美國語文第五冊 第95期：北美食米鳥（01）
The happiest bird of our spring, however, and one that rivals the European lark in my estimation, is the boblincoln, or bobolink as he is commonly called.
依我看來，可以和歐洲云雀媲美、北美春天最快樂的鳥，該是北美食米鳥，食米鳥為北美人習(xí)慣俗稱。
He arrives at that choice portion of our year which, in this latitude, answers to the desCRIption of the month of May so often given by the poets.
就地理緯度而言，食米鳥通常五月出現(xiàn)，詩人在五月的季節(jié)抒懷與之呼應(yīng)，人們鐘愛的五月陽光最終光臨。
With us it begins about the middle of May, and lasts until nearly the middle of June.
大約五月中旬，食米鳥飛來，盤桓此地將近一月。
Earlier than this, winter is apt to return on its traces, and to blight the opening beauties of the year;
早些的冬天季節(jié)，人們易于勘查食米鳥的蹤跡，然而，肆意的覆巢行為意味摧毀一年的美好開局。
and later than this, begin the parching, and panting, and dissolving heats of summer.
再晚些日子，天氣炙熱焦干，讓人簡直喘不過氣來，老天仿佛釋放出夏季的所有熱量。
But in this genial interval, Nature is in all her freshness and fragrance, the rains are over and gone, the flowers appear upon the earth,
只有五月氣候涼爽適宜，大自然袒露出每一朵的清新芬芳，雨季結(jié)束了，花朵綻放，
the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land.
鳥兒鳴啾，海龜也爬上岸來。
The trees are now in their fullest foliage and brightest verdure;
滿樹葉片蓊郁得碧綠晃眼，
the woods are gay with the clustered flowers of the laurel;
森林里洋溢著月桂花朵的成簇歡樂；
the air is perfumed with the sweetbrier and the wild rose; the meadows are enameled with clover blossoms;
薔薇和野生玫瑰的芬芳濃郁；草地上鋪滿苜蓿草花朵，瓷釉般亮麗，
while the young apple, peach, and the plum begin to swell, and the cherry to glow among the green leaves.
蘋果梨子還有李子的青嫩果實正在急遽地脹大，綠葉中草莓但見猩紅艷麗點點。
This is the chosen season of revelry of the bobolink.
食米鳥狂歡的季節(jié)來臨，
He comes amid the pomp and fragrance of the season; his life seems all sensibility and enjoyment, all song and sunshine.
這是它們翩翩飛來的隆重慶典，穿梭在馥郁花海的盛大節(jié)日。食米鳥一生追逐快樂、追逐陽光，情感豐富，引吭高歌。
He is to be found in the soft bosoms of the freshest and sweetest meadows, and is most in song when the clover is in blossom.
它樂于棲息在水豐草美的牧場或草原。當(dāng)苜蓿綻開細碎的花朵，它總喜歡在花叢里鳴啾歌唱。
He perches on the topmost twig of a tree, or on some long, flaunting weed,
它時而亦會佇立高高樹枝，或風(fēng)中招搖的細長草尖。
and, as he rises and sinks with the breeze, pours forth a succession of rich, tinkling notes, crowding one upon another,
它隨著微風(fēng)雀躍騰飛，流瀉出一連串美妙音符，佩鈴叮當(dāng)。它清脆的鳴啾此起彼伏，
like the outpouring melody of the skylark, and possessing the same rapturous character.
宛如云雀的清脆歌喉，充滿狂性和熱烈的質(zhì)感。
