在鸭场里
这篇故事1861年发表在《新的童话和故事集》第二卷第一部里。这里的“养鸭场”实际上也是人世间的一个小缩影：你争我夺，各人“从实际出发”，损人利己，小心眼，但却又要装得慷慨大方，做出一副正人君子相。葡萄牙鸭对小歌鸟的表现就是如此。葡萄牙鸭子说：“他有声音，他会唱歌，他受过好的教育！他很体贴，也很温柔——无论在动物中，或在你所谓的人类中，这都是很好的。”事实上他（小歌鸟）就是被这只葡萄牙鸭子咬死的。
A DUCK once arrived from Portugal(Portugal n.葡萄牙（欧洲西南部国家）)，but there were some who said she came from Spain，which is almost the same thing.At all events，she was called the“Portuguese”，and she laid eggs，was killed，and cooked，and there was an end of her.But the ducklings which crept forth from the eggs were also called“Portuguese”，and about that there may be some question.But of all the family one only remained in the duckyard，which may be called a farmyard，as the chickens were admitted，and the cock strutted(strut vi.大摇大摆地走，肿胀vt.支撑，炫耀n.高视阔步，支柱，压杆)about in a very hostile(hostile adj.敌对的，敌方的n.敌对)manner.
曾经有一只母鸭来自葡萄牙。有人说她是从西班牙来的，不过这也没有什么了不起的分别。大家都把她叫葡萄牙鸭子。她下蛋，被人杀掉，然后被做成菜拿出来吃——这就是她的一生。不过，从她的蛋里爬出的那些小鸭子居然也被叫做葡萄牙的鸭子——这里面倒颇有文章。这整个家族的鸭场现在只剩下一只鸭子了。她住在养鸭场里，而这个场子鸡也可以进去。有一只公鸡就在里面趾高气扬地走来走去。
“He annoys me with his loud crowing，”said the Portuguese duck，“but，still，hes a handsome bird，theres no denying that，although hes not a drake.He ought to moderate his voice，like those little birds who are singing in the limetrees over there in our neighbors garden，but that is an art only acquired in polite society.How sweetly they sing there.It is quite a pleasure to listen to them！I call it Portuguese singing.If I had only such a little singingbird，Id be kind and good as a mother to him，for its in my nature，in my Portuguese blood.”
“他的大声啼叫倒使我怪讨厌的，”葡萄牙的鸭子说，“不过，虽然他不是一只公鸭，他倒还是蛮漂亮的——谁也不能否认这一点。他应该把他的声音略微调制一下，但是‘调制’是一种艺术，只有受过高等教育的人才能做得到。附近菩提树上的那些小小歌鸟就是这样。他们唱得才好听哪！他们的歌里有某种感动人的特点。我认为这种特点才配得上‘葡萄牙’这个形容词。如果我有这样的一只小歌鸟，我倒很愿意做他的慈爱的母亲呢，因为在我的血统里——葡萄牙的血统里——我有这种慈爱的心肠。”
While she was speaking，one of the little singingbirds came tumbling head over heels from the roof into the yard.The cat was after him，but he had escaped from her with a broken wing，and so came tumbling into the yard.
当她正在说这话的时候，忽然有一只小小的歌鸟坠落下来了。他是从屋顶上倒栽葱地坠落下来的。一只猫儿在追着他，但是鸟儿拍着受伤的翅膀逃脱了，最后落到养鸭场里来。
“Thats just like the cat，shes a villain.”said the Portuguese duck.“I remember her ways when I had children of my own.How can such a creature be allowed to live，and wanderwander vi.漫步，徘徊，迷路，迷失方向，离题about upon the roofs.I dont think they allow such things in Portugal.”She pitied the little singingbird，and so did all the other ducks who were not Portuguese.
“你看猫儿这个坏东西，简直原形毕露！”葡萄牙的鸭子说，“自从我有了孩子以后，我就领教过他了！这样一个东西居然得到生存的权利，在屋顶上跑来跑去！我想这种事情在葡萄牙是不容许的。”她可怜这只小歌鸟，别的非葡萄牙种的鸭子也可怜他。
“Poor little creature！”they said，one after another，as they came up.“We cant sing，certainly，but we have a soundingboard，or something of the kind，within us.We can feel that，though we dont talk about it.”
