44　FROGS
青蛙

I

Children who walk in the country in the spring sometimes see frogs’ eggs floating on the water in a ditch or pond. The eggs look very much like bunches of beads made of jelly.

After a while, tadpoles come from these eggs. Tadpoles are queer little water animals. They have big heads and long, flat tails. They swim about together and look like little fish.

As the tadpole grows larger, he changes. His legs begin to grow, and his tail becomes shorter and shorter till there is no tail at all. Then he is no longer a tadpole; he has become a young frog.

He cannot live in the water any longer, so he crawls out of the pond and makes his home in the wet grass. But he often goes back into the water for a swim.

II

The frog’s hind legs are long and strong. Each of the hind feet has five toes, which are joined by a web like that of a duck’s foot. It is by means of these webbed feet that a frog swims.

A frog feeds on flies, ants, spiders, worms, snails, and such things. He even eats bees and wasps. Their stings do not seem to hurt him at all.

A frog has a wide mouth and a long tongue. His tongue is joined to the jaw in front and not at the back as our tongues are.

So it lies in the mouth pointing backwards. This is the way it looks when the frog darts it out to catch a fly.

All summer a frog feeds on insects, but in winter he cannot get these to eat.

What do you think he does then? He finds a hole in the earth and buries himself there.

Then, like the snail, he sleeps all winter. In the spring when the sun shines warm and bright, he creeps out of his hole. We hear his “croak, croak,” as he hops about the meadows.

一

春天时走在乡间的小路上，小朋友们会见到水沟和池塘里浮着很多青蛙卵，它们看起来就像大团大团的果冻颗粒。

过一段时间，小蝌蚪就会从卵里钻出来。它们是非常奇怪的水生动物，有大大的脑袋和又长又扁的尾巴。它们聚在一起游来游去，像是一群小鱼。

蝌蚪长大一点后，样子就会发生变化，首先是长出脚来，然后尾巴也会变得越来越短，最后消失不见。这时他就不再是蝌蚪，而是长成了一只小青蛙。

水里的生活不再适合他，于是他爬出池塘，在水草堆里安了家。不过，他还是会常常回水里游泳的。

二

青蛙的后腿不仅长，而且强而有力。后脚上各有五个趾头，之间有像鸭子那样的蹼。这些蹼把趾头连接在一起，以便他能自由自在地游泳。

青蛙以捕食飞虫、蚂蚁、蜘蛛、毛毛虫、蜗牛等小动物为生，甚至也吃蜜蜂和黄蜂，它们的刺似乎对青蛙没有效力。

青蛙的嘴很宽，舌头很长。我们的舌头一般长在下颌的后部，但青蛙的舌头则长在前部。

当青蛙闭上嘴时，舌尖就会指向后面。如果他张嘴捉飞虫，你就可以清楚地看到这一点。

夏天里青蛙不停地捕捉虫子，但到了冬天他就没有吃的了。

那他怎么办呢？他会在土里找一个洞把自己埋起来。

然后他就像蜗牛一样睡上整个冬天，直到春天温暖明媚的阳光普照大地，才从洞里爬出来。他在草丛里蹦来跳去时，我们就能听见他“呱！呱！”的叫声。