书城教材教辅美国语文阅读经典(小学卷)
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第38章

28.Joe disappeared in the school-room,and the curious eyes that peeped through the crack of the door were soon rewarded by seeing him open his basket.

29.“Hope his dinner will not lie hard on his stomach,”whispered Howard Colby.But apparently Joe only wished to get his paper to read,for he took it by the corner,and pulled,but it was fast.

30.He looked in surprise,and then,in a sort of bewildered way,took out a couple of Aunt Sally‘s great crispy doughnuts,then one of the delicious round pies he had so often seen in Ned’s hands,bread and butter,such honey as nobody‘s bees but hers ever made,and the plump,white breast of a chicken.

31.It was a dinner fit for a king;so poor Joe thought,and so the boys thought,as they peeped wonderingly from their hiding-place.

32.But Joe did not offer to taste it;he only sat there,and looked at it with a very pale face,over which the tears began presently to flow very fast.

33.Then he laid his head on his desk,and Freddie Wilson,one of the smallest of the boys,whispered,“I guess he is praying;”so they all stole away to the play-ground without speaking another word.

34.“That is some of Ned Collins’s work,”said Will Brown,after a while;“it is just like him.”

35.“I am glad of it,anyway,”said Sam Merrill.“I have felt as mean all the forenoon as if I had been robbing a hen-roost.The Greens are not to blame for having only cold potatoes to eat,and I do not wonder Joe did not want all of us to know it.”

36.“I like Joe Green best of any boy in school,”said little Freddie Wilson,“and I think it was too bad to try to make fun of him.”

37.“Nobody asked you what you thought,”saiud.Will Brown,fiercely;“wait till your opinion is called for.”

38.The little boy looked very meek,and ate his dinner in silence;but the fact was,Will Brown began to feel uncomfortable.

39.“Father says Mr.Green was the bravest man in the company,”said Sam Merrill,“and that he would not have been killed had he not thought of every one else before himself.”

40.“I tell you what,boys,”said good-natured Tom Granger,“I move and second that we are all ashamed of ourselves;all in favor of thin motion will signify it by giving three cheers for Ned Collins!There he comes this minute,brimful of chicken-pie.”

41.The boys sprang to their feet,and swinging their caps in the air,gave three hearty cheers for Ned Collins,and even Will Brown joined in the chorus with as loud a “hurrah”as any of them.

42.Sam Merrill explained the whole matter to Ned,and he only said in reply,“I have often heard Aunt Sally say that‘it was a poor kind of fun that must be earned by hurting somebody’s feelings,‘and what Aunt Sally says is almost always so.”

【中文阅读】

1.十二点刚过,一群快乐的孩子就来到校园的大树树荫下,坐在草地上开始吃午饭。

2.“我很想知道,”哈罗德o 考比说,“为什么乔o 格林从来不出来和我们一起吃午饭呢?”

3.“我猜是因为他带的午饭太好了,怕我们抢他的。”约翰o 艾伦说道。

4.“切!”威尔o 布朗说,“倒不如说他根本就没有午饭吃吧。”

5.“我听我爸爸说,自从格林先生被杀害后,他家的生活非常拮据。”

6.“我妈妈说过,人们无权让自己过得贫穷,我才不在乎他是不是带了午饭来。”威尔o 布朗跟了一句。

7.“嗯,”萨姆o 莫莱尔说,“我记得有一天玛丽o 格林曾经请求我妈妈做纯手工缝纫的衣服,这样的人不会很穷的。”

8.“但是乔到现在还穿着冬天的衣服呢,”哈罗德o 考比说,同时欣赏着自己那套浅灰色样式新颖的新衣服。

9.“我来说说怎么办吧,伙计们。”威廉o 布朗说,“我们明天再看看这个家伙带什么来,大家都知道,每天第一遍上课铃响起的时候,他就已经坐在自己的座位上了。”

10.同学们都同意了--除了尼德o 科林斯。他一直没有说话,到这时,他只说了一句“我看不出这有什么好玩的。”

11.“尼德,你总是这么老成,”威尔说,“你的观念太老旧了,和你萨利姨妈的观念一模一样。”

