文章一开头，作者就用非常细腻的文字将冬末春初的景象给我们描述了一番，大家闭上眼睛自己感受一下：
The pond Sam had discovered on that spring morning was seldom visited by any human being.
这样的pond，几乎无人涉足过。
All winter, snow had covered the ice; the pond lay cold and still under its
white blanket.
整个冬天河水像是盖上了一层白白的冰毯。
Most of the time there wasn’t a sound to be heard. The frog was asleep. The chipmunk was asleep. Occasionally a jay would cry out. And sometimes at
night the fox would bark—a high, rasping bark. Winter seemed to last forever.
万籁俱静，青蛙在冬眠，花栗鼠在沉睡，时不时听到松鸦鸣叫或是狐狸的尖叫。
But one day a change came over the woods and the pond. Warm air, soft and kind, blew through the trees. The ice, which had softened during the night, began to
melt. Patches of open water appeared.
一夜之间，冰雪解冻，草木复苏，和煦的暖风吹过枝头。
讲完草木禾秸，就讲讲小动物咯：
All the creatures that lived in the pond and in the woods were glad to feel the warmth. They heard and felt the breath of spring, and they stirred with new life and hope.
池塘里和树林里的小动物们，感受到了春天的气息，欢呼雀跃。
There was a good, new smell in the air, a smell of earth waking after its long sleep.
空气中弥漫着泥土复苏的气息。
The frog, buried in the mud at the bottom of the pond, knew that spring was here. The chickadee knew and was delighted (almost everything delights a chickadee).
The vixen, dozing in her den, knew she would soon have kits. Every creature knew that a better, easier time was at hand—warmer days, pleasanter nights.
所有的小动物：The frog, the chickadee, the vixen知道春天来了，一个个也激动的不行了。本章节中有超级多的小动物名字，大家可以用昨天教大家的图片查单词法，大概了解一下，不用记住每一个。有孩子的可以尝试跟孩子分享。
Trees were putting out green buds; the buds were swelling.
树木开始透芽。（看看这里的描述）
Birds began arriving from the south.
后面飞回北方。
A pair of ducks flew in. The Red-winged Blackbird arrived and scouted the pond for nesting sites. A small sparrow with a white throat arrived and sang, “Oh, sweet Canada, Canada, Canada!
整个开头这两段关于冬末春初的景色描写，动物描写，草木禾秸的描写，都非常的惟妙惟肖，大家可以花点时间多读读，感受这文字所蕴含的美好。在这样的春日，阅读到这样的文字，是不是一种享受呢？
在接下来的文字当中，作者用了很多的文字来描写我们的主角- Trumpeter Swan
They flew swiftly, their legs stretched out straight behind, their long white necks stretched out ahead, their powerful wings beating steady and strong.
天鹅在天空中飞行的样子，请对照下图：
When the birds spotted the pond, they began circling, looking the place over from the air. Then they glided down and came to rest in the water, folding their long wings
neatly along their sides and turning their heads this way and that to study their new surroundings.
circle - 盘旋
glide down - 滑翔
folding their long wings - 收起翅膀
turning their heads this way and that - 一下向这边，一下向那边
study their new surroundings - study 研究，观察，此处和后文中的investigate意思类似；surroundings 表示周遭环境，跟environment略有区别。
They paddled slowly about and then began feeding, thrusting their necks into
the shallow water and pulling roots and plants from the bottom.
这一小段天鹅在水中嬉戏的样子，大家可以脑补。
我们阅读的文字，很多都是非常有画面感的，大家在阅读的时候，请充分的运用自己的想象力，脑补画面。一定要尝试哟，你会发现不一样的乐趣。
In the spring of the year, nest-building is uppermost in a bird’s mind: it is the most important thing there is.
uppermost = most important
当看到一个可能不熟悉的单词时，不要慌，往后看，联系上下文你就可能找出他的意思哟
If she picks a good place, she stands a good chance of hatching her eggs and rearing her young. If she picks a poor place, she may fail to raise a family.
stand a good chance of - 表示“有极大成功的可能”，固定用法
hatch her eggs - 孵蛋
rear her young - 养育幼崽（young指代幼崽）
raise a family - 扶养家室（此处raise 和 rear 意思类似）
接下来作者又用了一些文字来描写天鹅们嬉戏的池塘：
The two swans first investigated the upper end of the pond, where a stream flowed slowly in.
investigate - study 打探（后面有一个 snoop 窥探，这些意思类似的词，大家可以联想，放在一块看看，帮助记忆）
这一句是说：池塘上游的地方，有一条小溪汇入
It was pleasant there, with reeds and bulrushes. Red-winged Blackbirds were busy nesting in this part of the pond, and a pair of Mallard Ducks were courting.
