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I had once a favorite black hen, "a great beauty," as she was called by everyone, and so I thought her;
我曾經有一只最喜愛的黑色大母雞，名字叫“大美人”，人們都這么叫她，
her feathers were so jetty, and her topping so white and full!
她真是一只美麗的大母雞。身上的羽毛漆黑，頭頂上的羽毛又白又密！
She knew my voice as well as any dog, and used to run cackling and bustling to my hand to receive the fragments, that I never failed to collect from the breakfast table for "Yarico," as she was called.
她的聽覺像狗一樣靈敏，能聽出我的聲音，常常咯咯叫著，跑著到我的手上啄食，我從不忘記拾起桌上的剩飯給雅麗克，雅麗克是她的名字。
Yarico, by the time she was a year old, hatched a respectable family of chickens;
那時雅麗克已經一歲了，她已經孵育了一大群小雞；
little, cowering, timid things at first, but, in due time, they became fine chubby ones;
這些小東西一開始還躡手躡腳的，膽子很小，可是漸漸地，變得胖乎乎的；
and old Norah said, "If I could only keep Yarico out of the copse, it would do; but the copse is full of weasels and of foxes.
老諾拉說：“我得讓雅麗克離小樹林遠點，那里都是黃鼬和狐貍。
I have driven her back twenty times; but she watches till some one goes out of the gate, and then she's off again.
我把她趕回來二十次了；可是她專門瞧著人出門的時候溜出去。
It is always the case with young hens, Miss; they think they know better than their keepers; and nothing cures them but losing a brood or two of chickens.
小姐，小母雞可都這樣；她們自以為比主人聰明；不丟一兩窩小雞她們可記不住。
I have often thought since that young people, as well as young hens, buy their experience equally dear.
此后我就常想，年輕人和小母雞一樣，買個教訓總要花上大價錢。
One morning, after breakfast, I went to seek my favorite in the poultry yard; plenty of hens were there, but no Yarico.
一天上午，早飯后，我到養殖場找這只我最喜愛的大母雞；很多母雞都在那里，卻不見了雅麗克。
The gate was open, and, as I concluded she had sought the forbidden copse, I proceeded there, accompanied by the yard mastiff, a noble fellow, steady and sagacious as a judge.
門開著，我判斷她一定是偷著去禁地了，我朝那邊走，馬士提夫獒犬跟著我；雄赳赳的，步伐穩重，目光敏銳，神態莊重，像法官一樣。
