The Thanksgiving Turkey Of all the Thanksgiving symbols the turkey hasbecome the most well known. The wild turkey isnative1 to northern Mexico and the eastern UnitedStates. The turkey has brown features with buff-coloredfeathers on the tips of the wing and on the tail. Themale turkey is called a Tom2 and, as with mostbirds, is bigger and has brighter and more colorful plumage. The female is called a Hen and isgenerally smaller and drab in color. The Tom turkey has a long wattle (a fleshy, wrinkled,brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat) at the base of its bill andadditional wattles on the neck, as well as a prominent tuft of bristles3 resembling a beardprojecting downward from its chest. The turkey was originally domesticated in Mexico, and was brought into Europe early in the16th century. Since that time, turkeys have been extensively raised because of the excellentquality of their meat and eggs. Some of the common breeds of turkey in the United States arethe Bronze, Narragansett, White Holland, and Bourbon Red. Though there is no real evidence that turkey was served at the Pilgrim's4 first thanksgiving, ina book written by the Pilgrim's Governor Bradford, he does make mention of wild turkeys. In aletter sent to England, another Pilgrim describes how the governor sent "four men out fowling"returning with turkeys, ducks and geese. Benjamin Franklin5 once said, "I wish the Bald Eagle6 had not been chosen as therepresentative of our country; he is a Bird of bad moral character; like those among Men wholive by Sharping7 and Robbing, he is generally poor and very often lousy. The Turkey is a muchmore respectable Bird and withal a true original Native of North America. " 閱讀自測(cè) Ⅰ. Fill in each blank according to what you've read: Of all the symbols the turkey has become the most well known . The male turkey is called a ,and the female turkey is called a . The turkey was originally domesticated in . Turkeys have been extensively raised becauseof the excellent quality of their since the century. Benjamin Franklin once said that he wishedturkeys but not had been chosen as the representative of the United States. ?、? Question : Why did Benjamin Franklin think that the Turkey but not the Bald Eagle should be chosen asthe representative of the United States? 參考答案 ?、? Thanksgiving / Tom / Hen / Mexico / meat andeggs / 16 th / the Bald Eagle Ⅱ. Because he thoughtthe Bald Eagle was a bird of bad moral character，while the Turkey was much more respectable and itwas the true original Native of North America. 參考譯文 火雞漫談 在感恩節(jié)所有的象征中，火雞已經(jīng)成為人們最熟悉的東西。野火雞主要生長(zhǎng)在墨西哥 北部和美國(guó)東部。 火雞通體呈褐色，只是在翅尖和尾部點(diǎn)綴些許淺黃色的羽毛。人們稱雄性火雞為T om.和大多數(shù)鳥(niǎo)兒一樣，公火雞個(gè)頭更大，羽毛的顏色也更加鮮艷明亮。人們把雌性火雞稱作H en.母火雞的個(gè)頭較小，羽毛是單調(diào)的土褐色。公火雞嘴的底部有一條長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的肉垂(這是一種從脖子或喉嚨垂下的肉質(zhì)的皮膚褶皺，色彩艷麗)，脖子上也會(huì)長(zhǎng)些肉垂。而且，公火雞還長(zhǎng)有一叢從胸部垂下來(lái)的像是一撮胡子一樣的豎毛。 火雞最早在墨西哥被馴化，并在16 世紀(jì)早期被輸送到歐洲。從那時(shí)起，人們就因其高 品質(zhì)的肉和蛋而開(kāi)始大量飼養(yǎng)火雞。美國(guó)最常見(jiàn)的火雞品種主要有青銅色、納拉甘塞特、荷蘭白和波旁紅等。 盡管并沒(méi)有確鑿的證據(jù)證明美國(guó)清教徒在過(guò)第一個(gè)感恩節(jié)時(shí)曾把火雞擺上宴席，但是他們的總督布雷德福在他寫的一本書中確實(shí)提到了野火雞。另一個(gè)清教徒在他寄往英格蘭的信中描述了總督是怎樣派“四人出去捕鳥(niǎo)”，結(jié)果卻帶了些火雞、鴨子和鵝回來(lái)。 本杰明· 富蘭克林曾經(jīng)這樣說(shuō)：“要是當(dāng)年我們沒(méi)有選擇禿頭雕作為我國(guó)的象征就好了。禿頭雕的品行不好，就像那些靠欺騙和掠奪為生的人中敗類一樣，它一般都很卑下，而且行為通常也很卑劣?；痣u則是一種更加值得尊敬的鳥(niǎo)，不僅如此，它是北美真正土生土長(zhǎng)的鳥(niǎo)兒?！?