第15章 THE SALE OF THE PET LAMB 出售宠物小羊
A thousand flocks were on the hills,
A thousand flocks and more,
Feeding in sunshine pleasantly:
They were the rich man's store.
There was the while one little lamb
Beside a cottage door;
A little lamb that rested
With the children 'neath the tree;
That ate, meek creature, from their hands,
And nestled to their knee;
That had a place within their hearts—
One of the family.
But want, even as an armed man,
Came down upon their shed:
The father laboured all day long
That his children might be fed;
And, one by one, their household things
Were sold to buy them bread.
That father, with a downcast eye,
Upon his threshold stood;
Gaunt poverty each pleasant thought
Had in his heart subdued.
“What is the creature's life to us?”
Said he; “'twill buy us food.
“Ay, though the children weep all day,
And with down-drooping head
Each does his small task mournfully,
The hungry must be fed;
And that which has a price to bring
Must go to buy us bread.”
It went. Oh, parting has a pang
The hardest heart to wring;
But the tender soul of a little child
With fervent love doth cling,
With love that hath no feignings false,
Unto each gentle thing.
Therefore most sorrowful it was
Those children small to see;
Most sorrowful to hear them plead
For the lamb so piteously:
“O mother dear, it loveth us!
And what besides have we?”
“Let's take him to the broad green hill, '’
In his impotent despair,
Said one strong boy—
“let's take him off,
The hills are wide and fair;
I know a little hiding-place,
And we shall keep him there.”
Oh, vain! —
They took the little lamb,
And straightway tied him down;
With a strong cord
they tied him fast,
And o'er the common brown,
And o'er the hot and flinty roads,
They took him to the town.
The little children through that day,
And throughout all the morrow,
From everything about the house
A mournful thought did borrow;
The very bread they had to eat
Was food unto their sorrow.
—MARY HOWITT
Questions
Why had the pet lamb to be sold? Who were very vexed? Why? What did they think of doing? Did they succeed? Why did the bread they got to eat make them sadder?
Pronunciation
pleas'-ant-ly mourn'-ful-ly la'-boured thou'-sand pov'-er-ty
fam'-i-ly hun'-gry crea'-ture be-side' bor'-row
chil'-dren straight'-way sor'-row-ful cot'-tage flint'-y
down'-cast sun'-shine through-out' rest'-ed gen'-tle
Write
nestled creature impotent
sunshine subdued sorrowful
laboured feignings throughout
一千头牲畜在山上，
不，比一千头还要多。
它们在阳光下欢快地吃草，
它们是有钱人的财产。
这群牲畜里面有一只小羊羔，
待在一个小屋门旁。
小羊羔和孩子们一起待在树下，
这个温顺的小动物，
偎依在孩子们的膝下。
他们心中有一处
共同的栖息之地——
家。
但是谁承想，
债主来到家门口。
他们的父亲没日没夜地干活，
为的是养活他的孩子们。
为了给孩子们买面包，
他把家里的东西一件一件地卖了出去。
父亲站在门口，
眼神沮丧又低沉。
他骨瘦如柴，受着贫穷的折磨，
他抑制住内心所有愉快的念头。
“这只小羊对我们来说意味着什么？”
他说：“它会让我们买到食物。
“唉，虽然孩子们每天都哭泣，
他们的头无力地低垂着，
忧郁地做着手中的活计。
但是他们要填饱肚子，
那做工挣得的工钱，
是要用来买面包的。”
小羊羔走了。哦，离别真让人痛苦，
即使是最坚硬的心也会感到痛苦，
但是小孩子们的灵魂充满了爱，
充满了强烈的爱，
没有丝毫矫揉造作的爱，
这爱倾注到每个可爱的生命身上。
这些孩子在小小的年纪
就看到如此悲伤的场景。
最悲伤的莫过于听孩子们可怜巴巴地
为小羊羔求情：
“哦，亲爱的妈妈，小羊爱我们！
除了小羊，我们还有什么呢？”
“让我们把它带到辽阔的青山上去吧，”
一个壮实的男孩说道，
他感到无能为力又绝望：
“我们把它带走吧，
山上又广阔又漂亮。
我知道有个藏身的小地方，
我们把它放到那里吧。”
哦，但是这是徒劳的！
他们把小羊带走了，
并且马上把它绑了起来；
他们用一条结实的绳子
把小羊紧紧地绑了起来，
穿越那条常走的褐色小路，
穿越那条炎热又坚硬的小路，
把小羊带到了城里。
小羊被带走的当天
以及第二天，
孩子们睹物伤情，
悲伤不已；
他们吃的面包
也染上了悲伤的味道。
——玛丽·豪伊特