The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year. Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade. Apple blossoms come with the lilacs, and the bees visit around among the apple trees. The days grow warm and soft. School ends, and children have time to play and to fish for trouts in the brook. Avery often brought a trout home in his pocket, warm and stiff and ready to be fried for supper.
農場的初夏，是一年中最快樂最美好的時候。紫丁香開花了，把空氣薰得又苦又香。等到丁香花開敗了，蘋果花就露出了笑臉。這時候，蜂兒們就會成群地到蘋果樹中間來觀光了。天氣漸漸變暖了。學校放假了，孩子們也更有空兒去玩耍，或者去小河里抓鱒魚了。埃弗里經常兜里揣著一條鱒魚回家，準備在晚飯時把它們煎著吃。

Now that school was over, Fern visited the barn almost every day, to sit quietly on her stool. The animals treated her as an equal. The sheep lay calmly at her feet.
既然放了假，芬就有更時間去參觀谷倉了。她幾乎每天都去，靜靜地坐在她的小凳上觀察著。動物們已經把她當自己人看待了。綿羊安靜地躺在她的腳邊，一點兒也不怕。

Around the first of July, the work horses were hitched to the mowing machine, and Mr. Zuckerman climbed into the seat and drove into the field. All morning you could hear the rattle of the machine as it went round and round, while the tall grass fell down behind the cutter bar in long green swathes. Next day, if there was no thunder shower, all hands would help rake and pitch and load, and the hay would be hauled to barn in the high hay wagon, with Fern and Avery riding at the top of the load. Then the hay would be hoisted, sweet and warm, into the big loft, until the whole barn seemed like a wonderful bed of timothy and clover. It was fine to jump in, and perfect to hide in. And sometimes Avery would find a little grass snake in the hay, and would add it to the other things in his pocket.
差不多在七月的第一天，祖克曼先生便開始把割草機套在馬的脖子上，自己跳進座位里，趕著馬往田野里去了。整個的早晨你都能聽到割草機轉來轉去的嘎嘎聲，看到高高的草漸漸的在長條割刀的后面排起了長長的綠行的情景。第二天，如果沒有雷陣雨，所有的人就會來幫著用耙子把割下來的草收攏到一起，裝上高高的干草車往谷倉拉，芬和埃弗里則坐到了車的最頂上。然后，暖暖的散發著清香的干草會被卸進大閣樓，直到堆得整個谷倉看起來像無數的筒狀草與苜蓿鋪起的奇妙的大床一樣。如果你跳上去，一定感覺很舒服，躲到里面也沒人看得見。偶爾，來這里玩的埃弗里能在干草堆里找到一條可愛的小草蛇，便把它和兜里的別的寶貝裝到一起。

Early summer days are a jubilee time for birds. In the fields, around the house, in the barn, in the woods, in the swamp--everywhere love and songs and nests and eggs. From the edge of the woods, the white-throated sparrow(which must come all the way from Boston) calls, "Oh, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!" On an apple bough, the phoebe teeters and wags its tail and says, "Phoebe, phoe-bee!" The song sparrow, who knows how brief and lovely life is, says, "Sweet, sweet, sweet interlude; sweet, sweet, sweet interlude." If you enter the barn, the swallows swoop down from their nests and scold. "Cheeky, cheeky!" they say.
初夏簡直是鳥兒們的狂歡節。在田野間，房子四周，谷倉里，樹林中，濕地上——到處都有歡愛，歌聲，鳥巢和鳥蛋。白喉雀（從波士頓飛來的）在樹林邊叫，“啊，皮兒剝，皮兒剝，皮兒剝！”在蘋果樹杈間，京燕顫巍巍地晃著尾巴走來走去，嘴里喊著：“波碧，波兒-碧！”深知生命是多么可愛和短促的百靈鳥說，“快樂的，快樂的偷閑！快樂的，快樂的，快樂的偷閑。”如果你來到谷倉，就會聽見燕子們從他們的巢里一頭扎過去叱責。“無恥，無恥！”他們說。

