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LESSON 41 The swallow
第四十一課 燕子
Those who have watched swallows closely, think them weak of flight and less vigorous when they first appear.
那些密切關注燕子的人，第一次看到它們時，會認為它們飛行能力弱，而且沒什么活力。
They could hardly be tired with the journey! What is a thousand miles to those light and graceful wings, which can with ease fly sixty miles an hour?
它們在旅途中幾乎不會感到疲倦！那輕巧而優美的翅膀，可以以每小時六十英里的速度輕松飛行，而這一千英里又算什么呢？
Probably when they first return, insects are not plentiful enough to give them their full supply of food:
或許當它們第一次返回時，昆蟲還不足以給它們提供充足的食物：
at any rate, it is two or three weeks before they think of beginning house-keeping.
無論如何，它們要兩三個星期后才開始考慮養家糊口。
When they do begin, there is no more play, but real and earnest business.
它們開始筑巢時，就不再玩耍了，而是認真地辛苦勞作。
You must not think they are only amusing themselves as they dash over your heads, and you fancy what an easy life they must have of it,
你一定不要以為它們只是出于自娛自樂而在你頭上俯沖，你想象它們肯定過著簡單輕松的生活，
and how fresh the air must feel to them, and how pleasant it must be to have nothing to do but to play.
它們一定可以感受到新鮮的空氣，除了玩耍外什么都不做一定非常愉快。
No! life is work to them; as it is, or ought to be, to every other living creature.
不是的！生活對它們而言是一種工作，就像對所有其他生物一樣。
Their feet are so formed that they can only with difficulty rise from the ground, so that they rarely settle.
它們腳的形狀，使它們從地面升起時比較困難，所以它們很少下落。
But there is no need: the sky is their home; and their eating, drinking, washing, and nearly all the occupations of their lives, are done upon the wing.
但也沒有這樣做的必要：天空就是它們的家；它們進食、飲水、洗漱，以及幾乎生活中的所有日常活動，都能在羽翼下完成。
The chimney-swallow builds her nest in chimneys, five or six feet down!
有一種燕子將巢建在煙囪上五六英尺高的地方！
The nest is made of clay or mud, or like the house-martin's, and lined with grass and feathers.
巢是由粘土、泥筑成，或是像毛腳燕的巢那樣，里面則鋪著草和羽毛。
There she lays five or six eggs thickly spotted with pink.
然后，她將在巢里產下五六個粉紅色的蛋。
