17 I Learn About Birds and People

In Which I Learn About Birds and People Frightful and I settled down to living in snow. We went to bed early, slept late, ate the mountain harvest, and explored the country alone. Oh. the deer walked with us, the foxes followed in our footsteps, the winter birds flew over our heads, but mostly we were alone in the white wilderness, It was nice. It was very, very nice. My deerskin rabbit-lined suit was so warm that even when my breath froze in my nostrils, my body was snug and comfortable. Frightful fluffed on the coldest days, but a good flight into the air around the mountain would warm her, and she would come back to my fist with a thump and a flip. This was her signal of good spirits.

本章我讲讲认识鸟儿与人类的故事 我和佛莱特在雪地安了家 我们每天早睡晚起，吃着山野的馈赠，独自在这片区域探险 哦 小鹿陪我们同行，狐狸跟着我们脚印，冬鸟从头顶飞过，大多时候只有我们俩待在白茫茫旷野，这样的日子美好极了 真的真的太美好了 我这件衬兔毛的鹿皮衣服格外暖和，哪怕呼出的气冻在鼻孔，身子也还是暖乎乎舒服得很 最冷的时候佛莱特会蓬起羽毛，绕山飞一圈就暖和了，她会咚一声落回我的拳头，还翻个跟头 这是她心情不错的信号

I did not become lonely. Many times during the summer I had thought of the "long winter months ahead" with some fear. I had read so much about the loneliness of the farmer, the trapper, the woodsman during the bleakness of winter that I had come to believe it. The winter was as exciting as the summer– maybe more so. The birds were magnificent and almost tame. They talked to each other, warned each other, fought for food for kingship, and for the right to make the most noise. Sometimes I would sit in my doorway. which became an entrance to behold– a portico of pure white snow, adorned with snowmen– and watch them with endless interest. They reminded me of Third Avenue, and I gave them the names that seemed to fit. There was Mr Bracket. He lived on the first floor of our apartment house, and no one could sit on his step or even make a noise near his door without being chased. Mr Bracket, the chickadee, spent most of his

我一点儿都不觉得孤单 夏天的时候，我好几次一想到“即将到来的漫长冬季”就有些害怕 我在书上看过太多农夫、捕兽人和樵夫在严冬里的孤独，所以我本来也信了这种说法 可冬天和夏天一样有意思，甚至还要更有趣呢 这些鸟儿神气十足，几乎不怕人 它们互相聊天、互相提醒，为食物、地位和谁叫得最响争来斗去 有时候我会坐在家门口 我家门口成了气派的门廊，全是洁白积雪，还装饰着雪人，我就在这里兴致勃勃看着它们 它们让我想起第三大道，我给它们都起了合适的名字 有一位布莱吉特先生 他以前住我们公寓一楼，谁要是坐他家台阶，哪怕在门口出声，都会被他赶走 这只叫布莱吉特的山雀，大部分时间都在

time chasing the young chickadees through the woods. Only his mate could share his favourite perches and feeding places. Then there were Mrs O'Brien, Mrs Callaway, and Mrs Federio. On Third Avenue they would all go off to the market together first thing in the morning, talking and pushing and stopping to lecture to children in gutters and streets. Mrs Federio always followed Mrs O'Brien, and Mrs O'Brien always followed Mrs Callaway in talking and pushing and even in buying an apple. And there they were again in my hemlock; three busy chickadees. They would flit and rush around and click and fly from one eating spot to another. They were noisy, scolding and busily following each other. All the other chickadees followed them, and they made way only for Mr Bracket. The chickadees, like the people on Third Avenue, had their favourite routes to and from the best food supplies. They each had their own resting perches and each had a

追着小山雀在树林里跑 只有他的伴侣能分享他最爱的栖木和觅食点 接下来还有奥布莱恩太太、卡拉威太太和费德里奥太太 在第三大道时，她们每天一早第一件事就是结伴去市场，一路聊个不停挤来挤去，还会停下来教训街上乱跑的孩子 费德里奥太太总跟着奥布莱恩太太，奥布莱恩太太总跟着卡拉威太太，聊天抢位置，就连买苹果都跟着 现在它们又出现在我的铁杉林，就是这三只忙忙碌碌的山雀 它们飞来飞去忙个不停，唧唧喳喳叫着，从一个觅食点换到另一个 它们吵吵闹闹，骂骂咧咧，还忙不迭地互相跟着 其他山雀都跟着它们走，它们只给布莱吉特先生让路 这些山雀和第三大道的人们一样，去最好的觅食点都有自己偏爱的路线 它们都有专属的休息栖枝，每只都有一个

little shelter in a tree cavity to which they would fly when the day was over. They would chatter and call good night and make a big fuss before they parted; and then the forest would be as quiet as the apartment house on Third Avenue when all the kids were off the streets and all the parents had said their last words to each other and everyone had gone to their own little hole. Sometimes when the wind howled and the snows blew, the chickadees would be out for only a few hours. Even Mr Bracket, who had been elected by the chickadees to test whether or not it was too stormy for good hunting, would appear for, a few hours and disappear. Sometimes I would find him just sitting quietly on a limb next to the bole of a tree, all fluffed up and doing nothing. There was no one who more enjoyed doing nothing on a bad day than Mr Bracket of Third Avenue.

