第五课 牛

　　Every boy and girl knows the cow, and likes to hear about her. A young cow is called a calf, and the male of the cow is called an ox or a bull. THE PET CALF (家养的小牛)

　　小朋友们都知道牛, 也都喜欢听牛的故事。小牛的英语叫calf, 成年的公牛英语叫ox或bull。

　　The cow has short straight hair all over her body. There is a tuft of long hair at the end of her tail, with which she drives away the flies.

　　牛浑身都长着短毛, 尾巴尖儿上, 还有一丛长毛, 牛就用这丛长毛赶苍蝇。

　　Most cows have horns. Some of them are straight, and others curved. You may have seen cows using their horns to drive away dogs that tried to bite them. When they do this, they put down their heads and rush at the dogs, trying to toss them in the air. The horns are hollow, and are made of the same kind of stuff as our finger nails.

　　大多数牛都有角。有些牛角是直的, 有些牛角是弯的。你可能见过, 牛会用角赶跑那些想咬它的狗。这时候, 牛把脑袋低下, 朝着狗冲过去, 想把狗一下子撞飞!牛角是空心的, 跟咱们的指甲, 是一样的东西做的。

　　Now, look at the hoof of the cow, and you will see that it is split or "cloven. " The cloven hoof is really two hoofs, which are the strong nails of the cow's toes. The cow has four toes on each foot; two long toes in front, and two short ones behind.

　　看看牛的蹄子。你看见蹄子是"分开"的, 也可以说是"分趾"(cloven)。这种"分趾"其实是两个"蹄子", 也就是牛脚趾上坚硬的指甲。牛的每只脚上都有四个脚趾, 两个长脚趾在前面, 两个短脚趾在后面。

　　Have you ever seen a cow eating? If you looked into her mouth, you would see that she has eight sharp cutting teeth in the front of her lower jaw; but in the front of her upper jaw she has no teeth. She has a hard pad there instead.

　　你见过牛吃东西吗?朝牛嘴里看, 就能看见, 牛的下颌前面, 有八颗锋利的下门齿, 但是上颌没有门齿, 只有一个硬硬的齿垫。

　　The cow takes the grass between this pad and her front teeth and tears it off. Then she swallows the grass without chewing it. When the cow has eaten a good deal of grass, she lies down and begins to chew the cud.

　　牛把青草咬在齿垫和下门齿中间, 撕下来, 然后不嚼就把草吞了下去。牛吃了很多草之后, 就卧下来开始"反刍"(chew the cud)。

　　This means that she brings the grass up again, a little at a time, out of her stomach into her mouth. She chews the grass well this time with her broad back teeth, and then swallows it again. This time the grass goes into another part of the cow's stomach.

　　"反刍"的意思, 是把草一点儿一点儿地, 从胃里退回到嘴里, 用后面的臼齿细细地嚼一遍, 然后再咽下去。这次的草, 就到了牛胃的另一个地方。

　　The cow is of great use to us. We like to drink her milk; and we make some of the milk into butter and cheese.

　　牛对我们的用处可大了!我们都喜欢喝牛奶, 还把一些牛奶做成黄油和奶酪。

　　After the cow is killed, she is also of use to us. Her flesh is very good for food. The flesh of the cow is called beef, and that of the calf is called veal.

　　牛死了之后, 也是对我们有用的：牛肉是很好的食物。牛肉的英语叫 beef, 小牛肉的英语叫veal。

　　The skin or hide of the cow is made into leather for our boots and shoes. The horns are made into combs, spoons, and cups. Buttons, and the handles of knives, are also made of cow's horn.

　　牛皮(hide)可以做成皮, 用来做我们穿的鞋和靴子。牛角可以做成梳子、勺子、杯子、扣子。还有, 刀把儿也是牛角做的哦!

　　The fat of the cow, called tallow, is used for making soap and candles. Even the cow's hair is of use, for it is mixed with the plaster which is put on the walls of our rooms. The hair holds the plaster together, and keeps it from falling off the walls.

　　牛的脂肪就是牛油(tallow)。牛油可以做肥皂和蜡烛。连牛毛也是有用的, 它可以跟灰泥混合在一起, 涂在屋子的墙上。牛毛可以让灰泥牢固, 不让它从墙上掉下来。