LESSON 4 CASTLE-BUILDING 建城堡

1.“O pussy!” cried Herbert, in a voice of anger and dismay, as the blockhouse he was building fell in sudden ruin.The playful cat had rubbed against his mimic castle, and tower and wall went rattling down upon the fl oor.

2.Herbert took up one of the blocks and threw it fiercely at pussy.Happily, it passed over her and did no harm.His hand was reaching for another block, when his little sister Hetty sprang toward the cat, and caught her up.

3.“No, no, no!” said she, “you shan’t hurt pussy! She didn’t mean to do it!”

4.Herbert’s passion was over quickly, and, sitting down upon the fl oor, he covered his face with his hands, and began to cry.

5.“What a baby!” said Joe, his elder brother, who was reading on the sofa.“Crying over spilled milk does no good.Build it up again.”

6.“No, I won’t,” said Herbert, and he went on crying.

7.“What’s all the trouble here?” exclaimed papa, as he opened the door and came in.

8.“Pussy just rubbed against Herbert’s castle, and it fell down,”answered Hetty.“But she didn’t mean to do it; she didn’t know it would fall, did she, papa?”

9.“Why, no! And is that all the trouble?”

10.“Herbert!” his papa called, and held out his hands.“Come.”The little boy got up from the fl oor, and came slowly, his eyes full of tears, and stood by his father.

11.“There is a better way than this, my boy,” said papa.“If you had taken that way, your heart would have been light already.I should have heard you singing over your blocks instead of crying.Shall I show you that way?”

12.Herbert nodded his head, and papa sat down on the fl oor by the pile of blocks, with his little son by his side, and began to lay the foundation for a new castle.

【中文阅读】

1.“噢，可恶的猫！”赫伯特喊道，声音透露着愤怒与沮丧，因为他正在搭建的积木房子突然倒塌了。顽皮的猫撞了一下他的模型城堡，塔和围墙都嘎嘎地倒在了地板上。

2.赫伯特拿起一块积木狠劲地向猫扔去。幸运的是，积木从猫的身边飞过去，没有伤着它。他又去拿另一块积木，这时，小妹妹海蒂跑过来，抱起了小猫。

3.“不！不！不！”她喊道，“你不能伤害小猫！它不是故意的！”

4.赫伯特顿时怒火中烧，坐在地板上，双手捂着小脸哭了起来。

5.“真是个小孩子！”一直坐在沙发上看书的哥哥乔开腔了，“哭有什么用呢，再建一座新的就行了。”

6.“不，我才不呢！”赫伯特一边哭着，一边说。

7.“这里发生什么事了？”爸爸推开门走进来问道。

8.“猫咪刚才撞了赫伯特的城堡，城堡倒了。”海蒂回答道，“但猫咪不是故意的，它根本不知道城堡会倒掉，对吧，爸爸？”

9.“它当然不知道了！这就是你们的麻烦事？”

10.“赫伯特，过来！”爸爸一边喊，一边伸出手。小赫伯特从地板上站起来，慢慢走过去，眼里含着泪花，站在爸爸身边。

11.“我的孩子，还有一个更好的办法来解决这个问题。”爸爸说道，“如果你能照做的话，现在心里就好受多了。我倒希望听到的是你为你的积木歌唱，而不是为它哭泣。让我来教教你这种方式，好吗？”

12.赫伯特点了点头，爸爸坐到积木旁边，小儿子依偎在他身边，他们开始为一座新城堡垒地基。