Here’s a story about two butterflies…
Lolo: Look at this bounty of nature, Banu. It really perks me up.
Banu: Yes. You eaten already?
Lolo: All those beautiful flowers…
Banu: All that tasty nectar waiting there for us.
Lolo: I could just flit from flower to flower all day long.
Banu: Yes, so let’s take wing and find some real treat. I’m starving.
Lolo: You go, I’ll stay here. I can’t eat the nectar anyway.
Banu: Why not? There’s plenty of it for both of us.
Lolo: Yes, but you need a proboscis to ingest nectar and I’ve broken mine.
Banu: Oh, so sorry to hear that. Bad luck.
Here’s the vocabulary summary:
| bounty | (literary) good things that are given or provided freely and in large amounts |
| perk sb up | to make sb more lively or cheerful |
| You eaten already? | – colloquial for: Have you eaten already? |
| nectar | a sweet liquid produced by plants and used by bees in making honey |
| flit | to move or fly quickly from one place or thing to another |
| take wing | to begin to fly |
| treat | sth that tastes good and that is not eaten often |
| proboscis /prəˈbɑːsəs/, plural proboscises also proboscides /-ˈbɑːsəˌdiːz/ | a long, thin tube that forms part of the mouth of some insects (such as a butterfly) |
| ingest | to take sth, such as food into your body, to swallow sth |
| bad luck | — used in speech to show sympathy for someone who has failed or has been disappointed |
