8 Hunger Is Frightful’s Teacher

"Another peregrine falcon!" he said. "What's going on?" "Creeee." Frightful answered Duchess from inside her box. IN WHICH Hunger Is Frightful's Teacher The first visit was a middle school in Roxbury, not far from the Woods's home. Jon and Susan arrived quite early. Jon brought the van to the shipping entrance and carried the hooded falcons and hawks into the auditorium. He put the owls in hollowed-out tree stumps on the stage. Round- eyed, they peered silently out of round holes. When all the birds of prey were in place, Susan let some of the students hug Mr. Freeze. The owl chuttered in pleasure, and the kids oohed. Then the learning show began. Jon held up Sammy, the bald eagle. He spread his seven-foot wings. The kids gasped. Sammy was breathtaking.

“又一只游隼！” 他说道。 “这是怎么回事？”“叽——” 弗莱特在盒子里回应了达切斯。 本章：饥饿是弗莱特的老师 第一次宣讲是在罗克斯伯里的一所中学，离伍德家不远。 乔恩和苏珊到得特别早。 乔恩把货车开到货运入口，拎着戴眼罩的隼和鹰走进了礼堂。 他把猫头鹰放进舞台上掏空的树桩里。 它们睁着圆溜溜的眼睛，静静从圆洞往外望。 所有猛禽都安置好后，苏珊让几个孩子抱抱霜风先生。 猫头鹰舒服地轻叫，孩子们也发出了赞叹声。 接着，科普宣讲开始了。 乔恩举起了白头海雕萨米。 萨米展开了它七英尺宽的翅膀。 孩子们倒吸了一口气。 萨米太震撼人心了。

Jon named all the birds and flew the prairie falcon from one end of the auditorium to the other. Holding her high, he talked about the important role of birds of prey in nature. Finally Susan took Frightful out of her carrying case. "This is Destiny," she said. "She is a peregrine falcon, a duck hawk, as these wonderful birds were once called. "She was late in migrating south this year and came over White Man Mountain on a chilly day. She alighted on a utility pole that held a transformer. She lost her balance, spread her wings, and completed the circuit between two wires. She was shocked with electricity. "She couldn't move. The electricity froze her to the wires." Susan went on to say that Jon had flipped her off the wires with a branch and carried her home in his pocket, thinking her dead. "Suddenly," she said to her wide-eyed audience, "Destiny moved in Jon's pocket. She was alive. We could not believe it. The jolt had not killed her, just burned her wing tips. Jon took her in his

乔恩介绍了所有鸟类，还让草原隼从礼堂一头飞到另一头。 他把草原隼高高举起，讲了猛禽在自然界的重要作用。 最后，苏珊把弗莱特从拎包中拿了出来。 “这是命运，”她说。 “它是一只游隼，过去人们也把这种美丽的鸟儿叫做鸭鹰。” 今年它南迁晚了，在一个冷天飞过了怀特人山。 它落在了架着变压器的电线杆上。 它站不稳，张开翅膀，正好接通了两根电线之间的电路。 它被电流击中了。 “它动弹不得。 电流把它冻在了电线上。” 苏珊接着说，乔恩当时用树枝把它从电线上挑下来，揣在口袋带回了家，原本以为它已经死了。 “没想到，”她对瞪圆了眼睛的听众说，“命运在乔恩的口袋里动了动。 它还活着。 我们都不敢相信。 电击没有夺走它的命，只烧伤了它的翅尖。 乔恩把它放在他的

hands, smoothed her feathers, and jessed her. Then, with all the grace of the peregrine falcon, she flipped herself up on his fist and looked at us." Susan held her high. "She is a survivor and she is alive. She wears burns that tell about the dangers of utility poles for our wild birds." The children stared at Frightful, and some said they could smell the acrid scent of her scorched feathers clear at the back of the auditorium. Jon then told the story of how one of his falcons was electrocuted on the wires of the transformer in his field. "Ahhh," murmured the kids. "Once a month I write to the utility company and ask them to lower one wire—that's all—just lower one wire one foot. That would do it. Then the birds couldn't touch the two wires and complete the circuit. Thousands of eagles, hawks, and beautiful owls like these could be saved. "Not getting any reply," he went on, "I telephoned the management. I got the old runaround. "Push one to speak to Miss Jones; push two for billing; push three to talk to customer service'—and on and on."

