LESSON 30 The sky-lark
第三十课 云雀
Where does the song come from? We are sitting on the green, open down.
歌声来自何方?我们正坐在满是青草的斜坡上。
There are no trees near us to shelter any birds;
附近没有树荫可以遮蔽任何鸟儿,
not a living creature is to be seen anywhere, except the shepherd boy, who lies on the grass, gazing up into the sky.
除了躺在草地上望着天空发呆的牧童,附近没有任何生物。
Yet a song we do hear, certainly,—a happy, joyous song:
但是,我们确实听见了一首歌,一首欢快愉悦的歌:
the air seems quite full of it; where can the singer be?
空气中似乎弥漫着欢快愉悦,歌者可能在哪呢?
Look up, look up;
向上看,向上看啊;
it is the skylark's song, and there is the sky-lark itself,
是云雀在歌唱,它在空中飞行,
so high in the air that we can see it only as a dark speck against the white clouds over our heads.
飞得那么高,只能把它看作头顶白云上的一个黑点。
Now it has gone as high as it cares to go, and it is coming down again, down, down, singing all the while,
它正哼着歌,随心所欲地翱翔在空中,一会上升,一会又不断下降,
till it drops like a stone a little way from us, and we get a good look at our friend at last.
直到它像是一颗小石子那样落在我们身边,我们终于能好好瞧瞧这位朋友了。
A brown, sober-feathered bird, a spotted breast, with just a tinge of yellow upon it,
这是一只棕色的,有着朴实无华的羽毛的小鸟,胸口有浅黄色的斑点,
and a little crest upon its head—that is all. It has no particular beauty.
它的头上长着一个小小的冠——这就是它,并没有特别动人的美丽。