译林版牛津高中英语(必修3):Unit 1 The world of our senses-Project(3)

The wonderful world of pigeons²

鸽子的精彩世界

It is night. All is quiet. The soldiers are asleep while a guard watches for the enemy.

现在是晚上。安静无比。士兵们都入睡了，只有一个警卫监视着敌情。

There is a flash, and the sound of guns!

出现一道光，还有枪响声。

They are being attacked! Hundreds of enemy soldiers rush towards them.

他们被突袭了！数百的敌军向他们冲来！

They are all going to be killed unless they get help. What should they do?

除非能得到帮助，否则他们都将被杀死。他们该怎么办？

An officer writes a short message quickly on a small piece of paper: 'Being attacked! Hurry!'

一位军官快速地在一张小纸片上写下一条简短的讯息：“遭遇袭击！火速支援！”

He rolls up the paper and puts it into a small case, and then reaches into a cage and gets a bird.

他把纸片卷起来，放进一个小盒子里，然后伸手探入一个笼子捉出一只鸟来，

Attaching³ the message to its leg, he sets the bird loose.

把讯息条绑在它的腿上后，他放飞了这只鸟。

It immediately flies into the air and disappears in the dark.

它立即飞入空中，消失在夜色里。

Will the bird arrive in time? Will they be saved?

这只鸟能够准时到达吗？他们能够得救吗？

Though it may seem hard to believe, the bird the officer uses is the same bird often seen in public parks--the pigeon¹.

虽然这似乎难以置信，但那位军官所用的鸟儿和我们常在公园里看到一种鸟是同样的--鸽子。

Pigeons have a wonderful sense of direction and can find their way home over long distances.

鸽子具有很强的方向感，能够从很远的距离找到回家的路。

Indeed, pigeons have been known⁴ to fly home from as far away as 1,800 kilometres.

事实上，人们都知道，鸽子曾经从1800公里远的地方飞回家。

That is why pigeons have been used since ancient times to carry the news or even the mail.

那就是为什么鸽子从古代起就被用来传送消息、甚至是邮件的原因了。

1 pigeon   

n.鸽子

参考例句：

• The pigeon homed from a distance of 100 miles.鸽子从百英里之外返回窝巢。
• How many pigeon eggs do you need?你要几个鸽子蛋？

2 pigeons   

n. 鸽子 名词pigeon的复数形式

参考例句：

• the sound of pigeons cooing 鸽子咕咕的叫声
• The boy frightened away the pigeons from the roof. 那男孩把屋顶上的鸽子吓飞了。

3 attaching   

贴上，系，附上( attach的现在分词 )； （有时不受欢迎或未受邀请而）参加； 把…固定； 把…归因于

参考例句：

• Computer viruses are small programs, they replicate by attaching a copy of themselves to another program. 计算机病毒是一些小程序，它们把自己的一个副本附加到另一个程序上面进行复制。
• Her manners were attaching and soon banished his reserve. 她的风度是令人喜悦的，因此很快就消除了他的缄默。

4 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。