XX. A LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE.

It isn’t often a man can stand at his own drawing-room window and be the interested spectator at a combat of wild beasts, where one antagonist¹ not only conquers, but also fairly devours² the other! Yet such Roman sport I have just this moment been unlucky enough to witness. Unlucky enough, I say, because the victor did not first kill and then eat his victim, as any combatant with a spark of chivalry⁴ in his nature would have done, but slowly chewed him up alive before my eyes, with no more consideration for the feelings of the vanquished⁵ than if the unfortunate creature had been a vegetable. I don’t mean to pretend it was tiger versus⁶ cobra. The assailant was a thrush, the defender⁷ an earthworm. Now, thrushes, we all know, are sweet songsters when they have dined. Has not George Meredith hymned them, as Shelley the skylark? But if you want to see the poetry taken clean out of a thrush, just watch him as he catches and devours an earthworm! The poor unsuspicious annelid, feeling the joy of spring stir in his sluggish⁸ veins⁹, comes to the surface for a moment in search of those fallen leaves which form the staple¹⁰ of his blameless vegetarian¹¹ diet. No mole¹² shakes the earth; the sod is fresh and moist; here seems a propitious¹³ moment for an above-ground excursion. So the earthworm pokes¹⁴ out his head and peers around him inquiringly; peers, I venture to say, blind beast though he be, because his method of feeling his way and exploring by touch is so human and inquisitive¹⁶. But embodied¹⁷ Fate is on the watch, silent, keen-eyed, immovable; and no sooner does that slimy soul poke¹⁵ his nose above the ground than the thrush is upon him, quick and deadly as lightning. In one second the creature feels himself seized by one of his scaly¹⁸ rings, held fast in an iron vice¹⁹, and slowly chewed piecemeal²⁰ with the utmost deliberation. He wriggles²¹ and squirms, but all in vain; the thrush munches²² calmly on, now with this side of his bill, now that, drawing the worm ring by ring from the soil to which he desperately²³ clings, and enjoying him as he goes with most evident gusto.

Both are intruders here. When first we came to our hilltop there were no thrushes and no earthworms, no house-martins and no sparrows. But the building of one simple red-tiled cottage set up endless changes in the fauna²⁴ and flora²⁵. A whole revolution was inaugurated over a realm of three acres. The house-martins were the first to come; they settled in before us. Ancestral instinct has taught them to know well that where a house is built there will be eaves to nest under, and people will inhabit it, who throw about meat and fruit, which attract the flies; and flies are the natural diet of house-martins. The sparrows came next; but the thrushes loitered longer. And the manner of their coming was after this fashion—

The powers that be had decided²⁶ on a tennis-lawn. Previously²⁷ nothing but heather and gorse spread over the hilltop; that is the native vegetation of this light sandstone upland. But in order to have tennis you must needs have a sward; so, much against the grain, we grubbed up wild heath enough to make a court, and sowed it for a tennis-lawn. Grass cannot grow, however, on such poor light soil as suits heather best, so we imported a few cartloads of mould and manure²⁸ from a farm in the valley. With the mould came worms, who, finding a fair field, began to be fruitful and multiply and replenish²⁹ the earth with laudable rapidity. Few or no earthworms live in the shallow sand of the open moor³⁰; and, though a mole or two can just eke³¹ out a precarious³² living here and there in the softer and grassier³³ hollows—I see their mounds³⁴ every day as I cross the common—worms are not nearly abundant enough to tempt³⁵ the epicurean and greedy thrushes from the shelter of the valley. For the mole, you see, goes out hunting underground on the trail of the earthworm; but the thrush must needs depend upon the few stray stragglers which come to the surface morning and evening.

No sooner had worms begun to make castings on the lawn, however, than some Columbus thrush discovered a new world was opened to him. He and his mate took formal possession of the patch of green, which they hold as their own, using it regularly as a private hunting-ground. Every other tennis-lawn in the neighbourhood similarly supports its pair of thrushes, as (according to the poet) every rood of ground in England once “maintained its man.” One of our neighbours has three lawns, terraced off in steps, and each has been annexed³⁶ by a particular thrush family, which holds it stoutly³⁷ against all comers. It is a curious sight in spring, when the nestlings are young, to see the parent birds going carefully over the ground—surveying it in squares, as it were—the cock a little in front, the hen hopping³⁸ after him at some distance on one side, and making sure that not an inch of the superficial area remains³⁹ unhunted. They eat many snails⁴⁰, too, breaking the shells against big stones; and they hunt for slugs now and then in the moist ditch by the roadway. While the nestlings are unfledged the industry of the elder birds is ceaseless; for they lay in early spring, and have to rear their young while food is still far from cheap or abundant. And, oh! but it is a gruesome sight to see them teaching the young idea of their kind how to tackle a worm—how to drag him from his burrow⁴¹, ring after ring, as he struggles, to chop him up and mangle⁴² him till resistance and escape are absolutely hopeless, and then to devour³ him piecemeal. But in autumn the fierce heart of the carnivore softens⁴³; worms being then scarce, he condescends⁴⁴ to berries.

