來(lái)自烏鴉的禮物

Most little girls will exchange gifts with their closest friends， but one eight-year-old has been receiving trinkets from a more unusual source—the birds in her garden.

Gabi Mann， from Seattle， Washington， feeds the crows that visit her home with peanuts and they bring her gifts in exchange.

The youngster has built up a collection of more than 70 shiny beads， buttons， pieces of metal， brightly coloured plastic and foam—all left for her by her friends.

Perhaps the most touching is a metal piece with the word “best” written on it—one half of a pendant that would be completed by the word “friend” if reunited with the other part.

Among her most prized presents from the neighbourhood crows is a pearl-coloured heart.

“Its showing me how much they love me，” Gabi told the BBC. “They give me all the special stuff you could ever find. We know these are from the crows that sometimes they are rusted and dirty and nothing like what a person would carry around. Sometimes we find them on the bird feeder.”

Her strange relationship with the birds began in 2011 when as a four-year-old she would accidentally drop food. Groups of crows began hanging around the family house， hoping to pick up the scraps Gabi left behind.

When she started going to school， Gabi began feeding them her lunch. The birds then started lining up to wait for the youngster to get off her bus at the end of the school day.

Two years later， Gabi and her mother Lisa began leaving food outside in their garden on a daily basis—filling the bird bath with water and leaving peanuts on feeders.

As Gabi throws the food for the birds， crowds of crows gather on telephone lines and the nearby fence.

In return， the crows now leave trinkets on the empty bird feeder—including a broken light bulb， earrings， rocks， pieces of Lego， rusted screws， and glass beads.

Gabi keeps all of the bits in carefully labelled pots and ranks them according to her favourite.

“I think they know my favourite colour—blue. They know that I like Lego and shiny things. They are my type，” she said.

Crows are known to be highly intelligent creatures—capable of solving complex puzzles and problems to get food.

Experts say they can often form strong bonds with people that feed them， but equally can mark out those that they consider a threat.

In perhaps the most astonishing story， however， Gabis mother Lisa describes how the crows in their neighbourhood appear to keep watch over the family.

She said that on one occasion， she had been out taking photographs of an eagle when she dropped her lens cap on the floor and forgot to pick it up before walking home.

“About an hour later I went back outside to see if I could find it， and a crow had put it on the side of one of the bird baths，” she said.

“I looked at the surveillance video to find out if it was a crow and you can see it bring it into the yard， walk it to the bird bath and spends time rinsing the lens cap and puts it on the side of the bird bath. It was pretty impressive. Im sure it was intentional. They watch us all the time.”

Gabi herself believes her relationship with the crows has given her a special bond with the natural world and calls herself Nature Girl.

She is highly protective of the gifts from the birds， not allowing anyone to touch the trinkets.

Professor John Marzluff， an expert on avian social ecology at the University of Washington， said he believes the crows may be offering up the gifts as they would to a potential mate.

“I have seen an awful lot of things crows bring people. They do bring gifts. Whether it is always going to happen， I dont think so，” he said. “Certain individual crows， the bond they form with that person might be more of a courtship bond where they are bringing presents like they would for their mates. For some people they are dead baby birds and other people they get shiny pendants or beautiful glass.”

For anyone hoping to form a bond with some crows， he has some advice.

“The best thing you can do if you want to form a bond with a crow is to be consistent in rewarding them for whatever the action is with a few peanuts，” he said.

“They like that food as it is a high fat high energy food and it makes noise when you throw it on the ground. They quickly habituate to your routine. They will follow you.”

大多數(shù)小女孩會(huì)和她們最親密的朋友交換禮物。然而，一個(gè)8歲的小姑娘卻從一個(gè)不同尋常的地方收到了各種小玩意——送禮物的是她花園里的小鳥。

加比·曼來(lái)自（美國(guó)）華盛頓州的西雅圖，她用花生喂飼那些到訪她家的烏鴉，而烏鴉們就用禮物報(bào)恩。

這個(gè)小朋友已經(jīng)收集了一系列物品，包括閃亮的珠子、紐扣、金屬塊、色澤鮮艷的塑料和泡沫等七十多件小東西，全部都是她的鳥朋友留給她的。

也許最令人感動(dòng)的禮物是一塊上面寫著“最好的”字樣的金屬塊——如果和寫著“朋友”的另一半合在一起，那就完整了。

在烏鴉鄰居送給她的禮物當(dāng)中，最珍貴的當(dāng)屬一個(gè)珍珠色的心。

“這個(gè)心顯示了它們有多愛我。”加比對(duì)BBC說(shuō)。“它們送我的東西要多特別有多特別。我們知道這些東西是烏鴉給的，因?yàn)橛袝r(shí)候這些物品不僅生銹，還臟臟的，不像是普通人會(huì)帶在身上的東西。有時(shí)候，我們會(huì)在喂鳥器里發(fā)現(xiàn)這些小玩意?！?/p>

