LESSON 53
第五十三课
whole
全部
bones
骨头
scarcely
几乎不
mouser
捕鼠动物
mice
老鼠
rolled
滚动
surprised
惊奇的
swallows
吞咽
winking
使眼色
comical
滑稽的
ducklings
小鸭
capture
抓住
THE OWL(CONCLUDED)
猫头鹰（结束篇）
"What are you going to do with him, Harry?"
“哈里，你打算把它怎么办呢？”
"Let him go. He doesn't like this cage half so well as his old oak tree.
“放了它吧。它不喜欢这个笼子，喜欢的程度连它待在老橡树的一半都没有。
A young owl can be tamed easily,
一只幼小的猫头鹰可以很容易驯化，
but this one is too old to tame."
但这只已经老得无法驯化了。”
"But won't he catch all your ducklings and little chickens?"
“但它不会去抓你的那些小鸭和小鸡吗？”
"No, not while there are any rats or mice around.
“不，当周围有老鼠的时候就不会抓。
Father says an owl is a good mouser,
爸爸说猫头鹰是捕鼠能手，
and can catch more mice than half a dozen cats."
一只猫头鹰比五六只猫抓到的老鼠还要多。”
"I'm glad I had a look at him before you let him go.
“我很高兴在你放走它之前看到了它。
What soft feathers he has!"
它的羽毛多柔软啊！”
"Yes, he can fly so softly that you can scarcely hear him,
“是啊，它能飞得很轻，以至于你都听不到声响。
and for this reason he can easily surprise and capture his prey."
这样它能很轻易地突袭并抓到它的猎物。”
"How comical he looks,
“它看起来好滑稽呀，
winking his big eyes slowly,
缓慢地眨着大眼睛，
and turning his head from side to side!"
左右摇晃着头。”
"Yes; he is watching your dog.
“是啊，它正在看你的狗呢！
Be still. Bounce!
别动，鲍恩斯！”
"We have just found out a funny thing about his way of eating.
“我们刚好发现了一件有趣的事，那就是它吃东西的方式。
He breaks the bones of a mouse,
它咬断了一只老鼠的骨头，
and then swallows it whole.
然后把它全吞了下去。
After an hour or two,
过了一两个小时，
he throws up the bones and fur
猫头鹰又把骨头吐了出来，然后用毛发
rolled up in a little ball."
把自己卷成了一个小球。
