温馨夜读 PART1 12 If So For Birds, Why Not For Man？鸟儿尚且如此，何况人呢？（在线收听）

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[00:01.30]If So For Birds, Why Not For Man？鸟儿尚且如此，何况人呢？

[00:12.02]This is a true story.

[00:13.77]It was on a winter morning, near Oxford, Maryland,

[00:17.22]that a friend of mine set the breakfast table beside the huge window,

[00:21.98]which overlooked the Tred Avon River.

[00:24.60]Across the river, beyond the dock, the snow laced the rim of the shore in white.

[00:29.85]For a moment she stood quietly, looking at what the night’s storm had painted.

[00:34.99]Suddenly she leaned forward and peered close to the frosted window.

[00:39.59]“It really is true，” she cried out loud. “There is a goose out there.”

[00:45.39]She saw a large Canadian goose, very still,

[00:49.37]its wings folded tight to its sides, its feet frozen to the ice.

[00:54.79]Then from the dark skies, she saw a line of swans.

[00:59.18]They moved in their own singular formation, graceful, intrepid, and free.

[01:04.65]Suddenly they floated from the top of the sky downward

[01:09.14]and at last surrounded the frozen goose.

[01:11.64]Seeing this, my friend feared what life it still had

[01:15.71]might be pecked out by those great swan bills.

[01:18.87]Instead, amazingly, those bills began to work on the ice.

[01:24.67]At last, the goose was rimmed by a narrow margin of ice instead of the entire creek.

[01:30.46]The swans rose again, hovered in a circle, awaiting the results of their labors.

[01:36.26]The goose’s head lifted. Its body pulled.

[01:39.55]Then the goose was free and standing on the ice.

[01:42.83]But it seemed not be able to fly. Later, four of the swans came down around it.

[01:49.83]Their powerful beaks scraped the goose’s wings

[01:53.02]from top to bottom and rode up its body,

[01:55.73]chipping off the ice held in the feathers.

[01:58.58]The goose spread its wings as far as they would go.

[02:02.74]When at last the wings reached their fullest,

[02:06.74]the four swans took off and joined the hovering group.

[02:10.29]They resumed flying in perfect formation, to their secret destination.

[02:15.21]Behind them, rising with incredible speed and joy, the goose moved into the sky.

[02:21.99]It followed them, flapping double time, until it caught up,

[02:26.24]until it joined the last end of the elegant line.

[02:29.54]My friend was deeply moved with tears running down her cheeks.

[02:34.36]Even birds give a hand to those in trouble.

[02:37.53]I just often think of this story in the bad moments and tell myself,

[02:42.36]“If so for birds, why not for man？”