池塘里有reeds, bulrushes
有鸟在筑巢
有鸭子在交欢（court用在动物之间，指求爱，求偶，交欢的意思）
Then the swans swam to the lower end of the pond, a marsh with woods on one side
and a deer meadow on the other. It was lonely here. From one shore, a point of land extended out into the pond. It was a sandy strip, like a little peninsula. And at the tip
of it, a few feet out into the water, was a tiny island, hardly bigger than a dining table. One small tree grew on the island, and there were rocks and ferns and grasses.
接下来的这几句大家可以利用自己的想象，来脑补这个池塘周边的画面。如果有兴趣，可以用画画的形式将池塘画出来。我还是蛮期待的。
extended out into- 延伸进
hardly bigger than = no bigger than
“Take a look at this!” exclaimed the female, as she swam round and around.
“Ko-hoh!” replied her husband, who liked to have someone ask his advice.
有人询问雄天鹅意见，他表示很开心。其实在本书中会有很多关于雌雄天鹅作为夫妻间的相处以及他们对待孩子的方式，非常的温暖。
The swan stepped cautiously out onto the island. The spot seemed made to order—just right for a nesting place.
step out - 跨出
cautiously - 小心翼翼地
the spot seemed made to order - 表示这个地方好像已经提前被整理好了，就等他们来一样，order此处表示 “顺序，条理，规律”
“An ideal location!” he replied. “A perfect place! And I will tell you why it’s a perfect place,” he continued, majestically.
如果你不知道 ideal什么意思，往后看，看到perfect是不是有一种恍然大悟的感觉？
majestically - 庄严地（昂首挺胸的姿态）
慢慢地，我们会发现，包括这只雄天鹅在内的所有角色都有着鲜明的个性特点，这个我们的故事增添了不少的乐趣。
And by that time we’d see him or hear him, and I would give him a hard time.
I would give him a hard time. 给他好看（给他点颜色看看）
请别在说 give you some colour to see see
The male stretched out his great wings, eight feet from tip to tip, and gave the water a mighty clout to show his strength.
from tip to tip - 指的是从这边翅膀的尖尖到那一边的尖尖
a mighty clout 如果你不知道什么意思，可以结合 to show his strength 来看，a mighty clout 就是为了展示力量的，那么在水中一直天鹅如何展示自己的力量呢？肯定是“用力地拍打翅膀”...
As husbands go, he was a good one.
作为丈夫，他还是不错的。
这句话可以用在很多例子上：As mothers go, she was a good one. 作为妈妈，她已经很不错了。
接下来请脑补这只天鹅是怎么做窝的：
First she squatted down in the place she had chosen. Then she twisted round and around, tamping the earth with her broad webbed feet, hollowing it out to make it like a saucer. Then she reached out and pulled twigs and grasses toward her and dropped them at her sides and under her tail, shaping the nest to her body.
squat down - 蹲下
twist - 转动
tamp - 夯实（大家如果见过盖房子打地基就知道什么意思了,其实就是把土压紧实。天鹅的为什么要这么做呢？）
broad webbed feet（宽大的脚掌）：如下图。鸭子呀，天鹅呀，青蛙呀什么的，脚都是这样的。
hollow - 挖空，使突陷
She worked at the task for a couple of hours, then knocked off for the day and slid into the pond again, to take a drink and have lunch.
knock off - 中止，中断，休息
“A fine start!” said the cob, as he gazed back at the nest. “A perfect beginning! I don’t know how you manage it so cleverly.”
“It comes naturally,” replied his wife. “There’s a lot of work to it, but on the whole it is pleasant work.”
雄天鹅在夸奖雌天鹅哟！
it comes naturally - 是本能呀，天生就这样呀
on the whole - 整体上，基本上
"Yes,” said the cob. “And when you’re done, you have something to show for your trouble—you have a swan’s nest, six feet across. What other bird can say that?”
这里的trouble并不是困难的意思，而是指 “那些挑刺的人”，从上下文可以发现雄天鹅说：你做的这么好，其他鸟类能说什么呢？还敢挑你的刺？
“Yes, but in that case it wouldn’t be a swan’s nest, it would be an eagle’s nest, and it would be high up in some old dead tree somewhere, instead of right down near the water, with all the conveniences that go with water.“
in that case - 那样的话
with all the conveniences that go with water - 傍水而居所带来的一切便利