The Hornets and the Bees

 

 

  "The artist by his work is known."

    A piece of honey-comb, one day,

    Discovered as a waif and stray,

  The Hornets treated as their own.

  Their title did the Bees dispute,

  And brought before a Wasp¹ the suit.

  The judge was puzzled to decide,

  For nothing could be testified

  Save that around this honey-comb

  There had been seen, as if at home,

  Some longish, brownish, buzzing creatures,

  Much like the Bees in wings and features.

  But what of that? for marks the same,

  The Hornets, too, could truly claim.

  Between assertion and denial,

  The Wasp, in doubt, proclaimed new trial;

  And, hearing what an ant-hill swore,

  Could see no clearer than before.

  "What use, I pray, of this expense?"

  At last exclaim'd a Bee of sense.

    "We've laboured months in this affair,

    And now are only where we were.

  Meanwhile the honey runs to waste:

  'Tis time the judge should show some haste.

  Both sides have had sufficient bleeding,

  Without more fuss of scrawls² and pleading.

  Let's set to work, these drones and we,

  And then all eyes the truth may see,

    Whose art it is that can produce

    The magic cells, the nectar juice."

      The Hornets, flinching³ on their part,

      Show that the work transcends⁴ their art.

      The Wasp at length their title sees,

      And gives the honey to the Bees.

 

      Oh, would that suits at law with us

      Might every one be managed thus!

1 wasp   

n.黄蜂，蚂蜂

参考例句：

• A wasp stung me on the arm.黄蜂蜇了我的手臂。
• Through the glass we can see the wasp.透过玻璃我们可以看到黄蜂。

2 scrawls   

潦草的笔迹( scrawl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He scrawls, and no one can recognize what he writes. 他写字像鬼画符，没人能认出来。

3 flinching   

v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He listened to the jeers of the crowd without flinching. 他毫不畏惧地听着群众的嘲笑。 来自辞典例句
• Without flinching he dashed into the burning house to save the children. 他毫不畏缩地冲进在燃烧的房屋中去救小孩。 来自辞典例句

4 transcends   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
• The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。