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Lesson20 Cocks and hens
第20課 公雞和母雞
I know that many boys and girls like to eat eggs for their breakfast and for their tea. They like puddings, too, that are made with eggs. Where do these eggs come from?
我知道, 很多小朋友在吃早飯, 喝下午茶的時候, 都喜歡吃雞蛋。小朋友們也喜歡吃布丁, 布丁也是雞蛋做的。那雞蛋是從哪兒來的呢?
They are laid by a bird called the hen. If the hen is allowed to sit on her eggs and keep them warm for three weeks, out of each egg there will come a little bird called a chick or chicken.
雞蛋是一種叫母雞的鳥下的。要是母雞能在蛋上, 坐上三個星期, 讓蛋保持溫暖, 每只蛋里就會鉆出一只小雞（chick或chicken）。
The father bird is called the cock. He is larger than his mate, the hen, and has very pretty feathers. Look at the feathers of his tail, how they bend over in an arch. On his head he has a red comb, and under his bill he has folds of soft skin called "wattles. "
公雞, 個頭比它的伴侶, 也就是母雞要大, 羽毛很漂亮。看看公雞尾巴上的羽毛, 彎成了一個圓弧形。頭上有一個紅色的雞冠（comb）；公雞的嘴下面也有幾片柔軟的皮膚, 叫做垂肉（wattles）。
Hens, and cocks, and chickens are all called poultry or fowls. They are kept by farmers in the country. A COCK（公雞）
公雞、母雞、小雞統稱雞, （poultry或fowls）, 是讓農民養在鄉村的。
The body of the common fowl is round and heavy. When fowls are well fed, their flesh is tender and very good to eat. Their wings are rather small for their heavy bodies, and so they cannot fly well.
一般的雞, 身體是圓滾滾的, 分量很沉。如果雞喂養得很好, 肉就很軟, 很好吃。雞翅膀對沉重的身體來說太小了, 所以雞的飛翔能力不強。
On each foot they have three toes in front and one toe behind; and there is a strong nail on each toe. Fowls get much of their food by scratching up insects and seeds out of the ground with their toes.
雞的每只腳上都長著三個向前的腳趾, 一個向后的腳趾, 每個腳趾上都有一個堅硬的爪子。雞用腳趾從土里刨出蟲子和谷粒來吃, 它的大部分食物都是這么來的。
The fowl has a very strong bill to crack seeds with, but it has no teeth for chewing its food. When the food is swallowed, it goes into a kind of little mill called the "gizzard. "
雞有一個特別堅硬的嘴, 學名叫“喙”（bill）；雞就是用喙來啄開谷粒的, 但雞并沒有牙, 不能嚼食物。食物咽下去之后, 會進入一個小小的加工廠, 名叫“砂囊”（gizzard）。
The gizzard is a strong bag. It is nearly full of stones and gravel which the fowl has swallowed. The food is squeezed and crushed among these stones, and made fine and soft.
砂囊是一個強壯的肌肉構成的袋子, 里面幾乎盛滿了雞吞下去的石頭和沙礫。食物就在這些石頭中間擠壓、磨碎, 變得又細又軟。
At night fowls go to roost. They do not lie down, but perch on a board or a branch. They get up as soon as the sun rises, and then the cock begins to crow. When he crows, he makes a funny noise like "cock-a-doodle-doo!"
晚上, 雞就回到雞窩（roost）里去了, 雞睡覺的時候并不躺下, 而是棲息在板子或者樹枝上。太陽一出來, 雞也就起來了, 公雞開始打鳴兒（crow）, 打鳴兒的聲音很好玩：“喔——喔喔——喔！”
The hen cackles when she has laid an egg. When she finds any food, she makes a clucking sound to call her chicks to come and eat it. When the chicks hear a noise, they run to the hen, and she covers them with her wings.
母雞下完了蛋以后, 會“咯咯”（cackle）地叫, 母雞在找到食物的時候, 也會發出另一種咯咯的聲音, 讓別的母雞過來吃食。小雞聽見什么響動, 就會朝母雞跑過來, 母雞會把它們蓋在自己的翅膀下面。