她和這些鳥的奇妙關(guān)系始于2011年。那時(shí)，4歲的她總是不小心把食物掉在地上。一群群烏鴉開始在她的屋子聚集，希望吃到加比掉下的“殘羹冷炙”。

加比讀書以后，她開始用自己的午餐喂它們。于是，每天放學(xué)后，烏鴉們會(huì)排好隊(duì)等這個(gè)小朋友走出校車。

兩年后，加比和她的媽媽麗莎開始每天在自己家的花園里放置食物。她們給鳥盆加水，在喂鳥器里放上花生。

當(dāng)加比給小鳥們拋灑食物時(shí)，電話線和附近的柵欄上會(huì)聚集起一大群烏鴉。

為了報(bào)恩，烏鴉們現(xiàn)在會(huì)在空的喂鳥器里留下各種小玩意，包括一個(gè)爛燈泡，各種耳環(huán)、石子、樂高積木塊、生銹的螺絲和玻璃珠等。

加比小心翼翼地將這些小東西放在貼有標(biāo)簽的罐子里，然后根據(jù)喜愛程度進(jìn)行排名。

“我想，它們知道我喜歡什么顏色——藍(lán)色。它們知道我喜歡樂高和閃亮的東西。它們是我（喜歡）的類型?！彼f(shuō)。

我們知道，烏鴉是高智商的生物。它們能夠解決復(fù)雜的問題，從而獲取食物。

專家稱，烏鴉往往會(huì)和喂養(yǎng)它們的人類形成緊密的聯(lián)系，但同樣會(huì)和它們視為威脅的人劃清界線。

加比的媽媽麗莎說(shuō)，最神奇的故事，也許是這些烏鴉鄰居似乎在守護(hù)著她們一家人。

她說(shuō)有一次她出去拍攝一只鷹，相機(jī)的鏡頭蓋掉在地上，走回家時(shí)她忘記撿起來(lái)。

“大約一個(gè)小時(shí)后，我走回去想看看還能不能找到，一只烏鴉已經(jīng)把鏡頭蓋放在其中一個(gè)鳥盆邊了?！彼f(shuō)。

“我查看了監(jiān)控視頻，想看看是不是烏鴉做的。然后你可以看到一只烏鴉叼著鏡頭蓋來(lái)到院子里。它走到鳥盆前，花了一些時(shí)間把鏡頭蓋沖洗干凈，然后把它放在鳥盆邊。印象太深刻了。我深信它是有意識(shí)這樣做的。它們常?？粗覀儭！?/p>

加比本人相信，她和烏鴉的關(guān)系讓她和大自然形成了一種特殊的聯(lián)系，她把自己稱為“自然之女”。

她對(duì)這些來(lái)自烏鴉的禮物愛護(hù)有加，不許任何人碰它們。

華盛頓大學(xué)研究鳥類社會(huì)生態(tài)學(xué)的專家約翰·馬茲洛夫教授說(shuō)，他相信烏鴉的這種行為可能類似于向潛在的配偶送禮物。

“我看過(guò)烏鴉們送給人類大量物件，它們確實(shí)會(huì)送禮物。但是不是總會(huì)出現(xiàn)這種情況？我不這么認(rèn)為?！彼f(shuō)?！皞€(gè)別烏鴉和某個(gè)人形成的紐帶，也許更像是一種求偶的關(guān)系，因?yàn)榍笈嫉臑貘f會(huì)向配偶送禮物。有些人會(huì)收到雛鳥的尸體，有些人收到的則是閃亮的吊墜或漂亮的玻璃?！?/p>

對(duì)于那些希望和烏鴉親近的人，他有幾個(gè)建議。

“如果你想和烏鴉搞好關(guān)系，最好的方法就是，不管它們做什么，你要不停地用花生給它們獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)?！彼f(shuō)。

“它們喜歡那種食物，因?yàn)榛ㄉ歉咧靖吣芰康氖澄?，撒在地上的時(shí)候會(huì)發(fā)出聲響。它們會(huì)很快習(xí)慣你的規(guī)律，然后就跟著你了?！?/p>

雇主和雇員

Workman：“Mr. Brown， I should like to ask for a smallrise in my wages. I have just been married.” Employer：“Very sorry， my dear man， but I cant help you. For accidents which happen to our workmen outside the factory we are not responsible.”

工人：“布朗先生，我想請(qǐng)您給我加一點(diǎn)工資。我剛剛結(jié)了婚。” 雇主：“非常抱歉，老兄，但是我無(wú)能為力。對(duì)工人在廠外發(fā)生的事故我們概不負(fù)責(zé)。”

新老師

George comes from school on the first of September.“George， how did you like your new teacher？” asked his mother.“I didnt like her， Mother， because she said that three and three were six and then she said that two and four were six too…”

9月1日，喬治放學(xué)回到家里?！皢讨?，你喜歡你們的新老師嗎？” 媽媽問?！皨寢專也幌矚g，因?yàn)樗f(shuō)3加3得6，可后來(lái)又說(shuō)2加4也得6?！?/p>