In early summer there are plenty of things for a child to eat and drink and suck and chew. Dandelion stems are full of milk, clover heads are loaded with nectar, the Frigidaire is full of ice-cold drinks. Everywhere you look is life; even the little ball of spit on the weed stalk, if you poke it apart, has a green worm inside it. And on the under side of the leaf of the potato vine are the bright orange eggs of the potato bug.
初夏里有很多孩子們喜歡吃，喝，吮，嚼的好東西。蒲公英的花梗里都是乳汁，苜蓿花的芯里盛滿了瓊漿，冰箱里放了那么多冰涼的飲料。到處都是勃勃的生機，甚至粘在草莖上的小雪球里，也會躺著一只小綠蟲，如果你把它捅開的話。在土豆枝葉的下面，還有鮮橙色的薯蟲蛋呢。

It was on a day in early summer that the goose eggs hatched. This was an important event in the barn cellar. Fern was there, sitting on her stool, when it happened.
初夏的某天，小鵝們被孵出來了。在谷倉的地窖里，這可算一件大事情。當時，芬正在她的凳子上坐著呢。

Except for the goose herself, Charlotte was the first to know that the goslings had at last arrived. The goose knew a day in advance that they were coming--she could hear their weak voices calling from inside the egg. She knew that they were coming. She knew that they were in a desperately cramped position inside the shell and were most anxious to break through and get out. So she sat quite still, and talked less than usual.
除了母鵝之外，夏洛是第一個得知小鵝出世的消息的。母鵝頭一天就知道小鵝們快要出來了——她聽到了蛋殼里傳出的微弱叫聲。她知道他們已經在里面呆不安穩，急著打破蛋殼出來走走了。于是她就靜靜地坐著，話也比平時少多了。

When the first gosling poked its grey-green head through the goose's feathers and looked around, Charlotte spied it and made the announcement.
當第一只小鵝從鵝媽媽的羽毛里探出灰綠的小腦袋，開始四處觀望時，夏洛第一個瞥見了他，并發布了一個聲明。

"I am sure," she said," that every one of us here will be gratified to learn that after four weeks of unremitting effort and patience on the part of our friend the goose, she now has something to show for it. The goslings have arrived. May I offer my sincere congratulations!"
“我相信，”她說，“我們中的每一位都將高興地獲悉，經過四周的不懈努力與耐心的等待，我們的朋友母鵝終于取得了驕人的成績。小鵝出世了。請讓我在這里衷心地表示祝賀！”

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" said the goose, nodding and bowing shamelessly.
“謝謝你，謝謝你，謝謝你！”母鵝點點頭，毫不害羞地鞠了一躬。

"Thank you," said the gander.
“謝謝你，”公鵝說。

"Congratulations!" shouted Wilbur. "How many goslings are there? I can only see one."
“祝賀！”威伯喊。“一共有幾只小鵝？我只看見一只呀。”

"There are seven," said the goose.
“有七個，”母鵝說。

"Fine!" said Charlotte. "Seven is a lucky number."
“太好了！”夏洛說，“七是個幸運數字。”

"Luck had nothing to do with this," said the goose. "It was good management and hard work."
“這可與什么幸運無關，”母鵝說。“這需要很好的籌劃和辛苦的勞動。”

At this point, Templeton showed his nose from his hiding place under Wilbur's trough. He glanced at Fern, then crept cautiously toward the goose, keeping close to the wall. Everyone watched him, for he was not well liked, not trusted.
這時，坦普爾曼從他在威伯食槽下的藏身處露出了鼻子。他偷看了芬一眼，然后貼著墻小心地朝母鵝這邊溜過來。大家都警惕地看著他，因為他既不討人喜歡，也不被人相信。

"Look," he began in his sharp voice, "you say you have seven goslings. There were eight eggs. What happened to the other egg? Why didn't it hatch?"
“看，”他尖細地叫起來，“你說你有了七只小鵝。可共有八只蛋呢。第八只蛋怎么了？你沒有孵嗎？”

"It's a dud, I guess," said the goose.
“它是只壞蛋，我猜，”母鵝說。

"What are you going to do with it?" continued Templeton, his little round beady eyes fixed on the goose.
“你將怎么處理它？”坦普爾曼那圓溜溜的小眼珠盯向母鵝，繼續說道。

