怪的感覺，他意識到他一定是戀愛了。
And he knew which bird he was in love with.
他知道他所愛的是哪一只鳥兒。
Whenever he swam past her, he could feel his heart beat faster,
每當她游過她的身邊，他都會感到心跳加速，
and his mind was full of thoughts of love and desire.
心中充滿了情思和渴望。
He thought he had never seen such a beautiful young female swan.
他覺得自己從沒見過一只這樣美的年輕雌天鵝。
She was a trifle smaller than the others,
她比其他的雌天鵝更嬌小，
and she seemed to have a more graceful neck and more attractive ways than any of his other friends on the lake.
也比他在湖上的其他朋友有著更雅潔的脖子和更嫵媚的神態。
Her name was Serena.
她叫塞蕾娜。
He wished he could do something to attract her attention.
他希望能做出些吸引她的事情。
He wanted her for his mate but was unable to tell her so because he couldn't make a sound.
他想要她做他的愛侶，可卻無法對她傾訴，因為他不能發聲。
He swam in circles around her and pumped his neck up and down
他在她身邊一圈圈地游著，上下擺動著他的脖子，
and made a great show of diving and staying down to prove he could hold his breath longer than any other bird.
拼命炫耀著他的潛水本領，在水下長時間呆著，想借此顯示他能比其他的鳥兒屏息得更久。
But the little female paid no attention to Louis's antics. She pretended he didn't exist.
可這只小雌天鵝根本不去注意路易斯的這些古怪舉動。她裝出一副他根本不存在的樣子。
When Louis's mother found out that Louis was courting a young female,
當路易斯的媽媽注意到路易斯在追求一只年輕的雌天鵝時，
she hid behind some bulrushes and watched what was going on.
便躲到幾叢燈心草后面觀察事情的進展如何。
She could tell that he was in love by the way he acted, and she saw that he was having no success.
從路易斯的表現看來，她明白他一定是戀愛了，可是她卻看不到他有任何成功的跡象。
Once, in desperation, Louis swam up to Serena, his beloved, and made a bow.
有一次，近乎絕望的路易斯游到他所愛的塞蕾娜身邊，鞠了一個躬。
His slate, as usual, was around his neck.
像通常一樣，他的石板仍掛在他的脖子上。
Taking the chalk pencil in his mouth, he wrote "I love you" on the slate and showed it to her.
他用嘴叼起那枝石筆，在石板上寫了“我愛你” 這幾個字，然后舉給她看。
She stared at it for a moment, then swam away.
她看了一眼，然后又游開了。
She didn't know how to read, and although she rather liked the looks of a young cob who had something hanging around his neck,
她不知道怎樣閱讀，盡管她相當喜歡這位脖子上掛著什么東西的年輕雄天鵝的外貌，
she couldn't really get interested in a bird that was unable to say anything.
可她卻不會對一只什么話都不會說的鳥真正感興趣。
A Trumpeter Swan that couldn't trumpet was a bust as far as she was concerned.
在她看來，一只號手天鵝若是不能吹號就只能算個擺設而已。