树洞里的小窝，天一黑它们就会飞回去 它们会叽叽喳喳互道晚安，闹好大一阵才分开，之后森林就安安静静，就像第三大道的公寓楼：所有孩子回了家，大人们也说完最后一句话，所有人都回了自己的小窝 有时候狂风呼啸大雪纷飞，山雀们只出来活动几个小时 就连被山雀们选出来测试暴风雨天适不适合觅食的布莱吉特先生，也只出来几小时就不见了 有时候我会看见他静静坐在树干旁的树枝上，蓬着羽毛什么也不干 坏天气里，没人比第三大道来的布莱吉特先生更享受什么都不干的日子

Frightful, the two Mr Brackets, and I shared this feeling. When the ice and sleet and snow drove down through the hemlocks, we all holed up. I looked at my calendar pole one day, and realized that it was almost Christmas. Bando will come, I thought. I'll have to prepare a feast and make a present for him. I took stock of the frozen venison and decided that there were enough steaks for us to eat nothing but venison for a month. I scooped under the snow for teaberry plants to boil down, and pour over snowballs for dessert. I checked my cache of wild onions to see if I had enough to make onion soup, and set aside some large firm groundnuts for mashed potatoes. There were still piles of dogtooth violet bulbs and Solomon's-seal roots and a few dried apples. I cracked walnuts, hickory nuts, and beechnuts, then began a pair of deer-hide moccasins to be lined with rabbit fur for Bando's present. I finished these

佛莱特、两位布莱吉特先生和我都深有同感 冰雨大雪穿过铁杉往下落的时候，我们都躲起来不出去 那天我看了看记日期的木杆，才发现圣诞节快到了 班多会来的，我想 我得准备一顿大餐，再给他做一份礼物 我清点了冻鹿肉，发现鹿排多得够我们连着吃一个月 我在雪下挖出冬绿树，熬成浓汁浇在雪球上做甜点 我检查了储存的野葱，确认够做洋葱汤，又挑出大个结实的块根留着做土豆泥 我还存着一大堆猪牙花鳞茎、黄精根和一些干苹果 我敲开核桃、山核桃和山毛榉坚果，接着开始做一双衬兔毛的鹿皮莫卡辛鞋，给班多当礼物 我做好了这些

before Christmas, so I started a hat of the same materials. Two days before Christmas I began to wonder if Bando would come. He had forgotten, I was sure– or he was busy I said. Or he thought that I was no longer here and decided not to tramp out through the snows to see. On Christmas Eve Bando still had not arrived, and I began to plan for a very small Christmas with Frightful. About four-thirty Christmas Eve I hung a small red cluster of teaberries on the deerskin door. I went in my tree room for a snack of beechnuts when I heard a faint "halloooo" from far down the mountain. I snuffed out my tallow candle, jumped into my coat and moccasins and plunged out into the snow. Again a "halloooo" floated over the quiet snow. I took a hearing on the sound and bounced down the hill to meet Bando. I ran into him just as he turned up the valley to follow the stream bed. I was so glad to see

圣诞节临近，我用同种料子做起了一顶帽子。 圣诞节前两天，我开始琢磨班多会不会来。 我跟自己说，他肯定是忘了，要么就是太忙了。 不然就是他以为我已经不在这儿了，才不想踩着大雪走这么远来看我。 平安夜这天，班多还是没来，我开始计划和惊风过一个简简单单的圣诞节。 平安夜四点半左右，我把一小串红冬绿树莓挂在鹿皮门上。 我回到树屋吃山毛榉坚果当点心，忽然听到山脚下远远传来一声微弱的“嗨——”。 我吹灭牛油蜡烛，套上外套和鹿皮靴，一头扎进雪地里。 又一声“嗨——”飘在静静的雪地上。 我辨明声音的方向，蹦蹦跳跳跑下山去接班多。 我刚好在他拐进山谷沿溪谷走的时候碰到了他。 我见到他太开心了