It was like some of the plagues that visited Egypt in Bible times. 就像在《圣经》时代埃及遭受的瘟疫一样。

The people built a wire fence all the way across the country to try to pen the rabbits in. 人们建起了一道铁丝网栅栏，穿越整个地区，试图将兔子圈进去。

But some of them escaped through the fence, so another fence was built. 但还是有些兔子钻过栅栏逃出来，于是又建起另一道栅栏。

Men are still killing them off by the millions. 人们现在仍然成百万地杀掉兔子。

They pack some of the rabbit meat in cans and send it to England, and they send the skins back also—"a rabbit skin to wrap up Baby Bunting in." 他们把兔肉做成罐头送回英国，也将兔子的皮送回去——“一张兔皮包住了一个邦廷宝宝”。

But they cannot get rid of the little creatures altogether and probably never will. 但是他们无法完全摆脱这些小动物，很可能永远都摆脱不了。

The native animals in Australia are very peculiar. 澳大利亚的土生动物非常独特。

One curious animal is the kangaroo, an animal as big as a man. 一种奇特的动物就是袋鼠，长得与人一样大。

He stands on his two hind legs like a dog begging for food. 它靠两条后腿站立，像立起来要东西吃的狗。

He uses his tail as if it were a third leg, sitting upon his two legs and tail as if on a three-legged stool. 袋鼠还把自己的尾巴用作“第三条腿”，坐在两条腿和尾巴上，就好像坐在一只三条腿的凳子上。

His two front legs are very small and almost useless. 袋鼠的两条前腿非常短小，几乎没有用。

He doesn't run along on all fours; he jumps over the ground on his hind legs, making long hops. 袋鼠不是靠四条腿向前奔跑，而是靠两条后腿跳跃，一下能跳得很远。

The mother kangaroo carries her babies in a pocket made of the skin of her stomach; it is a nest and a cradle. 袋鼠妈妈的肚子上长着一只口袋，用来装袋鼠宝宝，这只口袋既是窝，又是摇篮。

Sailors used to return from long voyages and say they had seen living in the sea beautiful girls—from the waist up—with bodies like fish from the waist down. 以前，长途航海回来的水手们常说他们见过生活在海洋里的美丽的姑娘——腰部以上似人，腰部以下身体像鱼。

They called them mermaids. 他们称这种生物为“美人鱼”。

You have heard of them in fairy-tales, of course. 当然，你们在童话故事中就听说过美人鱼了。

Well, there are real mermaids on the west coast of Australia. 你知道吗？在澳大利亚西海岸有真的美人鱼。

They do live in the sea, and they do hold their babies in their arms. 它们确实生活在海里，也确实用前肢抱着自己的孩子。

From a distance a sailor might imagine them beautiful; 可能水手从远处看就想象它们多么美丽，

but close up they do not look like the beautiful girls with fish tails you read about, for they are really ugly animals called sea-cows. 但是近看，它们并不像你从童话故事里读到的那样是长着鱼尾的美丽姑娘，其实它们是一种很丑的动物，叫做“海牛”。

How disappointing! 多么令人失望啊！