看故事学英语:笨鸟先飞
来源:沪江英语
2012-05-04 07:00
【成语来源】
笨鸟先飞
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.
树上一只鸟妈妈孵出了六只鸟宝宝,小六又瘦又小,哥哥姐姐们都欺负它;经常从它嘴里抢虫子,小六只得饿着肚子。
Sisters and Brothers call him “clumsy bird.”
哥哥姐姐们都叫他“小笨鸟”。
He determines to exercise more to be healthier, in order to not be laughed by his sisters and brothers.
于是他决心锻炼好身体,让哥哥姐姐们不再嘲笑自己。
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.
他志气非常大,每天都起得很早,等哥哥姐姐们醒来,他已经跑完步,吃了虫子了。
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,鸟群要南飞了;小笨鸟是鸟群中第一个飞往南方的。
【文化链接】
“笨鸟先飞”比喻了那些“本身资质可能稍逊于他人,但是靠加倍的努力赶上甚至是超过了别人”的人,英语中有一个意义相近的短语叫做“The early bird catches the worm.”,意思就是“早起的鸟儿有虫吃”,但是它并不强调这早起的鸟就是“笨鸟”,更多的强调了“勤能补拙”的意思。
所以,如果有一天你很早起床去学校,朋友很惊讶,问你:“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”~)