第78章 对此毋庸置疑 There Is No Doubt About It（2 / 2）

“too-whoo! too-whoo!” they both hooted to the neighbour’s dove-t to the doves side. “have you heard? have you heard? too-whoo! there is a hen who has pcked out all her feathers for the sake of the ck; she will freeze to death, if she is not frozen already. too-whoo!”

“在哪儿？在哪儿？” 鸽子们咕咕地叫着。

“where? where?” oed the doves.

“在邻居家的院子里。我都差不多亲眼看见了。讲这个故事好像不太合适，但这事儿千真万确。”

“In the neighbour’s yard. I have as good as seen it yself. It is alost uo tell the story, but there is no doubt about it.”

“我们跟你们说的每一个字都要相信。” 鸽子们说道，然后朝着它们的家禽院咕咕地叫着传下去。“有一只母鸡 —— 不，有人说有两只 —— 把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了，为的是不和其他鸡一样，好吸引公鸡的注意。”

“believe every word of what we tell you,” said the doves, and oed down to their poultry-yard. “there is a hen — nay, so say that there are o — who have pcked out all their feathers,order not to look like the others, and to attract the attention of the ck.

这可是个危险的游戏，因为很容易就会着凉，然后发烧死掉，而且这两只（母鸡）都已经死了。

It is a dangero ga, for oneeasily catch ld and die fro fever, and both of these are dead already.”

“醒醒！醒醒！” 公鸡打鸣着，飞到了它栖息的木板上。它眼里还带着睡意，但还是叫着：“三只母鸡因为对一只公鸡不幸的爱恋而死了。它们把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了。这是个可怕的故事：我可不会就这么自己闷着，得把它传出去。”

“wake up! wake up!” crowed the ck, and flew upon his board. Sleep was stillhis eyes, but yet he crowed out: “three hens have died of their unfortunate love for a ck. they had pcked out all their feathers. It is a horrible story: I will not take it to yself, but let it go farther.”

“传出去！” 蝙蝠尖叫着，母鸡们咯咯叫着，公鸡们打鸣着，“传出去！传出去！” 就这样，这个故事从一个家禽院传到另一个家禽院，最后又传回了它真正开始的地方。

“Let it go farther,” shrieked the bats, and the hens ccked and the cks crowed, “Let it go farther! Let it go farther!” In this way the story travelled fro poultry-yard to poultry-yard, and at st ca back to the pce fro which it had really started.

“五只母鸡，” 现在故事变成了这样，“把自己所有的羽毛都拔光了，为的是展示她们当中谁因为爱那只公鸡变得最瘦，然后她们就互相啄，直到血流下来，倒地而死，让她们的家族蒙羞，也让她们的主人遭受了巨大损失。”

“Five hens,” it now ran, “have pcked out all their feathers to show which of the had grown lea for love of the ck, and then they all pecked at each other till the blood ran down and they fell down dead, to the derision and sha of their faily, and to the great loss of their owner.”

那只掉了根松散小羽毛的母鸡自然没认出这就是自己的故事，作为一只体面的母鸡，它说：“我看不起那些家禽；不过还有更多这样的呢。这种事可不该隐瞒，我会尽全力把这个故事登到报纸上，好让全国都知道；那些母鸡罪有应得，她们的家族也是。”

the hen who had lost the loose little feather naturally did nnise her own story, and beg a respectable hen, said: “I despise those fowls; but there are ore of that kd. Such thgs ought not to be cealed, and I will do y best to get the story to the papers, so that it bees known throughout the nd; the hens have richly deserved it, and their faily too.”

它真的登上报纸了，被印了出来；毫无疑问，一根小羽毛很容易就变成了五只母鸡（的故事）。

It got to the papers, it rted; and there is no doubt about it, otle feather ay easily grow to five hens.