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Lesson 66 Eggs And Chicks
第66課 雞蛋與小雞
All birds lay eggs. But just as birds differ very much in size, so do their eggs. The eggs of the little humming-bird are no bigger than peas, while each egg laid by the ostrich is as big as twenty-four hen's eggs.
所有的鳥類都會下蛋。不過, 鳥類的體型差異巨大, 所以它們的蛋同樣大小不一。嬌小的蜂鳥產下的蛋如同豌豆般大小, 而鴕鳥的蛋卻足足有二十四個雞蛋那么大。
In spring the wild birds of our woods and hedges build neat little nests of twigs and hay and straw, and line them with wool and feathers. Then they lay their eggs; sometimes only two or three, and sometimes twice as many, in each nest. These eggs are nearly always beautifully marked with various colours.
每逢春天來臨之際, 樹林與草叢中的野生鳥類都會用小樹枝、干草與麥桿筑造精巧的小窩, 在其中鋪墊上柔軟的羊毛及羽毛。然后, 它們就在上面生蛋。有時候, 一個鳥巢中可能只有兩三顆蛋, 而有時候蛋的數量則能夠達到兩倍之多。這些鳥蛋總是能夠呈現出各種美麗的顏色。
We should hardly think it possible that any child would like to rob the birds of their pretty eggs, and yet many children are wicked enough to do so. The eggs are of no use to the children, and are soon broken and lost, while the birds miss them very much.
我們很難想象, 哪個孩子會從這些小鳥手中搶奪它們心愛的鳥蛋。然而, 的確還有很多淘氣的孩子會這樣做。這些鳥蛋對于他們來說毫無用處, 很快就會被打碎或者弄丟, 而鳥媽媽們則只能傷心不已。
But with our tame fowls it is quite different. We make nests for them, and feed and care for them, and they lay so many eggs that they do not show any signs of distress when we take them away. Wild birds lay only a few eggs during the spring, but hens lay eggs nearly all the year round.
然而, 對于那些我們馴養的家禽來說, 情況就不一樣了。我們會給它們搭建巢穴、喂食并悉心照料。而它們則會生下很多的蛋, 當我們把這些蛋都取走時, 它們也不會有任何不安的跡象。野生鳥類只會在春季生下幾顆蛋而已, 但家養的母雞幾乎一年到頭都能夠下蛋。
Let us look well at a hen's egg. Its colour is white, and its surface is full of very small holes or pores. These pores let in air for the chick inside to breathe.
讓我們仔細觀察一下雞蛋。它白色的外殼上布滿了很小的孔洞也叫氣孔, 蛋殼里面的小雞就通過這些氣孔進行呼吸。
The egg is oval in shape, but it is more pointed at the one end than at the other. This shape prevents it from rolling out of the nest so easily as it would do if it were shaped like a ball. The oval shape also makes the egg very strong. A man may squeeze the ends of an egg as hard as he can between the fingers and thumb of one hand without breaking it; but it is easily broken by pressing on its side, or by a sudden tap.
雞蛋呈橢圓形, 不過其中一端比另一端稍尖。如果是圓形的話, 雞蛋就很容易滾到窩的外面, 但是這種橢圓形結構卻能夠有效避免此類情況。此外, 這樣的結構還可以讓雞蛋更加結實。如果我們用一只手攥住雞蛋的兩端, 無論怎樣用力, 都很難把它捏碎。然而, 如果按住雞蛋一側或者突然敲擊, 就能夠輕而易舉地把它弄破
