在上一章中，我們看到了小天鵝的誕生，也了解到天鵝爸爸獨特的個性。今天的這個章節中呢，我們將第一次看到本書的主角-Louis。Louis天生的語言障礙讓老爸老媽著實有點著急，在這一章當中，我們可以看到天鵝爸爸媽媽在面對這樣一個有語言障礙的小天鵝是如何面對的。同時我們也看到天鵝爸爸用怎么樣的一種方式來鼓勵和安慰小天鵝。

In what way is Louis different from his brothers and sisters?

大家注意這樣的一個表達，蠻常用的 - in what way - 在哪方面

"Come to think of it, I never have," replied the cob, who was beginning to look worried!

come to think of it ...字面意思是：來想一下，其實就是：仔細想想

come to 有時候用來提出一個話題，比如...I am no expert when comes to biology. 講到生物呀，我還真是不擅長。

“Now that you mention it, I never have,” said the cob.

you mention it - 你提到，你說起

天鵝爸爸一想到自己的孩子可能是啞巴，還是有點方的：

What are you getting at? Do you wish me to believe that I have a son who is defective in any way?

what are you getting at? 你到底想說什么？

defective in any way - 在某方面有缺陷

Such a revelation would distress me greatly.

大家如果查單詞：revelation，圣經里有一章叫做Revelation-啟示錄。其實，relelation就是表示啟示，揭示的意思，但是在這里可以理解成“事實”，“這個事實還是讓我很憂傷的?！?/p>

I want everything to go smoothly in my family life so that I can glide gracefully and serenely, now in the prime of my life, without being haunted by worry or disappointment.

gracefully and serenely - 注意他老爸用的兩個副詞...

in the prime of my life - 可以理解成 在我壯年之時，或是 人生巔峰之時，哈哈哈

Fatherhood is quite a burden, at best.

at best - 最多，充其量

這句話的意思：做老爸嘛，也就是累點。

I do not want the added strain of having a defective child, a child that has

something the matter with him.

我可以不希望有個不健全的孩子來徒增我更多的壓力呀！

added strain - 額外的壓力

“This is distressing beyond words. This is a very serious matter.”

beyond words - 無以言表

老媽的擔憂并不那么急切，但是也有擔心的原因：

His wife looked at him in amusement.

amusement 本意是娛樂，開心的意思，這里可以理解成“樂觀”，老媽的態度比老爸樂觀一點。

“It’s not too serious now,” she said. “But it will be serious two or three years from now when Louis falls in love, as he will surely do.

falls in love - 談戀愛

A young male swan will be greatly handicapped in finding a mate if he is unable to say ko-hoh, ko-hoh, or if he can’t utter the usual endearments to the young female

of his choice.”

handicapped- 這個詞可以和 defective一起記，都是表示“有障礙，有殘疾的”

utter the usual endearments

utter - 和speak類似，有發聲，表達的意思

endearments - 情話，甜言蜜語

天鵝媽媽憶往昔啦：

“I can remember perfectly well the springtime, years ago, when you fell in love with me and began chasing after me. What a sight you were, and what a lot of noise you made! It was in Montana, remember?

當年你追我的時候呀...你還記得嗎？（害羞狀，哈哈）

when you fell in love with me 愛上我，began chase after me 追求我

看一下天鵝媽媽是怎么說天鵝爸爸的聲音的：

Well, the thing that attracted me most to you was your voice—your wonderful voice.”

attract someone to ...吸引某人

當年最吸引我的，就是你迷人的聲音呀- wonderful voice

“Yes. You had the finest, most powerful, most resonant voice of any of the young male swans in the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana.”

你的聲音最好聽，最清脆，最洪亮...這一夸，不得了了。

“Yes, indeed. Every time I heard you say something in that deep voice of yours, I was ready to go anywhere with you.”

聽到你那深沉的嗓音呀，我就被你深深迷倒呀，你去哪我就去哪呀...哈哈哈

deep voice -深沉的嗓音/ deep blue eyes 深邃的藍眼睛

我們看看天鵝爸爸被夸后的反應：

He was obviously delighted with his wife’s praise. It tickled his vanity and made him feel great. He had always fancied himself as having a fine voice, and now to hear it from his wife’s own lips was a real thrill. In the pleasure of the moment, he forgot all about Louis and thought entirely of himself.