1 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

2 devours   

吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. 若有人想要害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌。
• It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs. 他本身的肢体要被吞吃，死亡的长子要吞吃他的肢体。

3 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

4 chivalry   

n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤

参考例句：

• The Middle Ages were also the great age of chivalry.中世纪也是骑士制度盛行的时代。
• He looked up at them with great chivalry.他非常有礼貌地抬头瞧她们。

5 vanquished   

v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制

参考例句：

• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I vanquished her coldness with my assiduity. 我对她关心照顾从而消除了她的冷淡。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

8 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

9 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

11 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

12 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

13 propitious   

adj.吉利的；顺利的

参考例句：

• The circumstances were not propitious for further expansion of the company.这些情况不利于公司的进一步发展。
• The cool days during this week are propitious for out trip.这种凉爽的天气对我们的行程很有好处。

14 pokes   

v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句

15 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

16 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

17 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

19 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

20 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。

21 wriggles   

n.蠕动，扭动( wriggle的名词复数 )v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的第三人称单数 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• Each tail piece wriggles to wholly confuse and distract an attacker. 但是与其他的蜥蜴不同，玻璃蜥蜴的尾巴会逐段的散成碎片，每段碎片都在扭动，以迷惑攻击者，分散其注意力。 来自互联网
• No turning back. He wriggles into the pipe and starts crawling, plastic bag dragging behind. 没有回头路，安迪钻进下水管开始爬行，塑料袋拖在后面。 来自互联网

22 munches   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He tried to talk between munches on the sandwich. 他试图在吃三明治的当间儿讲话。 来自互联网
• A flying squirrel munches a meal on terra firma. 一只鼯鼠在地上贪婪的咀嚼着它的食物。 来自互联网

23 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

24 fauna   

n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系

参考例句：

• This National Park is an area with unique fauna and flora.该国家公园区域内具有独特的动物种群和植物种群。
• Fauna is a biological notion means all the animal life in a particular region or period. 动物群是一个生物学的概念，指的是一个特定时期或者地区的所有动物。

25 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。

26 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

27 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

28 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

29 replenish   

vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满

参考例句：

• I always replenish my food supply before it is depleted.我总是在我的食物吃完之前加以补充。
• We have to import an extra 4 million tons of wheat to replenish our reserves.我们不得不额外进口四百万吨小麦以补充我们的储备。

30 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

31 eke   

v.勉强度日，节约使用

参考例句：

• They had to eke out a livinga tiny income.他们不得不靠微薄收入勉强度日。
• We must try to eke out our water supply.我们必须尽量节约用水。

32 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

33 grassier   

adj.被草覆盖的，长满草的( grassy的比较级 )

参考例句：

34 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

35 tempt   

vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣

参考例句：

• Nothing could tempt him to such a course of action.什么都不能诱使他去那样做。
• The fact that she had become wealthy did not tempt her to alter her frugal way of life.她有钱了，可这丝毫没能让她改变节俭的生活习惯。

36 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

37 stoutly   

adv.牢固地，粗壮的

参考例句：

• He stoutly denied his guilt.他断然否认自己有罪。
• Burgess was taxed with this and stoutly denied it.伯杰斯为此受到了责难，但是他自己坚决否认有这回事。

38 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

39 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

40 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

41 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。

42 mangle   

vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布

参考例句：

• New shoes don't cut,blister,or mangle his feet.新鞋子不会硌脚、起泡或让脚受伤。
• Mangle doesn't increase the damage of Maul and Shred anymore.裂伤不再增加重殴和撕碎的伤害。

43 softens   

（使）变软( soften的第三人称单数 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• Iron softens with heat. 铁受热就软化。
• Moonlight softens our faults; all shabbiness dissolves into shadow. 月光淡化了我们的各种缺点，所有的卑微都化解为依稀朦胧的阴影。 来自名作英译部分

44 condescends   

屈尊，俯就( condescend的第三人称单数 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲

参考例句：

• Our teacher rarely condescends to speak with us outside of class. 我们老师很少在课堂外屈尊与我们轻松地谈话。
• He always condescends to his inferiors. 他对下属总是摆出施惠于人的态度。