If So For Birds, Why Not For Man? 鸟儿尚且如此，何况人呢？
This is a true story. It was on a winter morning, near Oxford, Maryland, that a friend of mine set the breakfast table beside the huge window, which overlooked the Tred Avon River. Across the river, beyond the dock, the snow laced the rim of the shore in white. For a moment she stood quietly, looking at what the night's storm had painted.
Suddenly she leaned forward and peered close to the frosted window. “It really is true,” she cried out loud. “There is a goose out there.” She saw a large Canadian goose, very still, its wings folded tight to its sides, its feet frozen to the ice.
Then from the dark skies, she saw a line of swans. They moved in their own singular formation, graceful, intrepid, and free. Suddenly they floated from the top of the sky downward and at last surrounded the frozen goose. Seeing this, my friend feared what life it still had might be pecked out by those great swan bills.
Instead, amazingly, those bills began to work on the ice. At last, the goose was rimmed by a narrow margin of ice instead of the entire creek. The swans rose again, hovered in a circle, awaiting the results of their labors.
The goose's head lifted. Its body pulled. Then the goose was free and standing on the ice. But it seemed not be able to fly. Later, four of the swans came down around it. Their powerful beaks scraped the goose's wings from top to bottom and rode up its body, chipping off the ice held in the feathers.
The goose spread its wings as far as they would go. When at last the wings reached their fullest, the four swans took off and joined the hovering group. They resumed flying in perfect formation, to their secret destination.
Behind them, rising with incredible speed and joy, the goose moved into the sky. It followed them, flapping double time, until it caught up, until it joined the last end of the elegant line.
My friend was deeply moved with tears running down her cheeks. Even birds give a hand to those in trouble. I just often think of this story in the bad moments and tell myself, “If so for birds, why not for man?” 这是一个真实的故事。故事发生在一个冬天的早晨。在靠近马里兰州牛津镇的地方，我的一个朋友在一扇巨大的窗户旁摆放早餐餐具。透过窗户，可以俯视特爱温河。码头之外，大雪将整条河流镶上了白色的银边。她在窗前静静地站了好一会儿，凝视着昨夜暴风雪勾画的这一杰作。
突然，她向前倾了倾身子，贴近结了霜的窗户向外仔细看去。“是真的!”她不禁失声叫道，“那儿有一只黑额黑雁！”她看到了一只硕大的加拿大黑额黑雁，它一动不动，翅膀紧紧地收拢在身体两侧，双脚已经被冻在了冰里。
这时，她看到一队天鹅从昏暗的天空飞过来。它们以自己独特的阵式飞行着，优雅，无畏而又自在。突然，它们从高空向下飞去，最后将那只冻僵的黑额黑雁团团围住了。看到这种场景，我的朋友满心恐惧，担心那只一息尚存的黑额黑雁或许将在一群天鹅的利喙下变得千疮百孔。
然而令人惊讶的是，那些利喙却啄起冰块来。最后，黑额黑雁的身体周围只是镶嵌着窄窄的冰块，而不再被整条冰河所困。天鹅们于是再次飞起，在天空中盘旋飞行，等待观看它们的劳动成果。
黑额黑雁抬起头来，用力伸展着身体，最后它终于挣脱了冰冻，站在了冰面上。但它似乎不能飞起来。随后，只见四只天鹅飞到它的身旁，用它们那强有力的喙上上下下地蹭它的翅膀，拱它的身体，啄掉它羽毛里的冰块。黑额黑雁极力地伸展着双翅。当翅膀最终完全展开后，四只天鹅飞起，回到了自己的队伍中。随后，这队天鹅又以完美的阵式继续飞行，飞往它们那神秘的归宿。
就在它们的身后，那只黑额黑雁以惊人的速度快活地飞入天空。它随天鹅飞去，加倍抖动着双翅，最终赶上了它们，加入了那一优美的线条，紧跟其后。
我的朋友被深深地打动了，泪流满面。连鸟儿都知道危难时刻要互相帮助。在陷入困境时，我总会想起这个故事，总是提醒自己：“鸟儿尚且如此，何况人呢？”
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