The mother and the father birds brushed their wings against the young swallows and made them leave the telephone wire.
燕子爸爸和燕子媽媽用翅膀掠過小燕子,讓它們離開電線。
Then the whole family flew away together.
接著整個燕子家庭一起飛走了。
In a little while the mother swallow darted off by herself, and then flew back to one of the young birds.
不一會兒,燕子媽媽自己飛走了,然后又飛回到一只小燕子身旁。
She fluttered her wings to hold herself up, and held out an insect in her bill.
它拍打著雙翅,使自己在高處嘴里銜著一只昆蟲
Oh, how the little bird wished that he were sitting quietly in his nest.
啊,小燕子多么希望自己靜靜地坐在鳥巢里。
There it would be easy for him to get the insect, while here it was not easy at all.
在那里它可以毫不費勁的吃到昆蟲,而在這卻沒那么容易。
But his flying had made him very hungry indeed.
飛行卻是讓它感到非常地饑餓。
So he fluttered his wings to hold himself up, as his mother was doing, and snapped quickly with his little bill.
于是它像媽媽那樣拍打著翅膀,讓自己飛起來,用它的小嘴快速地捕捉食物。
To the young swallow's surprise, he caught the insect.
讓小燕子驚訝的是,它抓到了昆蟲。
And, best of all, he had now learned his first lesson in getting his food while he was in the air.
而最重要的一點是,它已經(jīng)學到了在空中取食的第一課。
The two other young birds learned the same lesson.
還有兩只小燕子也同樣學到了這一課。
After that, the mother and father birds made their children dart about, and showed them how to catch insects that were flying around.
在那之后,燕子爸爸和燕子媽媽會教它們的孩子敏捷地飛翔,教它們?nèi)绾卧陲w翔的時候捕捉昆蟲。
Never again did the young swallows wait for the older birds to bring them food.
小燕子再也不用等老燕子給它們帶食物了。
They had found out that it was far more fun to dart about in the air than to sit quietly in a nest or on a telephone wire.
它們發(fā)現(xiàn),在空中上下翻飛比靜靜的待在鳥巢里或站在電線上要有趣的多。
All summer long they darted here and there and filled their little crops with hundreds and hundreds of flies and other insects.
整個夏天它們便四處疾飛,用上百只蚊子和其它昆蟲塞滿了它們的小肚子。
But what did the swallows do when winter time came and there were no insects in the air?
冬天來臨的時候,沒有昆蟲了,但燕子們該怎么辦呢?
They flew far away to the South, where it is always warm.
它們要飛到很遠很遠的南方,那里的天氣總是很暖和。
In that land they found plenty of things to dart after in the bright sunshine.
在那片土地上它們會發(fā)現(xiàn),在燦爛的陽光下有許多東西可以捕捉。
There they stayed until spring came back to the North.
它們待在那里直到春天才回到北方。