In this way the sparrows do a great deal of good. If the grubs were not killed, they would eat up our garden plants, and the crops that grow in our fields.
这样, 麻雀就做了不少好事！如果麻雀不吃小虫子, 虫子就会把我们菜园里长的蔬菜、农田里生长的庄稼都吃光了。
In autumn and winter the sparrows feed on wheat and other kinds of grain. For that reason the farmers do not like sparrows, and shoot them whenever they can. But these greedy little birds do more good than harm after all.
秋天和冬天, 麻雀吃的是小麦和其他种类的谷粒。因为这个原因, 农民不喜欢麻雀, 只要一有机会就开枪打麻雀。但这些贪婪的小鸟儿, 毕竟还是功大于过的。
Two sparrows were once watched while they were feeding their young ones, and it was found that they carried about forty grubs to the young birds every hour.
有人曾经观察过两只麻雀给小麻雀喂食, 他们发现, 每小时这两只麻雀就给小鸟儿喂了40条小虫子。
When we think how many sparrows there are in this country, we see that they must kill a very, very great number of grubs every day. If the farmers were to shoot all the sparrows, they would soon be very sorry for it, for all their crops would be eaten up by the grubs.
我们想想英国有多少只麻雀, 就能明白, 它们肯定每天都要杀死很多很多的虫子。要是农民把麻雀都打光了, 很快就该难过了, 因为他们的庄稼就会被虫子吃光了！
It is a cruel and wicked thing to throw a stone at a sparrow, or at any other bird. The stone might break its leg or its wing, and then the poor bird would die with great pain.
朝麻雀或者其他鸟儿扔石头, 是一件残忍的坏事。石头可能会打坏它们的腿或者翅膀, 可怜的鸟儿就会非常痛苦地死去的。