天鵝爸爸一直以來都比較自信，很愛面子，這一下更是了...簡直忘乎所以了

to hear it from his wife’s own lips was a real thrill - 從自己老婆嘴里聽到這樣的贊揚，非常的開心，激動 （其實夫妻之間，有時候是需要互相鼓勵，夸獎的嘛，哈哈）

天鵝爸爸也憶往昔了：

And, of course, he did remember that enchanted springtime on the lake in Montana when he had fallen in love. He remembered how pretty the swan had been, how young and innocent she seemed, how attractive, how desirable.

enchanted springtime - 迷人的春天，美好的春天

注意天鵝爸爸這里用的幾個詞：how pretty 多美美麗呀，how young 多么年輕呀，how innocent 多么單純呀，how attractive 多么迷人呀，how desirable - 多么讓人向往呀

Now he realized fully that he would never have been able to woo her and win her if he had been unable to say anything.

he would never have been able to woo her and win her if he had been unable to say anything...這是一個虛擬語氣，如果當年他沒有這么好的嗓音，他肯定追求不到了這只雌天鵝了。虛擬語氣一般都是對現實的一種假設，一般來說都是和現實相反的假設

woo- 求愛 ，我們還學了另一個詞，叫 chase after 還有一個詞叫 court

National Wildlife Refuge in Montana

這是一個野生動物保護基地，1935年4月22日由美國前總統富蘭克林羅斯福發起創辦的，1961年改成了現在的名字。大家有興趣可以到他們的網站看看，還蠻有趣的。

網址：https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Red_Rock_Lakes/about.html

網站里關于Trumpeter Swan有一段這樣的描述

Trumpeter Swan

In 1932, fewer than 70 trumpeters were known to exist worldwide, at a location near Yellowstone National Park. This led to the establishment of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in 1935.

1932年在美國黃石國家公園附近發現了世界僅存的70只左右的Trumpeter Swan?；谶@個現實，1935年就建立了這個Red Rock Lakes野生動物保護基地。

Red Rock Lakes is located in Montana's Centennial Valley and is part of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Nearly half of the known trumpeter swans in 1932 were found in this area.

這個野生動物保護基地在Montana's Centennial Valley，這個地方本身也屬于整個黃石公園生態系統的一部分。當年有一半左右的稀有Trumpeter Swan活動在這片區域。

Warm springs provide year-round open waters where swans find food and cover even in the coldest weather.

這里溫暖的春天，四季開放的水域給天鵝們提供了充足的食物，即使是寒冷的冬天也不用擔心。

Today, estimates show about 46,225 trumpeter swans reside in North America, including some 26,790 in the Pacific Coast population (Alaska,Yukon, and NW British Columbia) which winter on the Pacific Coast; 8,950 in Canada; about 9,809 in the Midwest; and about 487 in the tri-state area of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana (including the Red Rock Lakes refuge flock).

那么現在有多少天鵝呢？整個北美地區大概有46255只，其中26790生活在太平洋沿海一帶，8950只在加拿大，美國中西部有9809只，還有487只生活在Idaho, Wyoming和Montana三州交接處。

附一美國地圖：

We must stay together as a family until we see how Louis makes out.

see how Louis makes out - 看Louis到時候要怎么辦

The night was chill. Carefully, she lifted one wing and covered the cygnets with it.

They stirred in their sleep and drew close to her.

當老媽用翅膀保護他們的時候，小天鵝們本能地：stirred in their sleep（在睡著的狀態下動了動） and drew close to her（靠近媽媽），有孩子的可以想象一下你靠近睡夢中的孩子時，ta的反應。沒孩子的，自己去找個孩子看看...哈哈哈哈

老爸為這個不能發聲的小天鵝操碎了心，這個時候我們看到其實天底下的父母都是一些樣的，連天鵝的爸媽都是這樣：

想了很久，他對自己說：

There must be some way out of this difficulty.

must be a way out - 總是有辦法的??！

He stood on one leg, quietly, but sleep never came.

sleep never came - 一直沒有困意

“Here we are, gracefully floating, supremely buoyant, at some distance from the others, in perfect surroundings—a fine morning, with the pond quiet except for the song of the blackbirds, making the air sweet.

gracefully floating, supremely buoyant - 大家可以去總結總結天鵝老爸喜歡用的這些浮夸的副詞呀形容詞呀...很有意思

in perfect surroundings - 這里的surroundings我說過了哈，去翻翻

Louis雖然年紀不大，不會說話，但還是很了解他爸爸的：

“I wish my father would get to the point,” thought Louis.

get to the point - 講重點！“我希望老爸可以直接講重點”

我們看一下老爸說的話：真的很繞呀

“This is an ideal place for our conference,” continued the cob.

