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THE SONG SPARROW’S WORK
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In the forest where the birds live there is always work to do.
owl1 in tree with full moon behind

The woodpecker is a carpenter. He climbs up and down the trees and chops a hole in the trunk of one of them to make his home.

The crow flies down to the ground, and walks about in the fields.

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He is the birds’ farmer. Toward evening, when he cries, “Caw! Caw!” he means that the earth needs rain.

The owl is the night policeman. He watches the rats and mice, and keeps them out of the farmer’s fields.

The kingbirds are the soldiers. They fight the birds that come over from the next forest, and drive them away.

The hawks2 have sharp eyes, and can see a long way. They are the scouts3, and tell the soldiers when the enemy is coming.

The whip-poor-wills can see in the night, so they are the birds’ night watchmen.

The orioles are weavers4. They weave their nests, and hang them in the tallest trees.

One of the birds is a thief, and steals eggs from the nests of the other birds, but I shall not tell you his name.

So all of the birds have work to do in the forest.

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What do the song birds do? Ah! they have their work, too. They sing cheerfully while the other birds work, and make the hours short and the day happy.

They sing of the goodness of God, and of the beauty in the forest and sky.

If there were no song birds, the workers might forget all of these lovely things. Then their hearts would be as hard as the tree the woodpecker is chopping.

One spring morning the song birds were singing so beautifully that every one listened.

The woodpeckers cried, “Plitt! plitt!” The crows screamed, “Rah! rah!” and the blackbirds laughed with glee. This meant that they liked the songs.

In the nests were many baby birds. They liked to hear the songs, too, so they stretched up their little heads.

But they could not understand the songs about the sky and the forest. You see, they had not seen thesedecoration18decoration things yet, and they did not know what the songs meant.

The poor babies drooped5 their heads and were very sad.
bird on branch

There was one bird who thought of the babies in the nests, for he had a kind heart, and loved little things.

“I will fly down and sing for them,” he thought; “perhaps it will make them happy.”

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So he flew into a little bush, quite near the ground, and sang the sweetest song he knew. Over and over again he sang it, and the babies in the nests listened all the time.

“He is singing about the warm sunshine,” said the baby robins6.

“He is singing about rocking in this beautiful cradle,” said the baby orioles.

Then, as the song grew sweeter and sweeter, “Listen, listen!” they cried. “Now he is singing about our mother. That is the best song of all.”

So the song sparrow sang in the little bush, telling the babies about the sun and the breezes and their mothers’ love.

He waked them in the morning; he sang them to sleep at night.

Have you never heard him singing, “Sweet, sweet, sweet, loving little mother, sweet”?

—Etta Austin Blaisdell.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 owl 7KFxk     
n.猫头鹰,枭
参考例句:
  • Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
  • I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚,经常半夜后才睡觉。
2 hawks c8b4f3ba2fd1208293962d95608dd1f1     
鹰( hawk的名词复数 ); 鹰派人物,主战派人物
参考例句:
  • Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
  • Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。
3 scouts e6d47327278af4317aaf05d42afdbe25     
侦察员[机,舰]( scout的名词复数 ); 童子军; 搜索; 童子军成员
参考例句:
  • to join the Scouts 参加童子军
  • The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组,然后开始巡逻这个地区。
4 weavers 55d09101fa7c612133657b412e704736     
织工,编织者( weaver的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The Navajo are noted as stockbreeders and skilled weavers, potters, and silversmiths. 纳瓦霍人以豢养家禽,技术熟练的纺织者,制陶者和银匠而著名。
  • They made out they were weavers. 他们假装是织布工人。
5 drooped ebf637c3f860adcaaf9c11089a322fa5     
弯曲或下垂,发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。
  • The flowers drooped in the heat of the sun. 花儿晒蔫了。
6 robins 130dcdad98696481aaaba420517c6e3e     
n.知更鸟,鸫( robin的名词复数 );(签名者不分先后,以避免受责的)圆形签名抗议书(或请愿书)
参考例句:
  • The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后,Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句


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