“可怜的小东西！”她们说，于是她们一个接着一个地围拢来了。“我们是不会唱歌的，”她们说，“不过我们有一种内在的‘歌唱感’——或者类似这样的东西。这一点我们可以感觉得到，虽然我们不把它挂在嘴边。”
“But I can talk，”said the Portuguese duck，“and Ill do something for the little fellow.Its my duty.”And she stepped into the watertrough，and beat her wings upon the water so strongly that the bird was nearly drowned by a showerbath.But the duck meant it kindly.“That is a good deed，”she said，“I hope the others will take example by it.”
“但是我可要讲出来，”葡萄牙的鸭子说，“而且我要帮助他，这是我的责任。”于是她走进水槽里去，用翅膀在水里大拍一通。她拍出的水几乎把这只小歌鸟淹死了，但是她的用意是好的。“这才是帮助人哪，”她说，“别的人可以仔细瞧瞧，向我学习。”
“Tweet，tweet！”said the little bird，for one of his wings being broken，he found it difficult to shake himself.But he quite understood that the bath was meant kindly，and he said，“You are very kindhearted，madam.”But he did not wish for a second bath.
“吱！”小鸟说。他有一只翅膀受了伤，很难飞动，不过他知道，这次淋水完全是由善意所造成的。“太太，您是一个好心肠的人！”他说，不过他不希望再淋一次水。
“I have never thought about my heart，”replied the Portuguese duck，“but I know that I love all my fellowcreatures，except the cat，and nobody can expect me to love her，for she ate up two of my ducklingsduckling n.小鸭子。But pray make yourself at home.It is easy to make ones self comfortable.I am myself from a foreign country，as you may see by my feathery dress.My drake(drake n.公鸭，蜉蝣类（=drake fly）)is a native of these parts.Hes not of my race，but I am not proud on that account.If any one here can understand you，I may say positively(positively adv断然地；肯定地)I am that person.”
“我从来没有想到过我的心肠，”葡萄牙的鸭子说，“不过有一件事情我知道：我爱我周围的一切生物——只有猫子是例外。谁也不能希望我爱他，因为他吃掉过我的两个孩子！不过请你把这儿当作你的家吧，因为你可以这样办呀！我本人就是从外国来的——这一点你可以从我的态度和我的羽衣看得出来。我的鸭公是本地人，没有我这样的血统——但我并不因此而骄傲！如果这里有什么人了解你的话，我敢说这人就是我。”
“Shes quite full of‘Portulak’。”said a little common duck，who was witty.All the common ducks considered the word“Portulak”a good joke，for it sounded like Portugal.They nudged each other，and said，“Quack！That was witty！”Then the other ducks began to notice the little bird.
“她的嗉子里全是葡萄拉，”一只很有风趣的普通小鸭说。别的一些普通小鸭认为“葡萄拉”这个字用得非常妙，因为它的发音跟“葡萄牙”这名词差不多。大家彼此轻轻地推了一下，同时说一声“嘎！”这只小鸭真是滑稽透了！于是大家便开始注意那只小小的歌鸟了。
“The Portuguese had certainly a great flow of language.”they said to the little bird.“For our part we dont care to fill our beaks with such long words，but we sympathize withsympathize(with v.同意，同感)you quite as much.If we dont do anything else，we can walk about with you everywhere，and we think that is the best thing we can do.”
“葡萄牙鸭子在掌握语言方面真有本领。”大家说。“我们的嘴里就装不住这样大的字眼，不过我们的同情心却并不比她小。如果我们不能替你做点什么事情，我们就一句话也不讲——我们觉得这是一种最好的办法！”
“You have a lovely voice，”said one of the eldest ducks，“it must be great satisfaction to you to be able to give so much pleasure as you do.I am certainly no judge of your singing so I keep my beak shut，which is better than talking nonsense，as others do.”
“你有一个很美丽的声音，”最老的一只鸭子说，“你这样能够叫许多人快乐，你自己一定也很满意的吧。我对于唱歌不内行，因此我就把我的嘴闭起来。这比讲无聊的话好得多——别人就是喜欢对你讲无聊话。”