這個地方真是個談心的好地方呀?。ㄒ豢吹?conference，有人就興奮了，說：我知道，是會以的意思！然后就說：真是個開會的好地方！你家老爸跟你開會呀？對我說的就是你，躺槍了吧？適當的可以轉換一下意思，別那么死板）

There is something I feel I should discuss with you very candidly and openly—something that concerns your future.

有件事呀，關系到你的未來，我想呢，咱們還是得開誠布公地談談！

very candidly and openly - 開誠布公地

concern your future -關系到你的未來（concern也有關心的意思）

We need not range over the whole spectrum of bird life but just confine our talk to the one essential thing that is before us on this unusual occasion.

我們不需要縱觀鳥的一生，在這個特別的時候呢，我們只談那些緊要的事兒。

range over - 縱觀考慮，全局考慮

the whole spectrum of bird life 鳥的一生

confine to ...限定在某一個范圍（某一個點）

essential thing - 重要的事兒

這要是我老爸，我也要抓狂了??！

接下來的整個長篇大論都是老爸在不停的鼓勵兒子，安慰兒子：

“Well,” said the cob, “I guess it’s no use. I guess you are dumb.”

當講到這個dumb的時候呢，老爸意識到著會讓小Louis產生誤解，收到傷害，于是他進一步解釋了 dumb是什么意思：

“You misunderstand me, my son,” he said in a comforting voice. “You failed to understand my use of the word ‘dumb,’ which has two meanings. If I had called you a dumb cluck or a dumb bunny, that would have meant that I had a poor opinion of your intelligence. Actually, I think you are perhaps the brightest, smartest, most intelligent of all my cygnets. Words sometimes have two meanings; the word ‘dumb’ is such a word. A person who can’t see is called blind. A person who can’t hear is called deaf. A person who can’t speak is called dumb. That simply means he can’t say anything. Do you understand?”

intelligence - 智力，智商

老爸的鼓勵：Actually, I think you are perhaps the brightest, smartest, most intelligent of all my cygnets.

老爸繼續鼓勵和安慰：

“Do not let an unnatural sadness settle over you, Louis,” said the cob. “Swans must be cheerful, not sad; graceful, not awkward; brave, not cowardly. Remember that

the world is full of youngsters who have some sort of handicap that they must overcome.

settle over - 占據，“別人悲傷占據了你的心！”

注意幾組反義詞：

cheerful/ sad

graceful/awkward

brave/ cowardly

You apparently have a speech defect. I am sure you will overcome it, in time.

你雖然有言語障礙，但是加以時日，一定可以克服的。

There may even be some slight advantage, at your age, in not being able to say anything. It compels you to be a good listener. The world is full of talkers, but it is rare to find anyone who listens. And I assure you that you can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking.”

換個角度來說，你不說話，也許可以成為一個更好的傾聽者呀。這個世界上有太多夸夸其談的人了，但是傾聽者太少...（哈哈哈，小天鵝一副不信的樣子?。?/p>

其實老爸今天講的關于做一個傾聽者的一番話，我還是蠻有感觸的，不知道大家有什么感受，可以跟我們分享。

最后老爸給Louis做了一個承諾：

And I promise that someday I will make it possible for you to use your voice.

我一定會想盡辦法，讓你獲得聲音。

I don’t know how I will manage this, but in the fullness of time it shall be accomplished.

雖然我現在還不知道要怎么辦，但是時機一成熟，我們就知道了。

in the fullness of time - 時機成熟時

And now that our talk has come to a close, let us return gracefully to the other end of the pond, where your mother and your brothers and sisters await us!

come to a close 結束了（也可以說 come to an end）