THE SONG OF THE BLACKBIRD

 As the poet passed the thorn-tree the blackbird sang.

 

"How ever do you do it?" the poet said, for he knew bird language.

 

"It was like this," said the blackbird. "It really was the most extraordinary thing. I made that song last Spring, it came to me all of a sudden¹. There was the most beautiful she-blackbird that the world has ever seen. Her eyes were blacker than lakes are at night, her feathers were blacker than the night itself, and nothing was as yellow as her beak²; she could fly much faster than the lightning. She was not an ordinary she-blackbird, there has never been any other like her at all. I did not dare³ go near her because she was so wonderful. One day last Spring when it got warm again—it had been cold, we ate berries⁴, things were quite different then, but Spring came and it got warm—one day I was thinking how wonderful she was and it seemed so extraordinary to think that I should ever have seen her, the only really wonderful she-blackbird in the world, that I opened my beak to give a shout, and then this song came, and there had never been anything like it before, and luckily I remembered it, the very song that I sang just now. But what is so extraordinary, the most amazing occurence of that marvellous⁵ day, was that no sooner had I sung the song than that very bird, the most wonderful she-blackbird in the world, flew right up to me and sat quite close to me on the same tree. I never remember such wonderful times as those.

 

"Yes, the song came in a moment, and as I was saying…."

 

And an old wanderer walking with a stick came by and the blackbird flew away, and the poet told the old man the blackbird's wonderful story.

 

"That song new?" said the wanderer. "Not a bit of it. God made it years ago. All the blackbirds used to sing it when I was young. It was new then."

1 sudden   

n.突然，忽然；adj.突然的，意外的，快速的

参考例句：

• All of a sudden he turned about and saw me.他突然转过身来看见了我。
• The horse was badly frightened by the sudden noise.那匹马被突然而来的嘈杂声吓坏了。

2 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

3 dare   

n.敢，挑战；aux.敢；vi.敢；vt.敢于，勇于面对

参考例句：

• He didn't dare to look at her in the face.他不敢正眼看她。
• How dare you?Take your hand off me at once.放肆！马上把你的手挪开。

4 berries   

n.浆果( berry的名词复数 )；（葡萄，番茄等）浆果；干果仁；干种子

参考例句：

• Birds feed on nuts and berries in the winter. 鸟类靠坚果和浆果过冬。
• We went here and there looking for berries. 我们四处寻找浆果。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 marvellous   

adj.引起惊异的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• It's marvellous how he's managed to climb that far.他怎么能爬得那么远，真不可思议。
• She has a marvellous voice with an extraordinary range.她歌喉甜美，音域奇广。