小學英語雙語故事賞析：笨鳥先飛

　　The early bird catches the worm

　　笨鳥先飛

　　A bird hatches six baby birds.The Sixth is very weak and small； his sisters and brothers usually bully him.The other birds usually rob food from his mouth， and the Sixth has to suffer from hunger.

　　樹上一只鳥媽媽孵出了六只鳥寶寶，小六又瘦又小，哥哥姐姐們都欺負它；經常從它嘴里搶蟲子，小六只得餓著肚子。

　　Sisters and Brothers call him “clumsy bird.”

　　哥哥姐姐們都叫他“小笨鳥”。

　　He determines to exercise more to be healthier， in order to not be laughed by his sisters and brothers.

　　于是他決心鍛煉好身體，讓哥哥姐姐們不再嘲笑自己。

　　The Sixth has a strong will and gets up very early every day.He always finishes exercising and eating worms by the time his sisters and brothers wake up.

　　他志氣非常大，每天都起得很早，等哥哥姐姐們醒來，他已經跑完步，吃了蟲子了。

　　When the winter is coming and the bird flock prepare to fly to the south， the “clumsy bird” is the first one to start flying.

　　冬天到了，鳥群要南飛了；小笨鳥是鳥群中第一個飛往南方的。

　　【文化鏈接】

　　“笨鳥先飛”比喻了那些“本身資質可能稍遜于他人，但是靠加倍的努力趕上甚至是超過了別人”的人，英語中有一個意義相近的短語叫做“The early bird catches the worm.”，意思就是“早起的鳥兒有蟲吃”，但是它并不強調這早起的鳥就是“笨鳥”，更多的強調了“勤能補拙”的意思。

　　所以，如果有一天你很早起床去學校，朋友很驚訝，問你：“Why are you so early？”那你就可以回答：“To catch worm.”（也就是自己把自己比喻成了“early bird”~）