100个儿童英语小故事: The Feather 羽毛

 

035 The Feather

It was a cold and dark night when the sun set in the west. All of the chickens in the hen house sat on perches¹, closed their eyes and got ready to sleep. "Good night!" Everyone fell asleep after saying good night to each other.

However, one hen was sitting up and pecking² at her own feathers. This hen was quite famous for laying eggs everyday. In addition, she sometimes made other chickens laugh with jokes.

As she pecked³ her feathers, one of her white feathers fell down to the ground suddenly. "Oh, one has come off! But I don't have to feel sorry for it. That means I lost as much weight as one feather." The Hen said as if it was nothing. All the other chickens were sleeping, so none of them could see it. 

There was an owl⁴ sitting on a branch next to the hen house. Owl's eyes have keen sight at night. The owl muttered⁵ to himself. "I heard it clearly. I heard what the hen said with my sharp ears." But the owl lost interest soon and told this story to a pigeon in his neighborhood.

"Listen to me. Well, a Hen in the hen house pulled out one of her own feathers to look attractive. How can this happen? "Is it true? That's ridiculous."

The pigeon burned to tell the story to her friends, so she told it to a barnyard duck in her neighborhood. "Hey, duck. I have some surprising news." "What's up?" "A hen pulled all her feathers out to look pretty." "What a stunning⁶ story!"

The barnyard duck was shocked by the story. "That's unbelievable. If she pulled out all her feathers, she must have a cold and be running a fever." There was a swallow living under the eaves of the duck's house. The barnyard duck told the story to the swallow. 

The swallow was surprised, too. "What an unbelievable story this is. I can't keep quiet. I have to tell this story to everyone." The swallow flew to the sky full of bright moonlight.

The next morning had broken. "Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet!" Early in the morning, sparrows were sitting down in front of the hen house and chattering⁷. The Chickens felt strange and asked the sparrows. "Excuse me, dear sparrows. What happened?"

"I have an unbelievable story to tell you. It's very unusual. Well, one hen pulled all her feathers out because she wanted to look attractive. But do you really think she will be beautiful after pulling all of her feathers out? So, the angry hen pulled out all the other hen's feathers. As a result, five chickens died at the same time."

Then, one hen replied to the sparrow. "Oh, what a pity. How could that happen?" The hen that replied to the sparrow was the one who pulled out her feather last night. The small thing that she pulled her feather out became such huge and shocking news while passing through several of her animal friends.

"Where did they say the hen was living? I want to meet her." "They said she is living right here." "Here? No way. This is not where she is living." "That's strange. Then, where is she living?" The sparrow shook her head. 

"Definitely not here. I am curious where she lives, too. How on earth can a hen do such a horrible thing?" At that moment, a gust⁸ of wind blew, and it carried the hen's feather, which she pulled ort last night, to somewhere else.

1 perches   

栖息处( perch的名词复数 )； 栖枝； 高处； 鲈鱼

参考例句：

• Other protection can be obtained by providing wooden perches througout the orchards. 其它保护措施是可在种子园中到处设置木制的栖木。
• The birds were hopping about on their perches and twittering. 鸟儿在栖木上跳来跳去，吱吱地叫着。

2 pecking   

啄，啄食，小口地吃( peck的现在分词 )； 匆匆地吻

参考例句：

• A robin was pecking at crumbs on the ground. 一只知更鸟在地上啄食面包渣。
• It was winter and the sparrows were pecking at whatever they could find. 时值冬季，麻雀啄食着能够找到的任何东西。

3 pecked   

啄，啄食，小口地吃( peck的过去式和过去分词 )； 匆匆地吻

参考例句：

• The hen pecked a hole in the sack. 母鸡在麻袋上啄了一个窟窿。
• He pecked his aunt on the check. 他在姨妈的脸颊上匆匆吻了一下。

4 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

5 muttered   

轻声低语，咕哝地抱怨( mutter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He muttered a curse at the other driver. 他低声咒骂另一位开车的人。
• She turned away and muttered something unintelligible. 她转向一旁，嘴里不知咕哝些什么。

6 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

7 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

8 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。