美國語文第五冊 第295期：野鴿過客（04）

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About the middle of the day, after their repast is finished, they settle on the trees to enjoy rest and digest their food.

大約中午，野鴿結(jié)束覓食后，它們往往棲息枝杈歇息或消化食物。

As the sun begins to sink beneath the horizon; they depart en masse for the roosting place,

每當(dāng)夕陽快要落山，鴿群便成群結(jié)隊(duì)地分開，尋找各自過夜的棲息地，

which not unfrequently is hundreds of miles distant, as has been ascertained by persons who have kept an account of their arrivals and departures.

不同鴿群宿眠地相隔數(shù)百英里未必鮮見，有人通過記錄鴿群每天棲宿細(xì)節(jié)已予以證實(shí)。

Let us now inspect their place of nightly rendezvous.

我們不妨來看看鴿群的夜間麇集地。

One of these curious roosting places, on the banks of the Green River, in Kentucky, I repeatedly visited.

令人關(guān)注的其中一處棲息地位于肯特基州格林河畔，我先后前去查勘過好幾次，

It was, as is always the case, in a portion of the forest where the trees were of great magnitude, and where there was little underwood.

類似情況極為常見，那條河岸毗鄰森林，四周林木蔥郁，林下灌叢稀少。

I rode through it upwards of forty miles, and, crossing it in different parts, found its average breadth to be rather more than three miles.

我曾駕車穿林而過，溯流直上達(dá)四十英里開外。我還在不同地帶越過這片廣袤森林，最終查明這處林地平均寬度已超過3英里，

My first view of it was about a fortnight subsequent to the period when they had made choice of it, and I arrived there nearly two hours before sunset.

鴿群選擇來此處棲息過夜。我第一次步行踏進(jìn)這片密林。大約半月后，那天太陽下山兩個(gè)時(shí)辰前，

Many trees, two feet in diameter, I observed, were broken off at no great distance from the ground;

森林里巨樹參天，我觀察到，不少樹的直徑已達(dá)兩英尺，這些樹地面間距委實(shí)不大，

and the branches of many of the largest and tallest had given way, as if the forest had been swept by a tornado.

不少高大樹木的低矮枝杈更是早已砍伐殆盡，好似無情的龍卷風(fēng)肆虐地掠過林中。

Everything proved to me that the number of birds resorting to this part of the forest must be immense beyond conception.

對我來說，所有情況皆已表明，此地森林夜間棲息的野鴿數(shù)目驚人，不可思議或者簡直難以想象。