SE-Ed: The Great Emu War

In 1932, the Australian army went to war.

1932年，澳洲軍隊出征了。

But the enemy wasn't another country.

但敵人並不是另一個國家。

It was an army of birds. Emus!

而是一支鳥軍。鴯鶓！

And, as you might have guessed, the birds won.

你可能已經猜到了，贏的是鳥。

After the First World War,

第一次世界大戰結束後，

many former soldiers were given land in Western Australia.

許多退伍軍人在西澳分到了土地。

They were encouraged to grow wheat,

他們被鼓勵種小麥，

but then the Great Depression hit and prices crashed.

可隨後大蕭條來襲，價格暴跌。

Life was already hard. Then the emus arrived.

日子本來就難過，接著鴯鶓來了。

Every year, emus travel inland after their breeding season.

每年繁殖季過後，鴯鶓都會向內陸遷徙。

That year, around twenty thousand of them headed for the farms!

那一年，大約兩萬隻鴯鶓直奔農場而來！

They ate the wheat, trampled the crops,

牠們吃小麥、踩壞莊稼，

and smashed holes in the fences,

還把籬笆撞出窟窿，

which let rabbits in as well.

結果連兔子也鑽了進來。

The farmers, many of them ex-soldiers, knew exactly what they wanted.

這些農民很多都是退伍軍人，他們很清楚自己要什麼。

They asked the government for machine guns.

他們向政府要機槍。

Surprisingly, the Minister of Defence said yes!

出人意料，國防部長竟然同意了！

Major Meredith was sent with two soldiers and ten thousand bullets.

Meredith少校帶著兩名士兵和一萬發子彈被派了過去。

In November, the operation finally began.

十一月，行動終於開始了。

But the emus didn't behave like an army at all.

可鴯鶓根本不像一支軍隊那樣行動。

As soon as the shooting started, they scattered in all directions.

槍聲一響，牠們就四散奔逃。

One day, about a thousand birds came close,

有一天，大約一千隻鳥靠近了，

but then the gun jammed!

結果槍卡彈了！

Next, they tried mounting a gun on a truck.

接著，他們試著把槍架到卡車上。

But emus can run at fifty kilometres an hour,

可鴯鶓能跑到每小時五十公里，

and the ground was so bumpy that nobody could aim.

地面又顛簸得厲害，誰也瞄不準。

Each group even seemed to have its own lookout!

每群鳥似乎還有自己的哨兵！

After less than a week, the army pulled out.

不到一週，軍隊就撤了。

The soldiers did return later, at the farmers' request.

後來，應農民的請求，士兵們又回來了。

By December, Meredith reported almost a thousand birds killed.

到了十二月，Meredith報告說打死了將近一千隻。

But that had taken nearly ten thousand bullets!

可為此他們用掉了將近一萬發子彈！

That's about ten bullets for every single emu.

相當於每隻鴯鶓要用十發子彈。

Meredith later said that with soldiers as tough as these birds,

Meredith後來說，要是有像這些鳥一樣頑強的士兵，

he could face any army in the world.

他就能對抗世界上任何一支軍隊。

In the end, fences and rewards paid to farmers worked much better.

最後，圍欄和發給農民的獎金反而有效得多。

And the emus? They're still doing just fine.

那鴯鶓呢？牠們至今過得好好的。

So if anyone asks who won the Great Emu War,

所以，如果有人問你「鴯鶓大戰」誰贏了，

now you know the answer!

現在你知道答案了！