手中，理顺羽毛，给它系上了脚绊。 接着，这只游隼带着游隼特有的优雅，一下翻到他的拳头上，看着我们。” 苏珊把它高高举起来。 “它活下来了，它还好好活着。 它身上的烧伤，在告诉我们电线杆对野生鸟类有多危险。” 孩子们盯着弗莱特，有些孩子说，哪怕在礼堂最后一排，都能闻到它烧焦羽毛的焦糊味。 接着乔恩讲了他的一只隼在自己田里的变压器电线上触电的故事。 “啊——”孩子们轻声感叹。 “每个月我都给电力公司写信，请他们把一根线降一降——就这么简单，只要把一根线降一英尺就好。 这样就足够了。 那样鸟儿就不会同时碰到两根电线接通电路了。 成千上万只鹰、隼，还有像这样漂亮的猫头鹰，都能得救。 “一直没收到回复，”他接着说，“我给管理层打了电话。 结果就是来回踢皮球。 “按一分机找琼斯小姐，按二查账单，按三找客服——没完没了地按。”

A small girl with dark hair and blue eyes raised her hand and stood up. "Mr. Wood," she asked, "can we write to the utilities president and ask him to fix the poles?" "Me, too," said the boy next to her. "I write good letters." There was a clamor of voices. A teacher put up her hand. "Do you have a name and the address we could write?" she asked. "This would make a wonderful project for us." "Creee, creee, creee," Frightful called. "Destiny wants us to write," piped another little girl, and took out her notebook and pencil. "Creee, creee, creee." Jon picked up a sheet of poster paper and wrote: Mr. Lon Herbert, President New York Electric Company Albany, New York He propped the poster against Frightful's perch. The students bent over their notebooks. Dear Mr. Lon Herbert,

一个黑发蓝眼的小女孩举起手站了起来。 “伍德先生，”她问，“我们可以给电力公司总裁写信，请他改造电线杆吗？” “我也写！”她旁边的男孩说。 “我写信写得可好了。” 一时间大家七嘴八舌都嚷着要写。 一位老师举起了手。 “你能给我们姓名和地址吗？我们好写信过去。” 她问道。 “这对我们来说会是很棒的一个活动。” “叽，叽，叽，”弗莱特叫了起来。 “命运让我们写信呢！”另一个小女孩小声说，还拿出了自己的笔记本和铅笔。 “叽，叽，叽。” 乔恩拿出一张海报纸，写下：纽约州奥尔巴尼市 纽约电力公司总裁 朗·赫伯特先生 他把海报靠在弗莱特的栖木上。 学生们都俯身在笔记本上写了起来。 亲爱的朗·赫伯特先生，

How would you like it if you were walking a wire, slipped, touched another wire, and was zapped— fried so your mother wouldn't even recognize you? Well, the birds don't like it either. Here is a drawing of how to change the wires on a transformer so eagles, owls, hawks, vultures, even blue jays don't get zapped. Sincerely, James

如果你走在电线上滑了跤，碰到另一根电线被电击中，烧得你妈妈都认不出你，你会觉得好受吗？ 没错啊，鸟儿也不喜欢这样。 这里画了怎么改造变压器的电线，这样老鹰、猫头鹰、隼、秃鹫，连冠蓝鸦都不会被电死了。 詹姆斯 敬上

Dear Mr. Lon Herbert, Birds have rights, too. People cut down the trees and put up electric poles that z.ap them. I think

亲爱的朗·赫伯特先生，鸟儿也该拥有权利。 人们砍了树，竖起电线杆电死它们。 我觉得