"You can have it," replied the goose. "Roll it away and add it to that nasty collection of yours." (Templeton had a habit of picking up unusual objects around the farm and storing them in his home. He saved everything.)
“你可以把它帶走，”母鵝回答。“把它滾到你那些骯臟的收藏品里去吧。”（坦普爾曼有把農場里沒人要的東西收藏到家里的習慣。他什么都收藏。）

"Certainly-ertainly-ertainly," said the gander. "You may have the egg. But I'll tell you one thing, Templeton, if I ever catch you poking-oking-oking your ugly nose around our goslings, I'll give you the worst pounding a rat ever took." And the gander opened his strong wings and beat the air with them to show his power. He was strong and brave, but the truth is, both the goose and the gander were worried about Templeton. And with good reason. The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything. He would kill a gosling if he could get away with it--the goose knew that. Everybody knew it.
“當然-然-然，”公鵝說。“你可以拿走這只蛋。但我有件事要告訴你，坦普爾曼，如果我發現你把你那丑陋的鼻子伸-伸-伸到我們的小鵝身邊的話，我就會給你一記一只耗子從來沒受過的重拳。”說著，公鵝張開他強壯的翅膀，用它們使勁撲打著空氣，好讓老鼠看看他是多么的孔武有力。他雖然既結實又勇猛，但事實上，母鵝和公鵝還是有對坦普爾曼擔心的充分理由。這只耗子不講道義，沒同情心，無所顧忌，不顧他人，沒有品德，沒有嚙齒類動物的仁慈心腸，從不會良心不安，毫無高尚情感，沒有友情，什么好的地方都沒有。如果可以逃脫懲罰，他就會殺死小鵝的——母鵝深知這一點。大家也知道。

With her broad bill the goose pushed the unhatched egg out of the nest, and the entire company watched in disgust while the rat rolled it away. Even Wilbur, who could eat almost anything, was appalled. "Imagine wanting a junky old rotten egg!" he muttered.
母鵝用她扁扁的嘴巴把那只沒有孵出來的蛋推到了她的巢外，全體的伙伴都帶著憎惡的表情看著耗子把它搬走。甚至連幾乎什么都吃的威伯見此情景也感到惡心。“想想吧，竟有人愿意要一只臭烘烘的破蛋！”他嘟囔著。

"A rat is a rat," said Charlotte. She laughed a tinkling little laugh. "But, my friends, if that ancient egg ever breaks, this barn will be untenable."
“老鼠不愧為老鼠。”夏洛的笑聲好像風里的鈴兒一樣。“但是，我的朋友，如果這只蛋被打碎了，這個谷倉就會讓人受不了的。”

"What's that mean?" asked Wilbur.
“那是什么意思？”威伯問。

"It means nobody will be able to live here on account of the smell. A rotten egg is a regular stink bomb."
“這就是說那傳出的氣味會薰得我們無法在這里住下去的。一只壞了的蛋通常都是非常臭的。”

"I won't break it," snarled Templeton. "I know what I'm doing. I handle stuff like this all the time."
“我不會弄破它的，”坦普爾曼氣惱地說。“我知道我在干什么。我可是常搬這類東西的。”

He disappeared into his tunnel, pushing the goose egg in front of him. He pushed and nudged till he succeeded in rolling it to his lair under the trough.
他推著面前的鵝蛋鉆進了他的地道。他小心地把蛋滾著，直到安全到達他在豬食槽下的窩。

That afternoon, when the wind had died down and the barnyard was quiet and warm, the grey goose led her seven goslings off the nest and out into the world. Mr. Zucherman spied them when he came with Wilbur's supper.
那天下午，當風漸弱，谷倉里變得又靜又暖時，灰色的母鵝把她的七只小鵝領到了巢外的世界。祖克曼先生在給威伯送晚飯時看到了他們。

"Well, hello there!" he said, smiling all over. "Let's see...one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven baby geese. Now isn't that lovely!"
“哈，那是什么！”他笑著說，“讓我來看看……一、二、三、四、五、六、七。七只鵝寶寶。它們多可愛呀！”

（來源：愛思英語 編輯：丹妮）