The Bird's Nest

The Bird's Nest, written by Jessica Mallordy, illustrated by Gabor Utomo. Focus question, what is the importance of bird nests in this story?

《鸟巢》，作者：杰西卡·马洛迪，插画师：加博尔·乌托莫。 思考问题：在这个故事里，鸟巢有什么重要意义呢？

Reema is bored with Saturday cartoons, so she gets up and walks into the kitchen. The counter is covered with baking sheets, a sack of sugar, pistachios. We're going to bake today? Reema asks. After a week at school learning English, It feels good to speak Arabic. Tomorrow there will be a bake sale, Rima's mother explains. Bake sale? Rima asks. What's that? We refugees will bake our favorite sweets from home, her mother says. Americans will come to buy them.

莉玛看厌了周六的动画片，于是起身走到厨房。 料理台上摆满了烤盘、一袋糖和开心果。 我们今天要做烘焙吗？ 莉玛问道。 在学校学了一周英语，说阿拉伯语的感觉真好。 明天要办一场烘焙义卖，莉玛的妈妈解释说。 烘焙义卖？ 莉玛问道。 那是什么呀？ 妈妈说，我们这些难民会烤出家乡最爱的甜点。 美国人会来买这些甜点。

This time last year, when Rima was eight, home was a tent among many other tents. The year before that, home was the side of the road, a storm -tossed boat, a stranger's basement. It was wherever they happened to lay their heads at night.

去年这时，八岁的莉玛的家，只是众多帐篷中的一顶。 再往前一年，家就是路边、飘摇的小船，还有陌生人的地下室。 哪里能过夜，哪里就是他们的家。

When Rima was 6, though, home was a house in the country of Syria. Home had a big window in the kitchen where black and white -tailed birds came to roost. It had a carpet in the living room that smelled of honey and flour. It had a bedroom with a perfect view of the moon.

不过莉玛六岁的时候，她的家是叙利亚乡下的一栋房子。 家里厨房有一扇大窗户，黑白尾鸟会来这里歇息。 客厅的地毯带着蜂蜜和面粉的香气。 卧室里能清清楚楚看到月亮，景色美极了。

Now they live in an apartment in America, and her mother speaks in a hushed voice whenever she mentions Syria. War came to Syria long before they left, and it has only gotten worse. They are never going back. There is nowhere to go back to.

现在他们住在美国的一间公寓里，妈妈只要提起叙利亚，说话都会放轻声音。 早在他们离开前，战争就降临叙利亚，如今局势变得更糟了。 他们再也回不去了。 已经没有可以回去的家乡了。

Her mother opens the refrigerator and pulls out a box of dough noodles. Rima grabs some pistachios and begins to chop them. They haven't baked together in forever, and they are making bird's nest baklava. When they are done, the pistachios will sit inside the dough, just like little eggs in a nest. Rima begins to hum an old song she loves from home.

妈妈打开冰箱，拿出一盒面团。 莉玛抓了几颗开心果，开始切碎它们。 她们好久没一起做烘焙了，这次要做鸟巢蜜饼。 做好后，开心果会放在面团中间，就像小蛋躺在鸟巢里。 莉玛开始哼起一首她喜欢的家乡老调子。