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Both boys, indeed, worked so hard and fast that their mother reminded them of an old saying:
事實上，這兩個男孩學習都非常努力和迅速，以至于他們的母親讓他們想起一句老話：
Of a mulberry leaf and a little patience silk is made.
桑葉和一點耐心就做成了絲。
Patience indeed! Nothing else would bring those tiny, spoiled little creatures to the point of spinning their cocoons. Mother said that silkworms had even been known to go on hunger strikes. Ah, what uncertain creatures they were!
真的需要耐心！沒有別的辦法能把這些嬌生慣養的小動物逼到結繭的地步。母親說，蠶甚至會絕食。啊，他們是多么靠不住的生物?。?/p>
In mid-July when cocoon-spinning time was approaching, the boys arranged branches and twigs upon the shelves, so that the silkworms might have something to which they could attach their silken threads. This was an anxious time, and, moreover, it was the time of wheat harvest, when Ugo, having cut the golden grain, needed the help of the boys to put it into shocks. Margaretta, too, gave a helping hand in the field one warm, sunny morning. The harvesters all sang as they worked; the two girls, busily braiding straw on the veranda, could hear the harvest song.
七月中旬，當結繭的時間臨近的時候，孩子們把樹枝和小樹枝放在架子上，這樣蠶就有了可以把絲線系在上面的東西。這是一個焦慮的時候，而且，這是小麥豐收的時候，烏戈砍下了金色的谷粒，需要孩子們的幫助來把它放在禾束堆中。在一個溫暖、陽光明媚的早晨，瑪格蕾塔也來幫忙了。收割的人都一邊工作一邊唱歌；兩個姑娘在陽臺上忙著編麥稈，聽得見豐收的歌聲。
