英语听力精选进阶版 11257

 

18Aesop's Fables¹  

The Caged Bird and the Bat

By Nicky Grischotti

In a village far, far away there once lived a pretty little songbird.

She was in fact a very grumpy, bad-tempered² little songbird. You see , she’d been caught and trapped by a young woodsman named Fergus Fowler and he had locked her in a cage outside his cottage window.

So there she sat looking out through the bars, longing³ to be free, mumbling⁴ and grumbling⁵ all through the day.

'That nasty, horrible, grubby little good for nothing…with his muddy knees and dirty feet and his hooks and his nets and his traps…going about catching⁶ us happy folk…'

But oh when she sang!  You’ve nev er heard such a beautiful sound. 

She would sing of the fields and the flowers, of the wind ruffling⁷ her feathers and the sun warming her wings. She would sing of the sound of waterfalls and cool mountain streams tinkling⁸ and splashing over pebbles⁹.   

It was a magical song that you wished to hear from the first light of dawn till last thing at night…

But that is something our little songbird…never…ever…did. Not a peep, not a whistle, not a single twitter tweet would she utter during daytime hours.

'I have my reasons,'  said the song-bird smugly to herself.  'Oh no…no 

I’ll not do that again…I’ve learned that sure enough. ' 

Now Fergus Fowler wasn’t such a bad young lad. He was a kind, sensitive boy and he was a really terrible hunter and if he did by some extraordinary good luck actually catch a guinea-fowl or field mouse he always set it free. 

He couldn’t bear to see it suffer. 

The only creature that Fergus Fowler had ever actually trapped and kept and loved very much was the songbird. 

'What a wonderful song,'  he said… 

'Now you can sing for me every day!' But the little songbird hadn’t sung from that day to this.

'I might be a useless hunter ,'

Fergus mumbled¹⁰ to the little bird, feeding her some of his bread,  'but you’re a bit of a useless songbird too. You’re very sweet and pretty, but you never, EVER sing!' 

Which was true as far as he knew because it was only when the moon was up and the owls¹¹ awake, when 

Fergus Fowler was sound asleep in his bed that the little songbird opened her tiny beak…and sang. 

She would sing her beautiful tunes¹² all through the long night hours while Fergus snored inside. But each day at dawn, as the sun rose over the meadows, the little song-bird would fall silent and pretend to be asleep. 

Late that night, while Fergus was sound asleep, the little songbird began her song. A tiny bat flew past and hearing the beautiful sound he clung to the bars of the cage and asked:  

'Little songbird, you sing such lovely songs, but why do you only sing at night and never during the day like all the other birds in the forest? '

'Oh I have a clever plan,'  tweeted the bird . ' You see, the last time 

I sang during the day a trapper caught me in his nets and locked me in this cage. So I’ll not make that mistake again! '

But the Bat replied, 'Well it’s no use your doing that now when you’re a prisoner. If only you’d done that before you were caught, you might still have been free.'

And  the cheeky bat flew off into the night.

1 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

2 bad-tempered   

adj.脾气坏的

参考例句：

• He grew more and more bad-tempered as the afternoon wore on.随着下午一点点地过去，他的脾气也越来越坏。
• I know he's often bad-tempered but really,you know,he's got a heart of gold.我知道他经常发脾气，但是，要知道，其实他心肠很好。

3 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

4 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。

5 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 ruffling   

弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱

参考例句：

• A cool breeze brushed his face, ruffling his hair. 一阵凉风迎面拂来，吹乱了他的头发。
• "Indeed, they do not,'said Pitty, ruffling. "说真的，那倒不一定。" 皮蒂皱皱眉头，表示异议。

8 tinkling   

n.丁当作响声

参考例句：

• I could hear bells tinkling in the distance. 我能听到远处叮当铃响。
• To talk to him was like listening to the tinkling of a worn-out musical-box. 跟他说话，犹如听一架老掉牙的八音盒子丁冬响。 来自英汉文学

9 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

10 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

11 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

12 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》