The Thorn Birds is the masterpiece of the Australian writer Colleen McCullough， which shows the heart felt severe emotional shock and pain of the thorn bird to die for love with touching songs as the destiny （命運(yùn)）.

The story begins in New Zealand at the turn of the twentieth century when Meggie and her poor family are struggling to make ends meet. Several years later， Meggies family moves to Australia to help their elderly childless aunt， Mary Carson， run a sheep station in the Outback. Ralph， a handsome， ambitious Roman Catholic priest tries to befriend Mary， to gain her money and to help him advance in the Catholic hierarchy （等級制度）. Mary dies and leaves all her property in the control of Ralph， who then has a soft spot for Meggie， but refuses Meggie s love at her confession（表白）and leaves her because of his duties as a priest.

Meggie then marries Luke， who shares a resemblance（相似） to Ralph. One day， Ralph comes back on a holiday to join Meggie， and then a revelation （被暴露的真相） comes over him. He loves Meggie more than God， and he is indeed only a man， no matter how Godlike he had tried to become. They spend a few happy days together， and Ralph is forced to return to his position. Meggie leaves Luke， but does not divorce him， because she is now pregnant with Ralphs baby. She names the child Dane. Soon after young Danes unexpected drowning， Ralph，who has already known Dane is his son， passes away.

There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life.

More sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth.

From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree， and does not rest until it has found one.

Because only chastened bitterness， can get the best things.

《荊棘鳥》是澳大利亞作家考琳·麥卡洛的代表作，它表現(xiàn)了荊棘鳥高唱著接受為愛而死的命運(yùn)時(shí)那觸動(dòng)心靈的傷痛。

故事開始于20世紀(jì)之交的新西蘭，當(dāng)時(shí)梅吉和她清貧的家庭為了改變?nèi)氩环蟪龅木硾r苦苦掙扎著。幾年后，梅吉舉家遷到了澳大利亞內(nèi)地去幫助年事已高而又無子女的姑母瑪麗·卡森?，旣愒趦?nèi)地經(jīng)營一個(gè)牧羊場。拉爾夫是一個(gè)英俊帥氣、野心勃勃的羅馬天主教教士，他試圖跟瑪麗搭上關(guān)系，以獲得她的錢財(cái)和幫助自己在天主教等級制度中步步高升。瑪麗死后，把所有的錢都交由拉爾夫管理，而此時(shí)的他已經(jīng)對梅吉心懷柔情，但是，他拒絕了梅吉愛的告白，為了履行教士的職責(zé)選擇了離開她。

后來，梅吉嫁給了長相酷似拉爾夫的盧克。一天，拉爾夫回來度假和梅吉重逢，才恍然頓悟，自己愛梅吉?jiǎng)龠^上帝，無論多么地想成為神一樣的存在，他畢竟只是個(gè)人。在一起度過了短暫而又幸福的幾日后，拉爾夫不得不回到自己的位置上。梅吉離開了盧克卻并沒有和他離婚，因?yàn)榇藭r(shí)的她已經(jīng)懷上了拉爾夫的孩子。她給孩子取名丹恩。就在年輕的丹恩意外溺斃之后，早已知道丹恩是自己親骨肉的拉爾夫，隨后也撒手人寰。

傳說有一只鳥一生只唱一次歌。

那歌聲委婉動(dòng)聽，世間無雙。

自離巢的那一刻，它就在尋找著一棵荊棘樹，不休不止。

因?yàn)槲ㄓ袣v經(jīng)磨難苦楚，方能得到最美好的事物。