“Dont plague him so，”interposed(interpose v.提出)the Portuguese duck，“he requires rest and nursing.My little singingbird do you wish me to prepare another bath for you？”
“请不要这样麻烦他吧！”葡萄牙鸭子说。“他需要休息和保养呀。小小的歌鸟，要不要我们再给你淋一次水？”
“Oh，No！No！Pray let me dry，”implored(implore vt.恳求，哀求)the little bird.
“哎唷，不要！我愿意保持干燥！”他恳求说。
“The watercure is the only remedy for me，when I am not well.”said the Portuguese.“Amusement，too，is very beneficial.The fowls from the neighborhood will soon be here to pay you a visit.There are two Cochin Chinese amongst them.They wear feathers on their legs，and are well educated.They have been brought from a great distance，and consequently I treat them with greater respect than I do the others.”
“就我说来，惟一有效的办法是水疗。”葡萄牙鸭子说。“不过游戏也有效！邻近的鸡子不久就要来拜访我们。他们中间有两只中国母鸡。她们穿着长裤子，都受过很好的教育，而且是从外国来的。这在我看来，她们的地位提高不少。”
Then the fowls arrived，and the cock was polite enough today to keep from being rude.“You are a real songster，”he said，“you do as much with your little voice as it is possible to do.But there requires more noise and shrillness in any one who wishes it to be known who he is.”
于是母鸡来了，公鸡也来了。这只公鸡今天算是相当客气，没有当场摆架子。“你是一只真正的歌鸟，”他说，“凡是你的小声音所能做到的事情，你全都做到了。不过你还得加一点劲儿，好使人家一听就知道你是一只公鸟。”
The two Chinese were quite enchantedenchant vt.施魔法，使迷惑with the appearance of the singingbird.His feathers had been much ruffled by his bath，so that he seemed to them quite like a tiny Chinese fowl.“Hes charming.”they said to each other，and began a conversation with him in whispers，using the most aristocratic(aristocratic adj.贵族的，贵族化的，贵族政治的)Chinese dialect(dialect n.方言，语调)。
这两只中国鸡被歌鸟的一副样儿迷住了。他的毛淋了一番水后仍然是蓬着的，因此她们都觉得他很像一只中国小鸡。“他很可爱！”于是她们开始跟他聊起天来。她们用贵族的中国话——其中包括低声和“呸”这类的声音——和他交谈。
“We are of the same race as yourself.”they said.“The ducks，even the Portuguese，are all aquatic birds，as you must have noticed.You do not know us yet，—very few know us，or give themselves the trouble to make our acquaintance，not even any of the fowls，though we are born to occupy a higher grade in society than most of them.But that does not disturb us，we quietly go on in our own way among the rest，whose ideas are certainly not ours.For we look at the bright side of things，and only speak what is good，although that is sometimes very difficult to find where none exists.Except ourselves and the cock there is not one in the yard who can be called talented(talented adj.有才能的)or polite.It cannot even be said of the ducks，and we warn you，little bird，not to trust that one yonder，with the short tail feathers.For she is cunning，that curiously marked one，with the crooked stripes on her wings，is a mischiefmaker，and never lets any one have the last word，though she is always in the wrong.That fat duck yonder speaks evil of every one，and that is against our principles.If we have nothing good to tell，we close our beaks.The Portuguese is the only one who has had any education，and with whom we can associate，but she is passionate(passionate adj.充满热情的)，and talks too much about‘Portugal.’”
“我们和你是同一个种族。鸭子——甚至葡萄牙的鸭子——是属于水鸟这一族的，这一点你一眼就可以看得出来。你还不认识我们，不过有多少人认识我们或愿意花点工夫来认识我们呢？没有一个人，连一个母鸡也没有，虽然比起大多数人来，我们生来就是要栖在更高一层的栖柱上的。不过这也没有什么了不起的关系：我们跟大家一起安静地过我们自己的日子。他们的理想跟我们的理想大不相同，但是我们只看好的一面，我们只谈好的事情，虽然本来没有什么好话而硬说好是很困难的。除了我们两个和那只公鸡以外，鸡屋里再没有一个有天才的人。谈到‘诚实’，养鸭场里没有一个人是诚实的。小小的歌鸟，我们忠告你：你切不要相信那边的一个短尾巴的女人，她才狡猾哪。那个翅膀上长着弯线条的杂色女人专门找人吵架。虽然她自己没有理，她可不让别人讲一句话。那边的一只肥鸭子总是说人家的坏话，这是跟我们的性格相反的。如果我们不能说人家的好话，那么你把嘴闭起来好了。那只葡萄牙鸭子是惟一受过一点教育的人。你可以跟她来往，不过她太感情用事，老是谈起葡萄牙。”
“I wonder what those two Chinese are whispering about，”whispered one duck to another，“they are always doing it，and it annoys me.We never speak to them.”
“真不知道那两个中国女人嘀咕什么。”有一对鸭子小声说，“她们真使我感到讨厌！我从来没有跟她们讲过话。”
Now the drake came up，and he thought the little singingbird was a sparrow(sparrow n.[鸟］麻雀)。“Well，I dont understand the difference，”he said，“it appears to me all the same.Hes only a plaything，and if people will have playthings，why let them，I say.”
现在公鸭来了！他以为歌鸟是一只麻雀。“嗯，我看不出什么分别，”他说，“全是半斤八两！他是一个玩物。有他没有他都是一样。”
“Dont take any notice of what he says，”whispered the Portuguese，“hes very well in matters of business，and with him business is placed before everything.But now I shall lie down and have a little rest.It is a duty we owe to ourselves that we may be nice and fat when we come to be embalmed with sage and onions and apples.”
“不要理他说的这一套！”葡萄牙鸭子低声说，“他做起生意来可是蛮有道理的，而且他只懂得生意。不过现在我要躺下来休息一下。我应该这样办，为的是要使我能长得胖些，好叫人能在我身上涂一层苹果和梅子酱。”
So she laid herself down in the sun and winked with one eye.She had a very comfortable place，and felt so comfortable that she fell asleep.The little singingbird busied himself for some time with his broken wing，and at last he lay down，too，quite close to his protectressprotectress n.女性保护人。The sun shone warm and bright，and he found out that it was a very good place.
于是她眨着一只眼睛在太阳光里躺下来。她舒舒服服地躺着，感到非常舒服，以至于快睡着了。歌鸟忙着啄他那只受了伤的翅膀，最后他也在他的恩人身边躺下来。太阳照得又温暖，又光明。他发觉，这真是一块好地方。
