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Poor Louis! While his father watched, he took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and let the air out, hoping it would say beep. But there wasn't a sound.
可怜的路易斯！就在他父亲的注视下，他深吸了一口气，张大了嘴巴，吐出里面的空气，希望可以借此发出一声“哔”来。可是他却发不出一丝声音。
"Try again, Louis!" said his father. "Perhaps you're not making enough of an effort."
“再试一次，路易斯！”他的父亲说，“可能你努力得还不够。”
Louis tried again. It was no use. No sound came from his throat. He shook his head, sadly.
路易斯又试了一次。这并没有用。他的喉咙里根本就没发出声音。他难过地摇了摇头。
"Watch me!" said the cob. He raised his neck to its full height and cried ko-hoh so loud it was heard by every creature for miles around.
“看我！”雄天鹅说。他高高地仰起脖子叫了声“吭—嗬”，声音大得方圆数里内的所有动物都听到了。
"Now let me hear you go beep!" he commanded. "Say beep, Louis--loud and clear!"
“现在让我来听你说‘哔’！”他命令道，“说‘哔’，路易斯——大声点，清楚些！”
Louis tried. He couldn't beep.
路易斯想说。可他却不能说“哔”。
"Let me hear you burble! Go ahead and burble! Like this: burble, burble, burble."
“让我听你说‘波’好了！开始，‘波’！就像这样：波，波，波。”
Louis tried to burble. He couldn't do it. No sound came.
路易斯试着说“波”。可他还是不能说。什么声音都没有。
"Well," said the cob, "I guess it's no use. I guess you are dumb."
“好了，”雄天鹅说，“我猜这是没有用的。我想你是哑的。”
When he heard the word "dumb," Louis felt like crying.
听到“哑”这个词时，路易斯感到自己快要哭了。
The cob saw that he had hurt Louis's feelings.
雄天鹅看出来他已经伤了路易斯的心。
"You misunderstand me, my son," he said in a comforting voice.
“你误会我的意思了，我的儿子，”他用安慰的口气说，
"You failed to understand my use of the word "dumb," which has two meanings.
“你对我用的‘哑’这个词理解错了，它是有两种含义的。
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.
如果我说你是笨蛋或傻子，那才意味着那才意味着我认为你的智力有缺陷呢。
Actually, I think you are perhaps the brightest, smartest, most intelligent of all my cygnets.
实际上，我认为你可能是我所有的孩子中最聪明的，最机灵的，最有才能的。
Words sometimes have two meanings; the word "dumb" is such a word.
一个词有时会同时具有两种意思；‘哑’就是这样的词。
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.
看不见东西的人叫盲人。听不到声音的人叫聋子。说不出话的人叫哑巴。
That simply means he can't say anything. Do you understand?"
这意思仅仅是说他不能说话而已。你明白了吗？”
Louis nodded his head. He felt better, and he was grateful to his father for explaining that the word had two meanings.
路易斯点点头。他感觉好点儿了，他对父亲关于这个词的两种含义的解释表示感激。
He still felt awfully unhappy, though.
不过，他还是特别的不开心。
