Gilbert White - The Bat 汉译

I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which would take flies out of a person’s hand. If you gave it anything to eat, it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation and pleased me much. Insects seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion that bats go down chimneys and gnaw men’s bacon seems no improbable story. While I amused myself with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that bats, when down on a flat surface, cannot get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I observed, with more dispatch than I was aware of; but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

蝙蝠

吉尔伯特·怀特

去年夏天，一只驯养的蝙蝠很是让我快活了一阵，它竟然会从人的手里叼苍蝇。如果你喂它东西吃，它就会把翅膀兜到嘴的前面，悬停在空中，把头遮起来，像猛禽吃食一样。它剔去苍蝇翅膀（翅膀总是不吃的）时所展现的灵巧很值得一看，让我感觉很有意思。它最爱吃昆虫，不过，喂它生肉它也不拒绝；因此，说蝙蝠能从烟筒钻进屋里啃人吃的熏肉似乎并不是不可能的。正当我兴致勃勃地观看这个令人赞叹的四足动物时，我看见它一连几次推翻了各种庸俗的看法，认为蝙蝠一旦落在平地上就不会再轻而易举地飞起来。我注意到，它跑得很快，我原来不知道它跑得这么快；但样子很可笑，怪模怪样的。