thethornbirds卓荆棘鸟英文版.doc

The Thorn Birds by COLLEEN MCCULLOUGH THERE IS A LEGEND There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life,more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth.From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree,and does not rest until it has found one.Then,singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest,sharpest spine.And,dying,it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale.One superlative song,existence the price.But the whole world stills to listen,and God in His heaven smiles.For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain….Or so says the legend. CONTENTS TOC \o 1-3 \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903548 ONE 1915-1917 MEGGIE 1 PAGEREF _Toc271903548 \h 2 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903549 TWO 1921-1928 Ralph PAGEREF _Toc271903549 \h 35 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903550 THREE 1929-1932 Paddy PAGEREF _Toc271903550 \h 115 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903551 FOUR 1933-1938 LUKE PAGEREF _Toc271903551 \h 152 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903552 FIVE 1938-1953 FEE PAGEREF _Toc271903552 \h 232 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903553 Six 1954-1965 Dane PAGEREF _Toc271903553 \h 286 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903554 SEVEN 1965-1969 Justine PAGEREF _Toc271903554 \h 356 HYPERLINK \l _Toc271903555 Copyright PAGEREF _Toc271903555 \h 378 ONE 1915-1917 MEGGIE 1 On December 8th, 1915, Meggie Cleary had her fourth birthday. After the breakfast dishes were put away her mother silently thrust a brown paper parcel into her arms and ordered her outside. So Meggie squatted down behind the gorse bush next to the front gate and tugged impatiently. Her fingers were clumsy, the wrapping heavy; it smelled faintly of the Wahine general store, which told her that whatever lay inside the parcel had miraculously been bought, not homemade or donated. Something fine and mistily gold began to poke through a corner; she attacked the paper faster, peeling it away in long, ragged strips. Agnes! Oh, Agnes! she said lovingly, blinking