来自乌鸦的礼物

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.”

大多數小女孩会和她们最亲密的朋友交换礼物。然而，一个8岁的小姑娘却从一个不同寻常的地方收到了各种小玩意——送礼物的是她花园里的小鸟。

加比·曼来自（美国）华盛顿州的西雅图，她用花生喂饲那些到访她家的乌鸦，而乌鸦们就用礼物报恩。

这个小朋友已经收集了一系列物品，包括闪亮的珠子、纽扣、金属块、色泽鲜艳的塑料和泡沫等七十多件小东西，全部都是她的鸟朋友留给她的。

也许最令人感动的礼物是一块上面写着“最好的”字样的金属块——如果和写着“朋友”的另一半合在一起，那就完整了。

在乌鸦邻居送给她的礼物当中，最珍贵的当属一个珍珠色的心。

“这个心显示了它们有多爱我。”加比对BBC说。“它们送我的东西要多特别有多特别。我们知道这些东西是乌鸦给的，因为有时候这些物品不仅生锈，还脏脏的，不像是普通人会带在身上的东西。有时候，我们会在喂鸟器里发现这些小玩意。”

她和这些鸟的奇妙关系始于2011年。那时，4岁的她总是不小心把食物掉在地上。一群群乌鸦开始在她的屋子聚集，希望吃到加比掉下的“残羹冷炙”。

加比读书以后，她开始用自己的午餐喂它们。于是，每天放学后，乌鸦们会排好队等这个小朋友走出校车。

两年后，加比和她的妈妈丽莎开始每天在自己家的花园里放置食物。她们给鸟盆加水，在喂鸟器里放上花生。

当加比给小鸟们抛洒食物时，电话线和附近的栅栏上会聚集起一大群乌鸦。

为了报恩，乌鸦们现在会在空的喂鸟器里留下各种小玩意，包括一个烂灯泡，各种耳环、石子、乐高积木块、生锈的螺丝和玻璃珠等。

加比小心翼翼地將这些小东西放在贴有标签的罐子里，然后根据喜爱程度进行排名。

“我想，它们知道我喜欢什么颜色——蓝色。它们知道我喜欢乐高和闪亮的东西。它们是我（喜欢）的类型。”她说。

我们知道，乌鸦是高智商的生物。它们能够解决复杂的问题，从而获取食物。

专家称，乌鸦往往会和喂养它们的人类形成紧密的联系，但同样会和它们视为威胁的人划清界线。

加比的妈妈丽莎说，最神奇的故事，也许是这些乌鸦邻居似乎在守护着她们一家人。

她说有一次她出去拍摄一只鹰，相机的镜头盖掉在地上，走回家时她忘记捡起来。

“大约一个小时后，我走回去想看看还能不能找到，一只乌鸦已经把镜头盖放在其中一个鸟盆边了。”她说。

“我查看了监控视频，想看看是不是乌鸦做的。然后你可以看到一只乌鸦叼着镜头盖来到院子里。它走到鸟盆前，花了一些时间把镜头盖冲洗干净，然后把它放在鸟盆边。印象太深刻了。我深信它是有意识这样做的。它们常常看着我们。”

加比本人相信，她和乌鸦的关系让她和大自然形成了一种特殊的联系，她把自己称为“自然之女”。

她对这些来自乌鸦的礼物爱护有加，不许任何人碰它们。

华盛顿大学研究鸟类社会生态学的专家约翰·马兹洛夫教授说，他相信乌鸦的这种行为可能类似于向潜在的配偶送礼物。

“我看过乌鸦们送给人类大量物件，它们确实会送礼物。但是不是总会出现这种情况？我不这么认为。”他说。“个别乌鸦和某个人形成的纽带，也许更像是一种求偶的关系，因为求偶的乌鸦会向配偶送礼物。有些人会收到雏鸟的尸体，有些人收到的则是闪亮的吊坠或漂亮的玻璃。”

对于那些希望和乌鸦亲近的人，他有几个建议。

“如果你想和乌鸦搞好关系，最好的方法就是，不管它们做什么，你要不停地用花生给它们奖励。”他说。

“它们喜欢那种食物，因为花生是高脂肪高能量的食物，撒在地上的时候会发出声响。它们会很快习惯你的规律，然后就跟着你了。”

雇主和雇员

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，我想请您给我加一点工资。我刚刚结了婚。” 雇主：“非常抱歉，老兄，但是我无能为力。对工人在厂外发生的事故我们概不负责。”

新老师

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，乔治放学回到家里。“乔治，你喜欢你们的新老师吗？” 妈妈问。“妈妈，我不喜欢，因为她说3加3得6，可后来又说2加4也得6。”