12.尼德受不了别人的嘲笑,听到别人这么讽刺自己善良的姨妈,他有些恼火。

13.他的双眼猛地冒出一股火--只那么一刹那--紧接着,他大喊道:“走啊!伙伴们,踢球去!”仅仅几分钟之后,整个校园里就充满了喧闹、嬉笑之声。

14.第二天早晨第一遍铃声一响,六七个淘气的小脸蛋就偷偷向教室里张望。他们果然看到乔o 格林正忙着用手中的笔做着代数题。

15.而在小更衣室里显得有些忙乱,一群人正秘密地把威尔o布朗围在中间,他的手里正拿着那个装午餐的篮子。

16.尽管尼德o 科林斯昨天给了伙伴们忠告,但是今天他还是挤在人群中,脸上带着一丝羞愧的红晕--或者还有点别的什么,我们拭目以待吧。

17.“一个人吃这么一篮子午饭真是不少。”哈罗德o 考比一边说一边揭开上面盖着的漂亮的白色餐巾。

18.下面是一层报纸,也很大;接下来,在篮子的底部,只有一颗小小的凉土豆!这就是午饭了。

19.威尔做了一个滑稽的表情,所有的孩子们都大笑起来,笑得那么畅快,那么无拘无束。

20.“看啊!”哈罗德说,“我们把土豆扔掉,换成一个煤块,等他掀开篮子时,那表情肯定特别滑稽。”

21.孩子们都表示赞同。很快,篮子里的土豆换成了煤块,上面照原来一样盖上了餐巾。

22.尼德o 科林斯最后一个离开更衣室,但是没有人注意到这一点,因为他和他们一起坐到了自己的座位上。

23.中午到了,和往常一样,孩子们不是冲到院子里、在门口或大厅徘徊,而是纷纷冲进更衣室去拿他们的午餐篮子。尼德o 科林斯径直走过他们身边,手臂里挽着自己的篮子。

24.“你好,尼德,”萨姆o 莫瑞尔说,“去哪儿?”

25.“回家,”尼德笑着回答,“今天早晨我看到萨莉姨妈正在做鸡肉派,我可不想吃不到我那份。”

26.“让我也去吧,”哈罗德o 考比大声说。就在那一刻,他们都用余光看到乔o 格林正拿着自己的篮子走进教室。

27.“我猜他肯定怀疑到了什么,”威尔o 布朗小声说道,“那煤块肯定比较重。”

28.乔消失在教室门口,几双好奇的眼睛立刻通过门缝往里面看,很快,他们看到了乔掀开篮子后的情景。

29.“希望他的午餐在他的胃里不会太硬。”哈罗德o 考比小声说。但是,似乎乔只是想看报纸,因为他把篮子放在一边,把报纸拿了出来,但是很快--31.他开始似乎非常惊讶,然后似乎是不知所措地从篮子里拿出来几个很明显是萨利姨妈做的酥饼,又拿出一种他经常在尼德的午餐里才能看到的美味派,还有面包加黄油,还有李子和鸡胸肉。32.“这顿饭就像是一顿国王的午餐,”可怜的乔心里想着,其他藏在角落里偷窥着的孩子们也都这样认为。

33.但是乔一口都没有吃,他只是坐在那里,看着这么多美食,脸色苍白,眼泪哗哗地流了下来。

34.紧接着他又把头埋放在课桌上,年龄最小的弗雷德o 威尔森小声说道:“我猜他是在祈祷。”所有人都跑到操场上,一言不发。

35.“这肯定是尼德o 科林斯干的,”威尔o 布朗过了一会儿说道,“这很像他的风格。”

36.“不管怎么说,我很高兴,”萨姆o 莫雷尔说,“我这一上午都觉得内疚,格林一家本来不应该因为只能吃到土豆而受到侮辱,而且我也不是不明白乔并不想让我们知道他家的情况。”

37.“在学校里,我最喜欢乔o 格林了,”小弗雷德o 威尔森说,“所以我认为这样开他的玩笑并不好玩。”

38.“没人问你是怎么想的,”威尔o 布朗恼火地说,“不要再说了。”

39.小男孩有点逆来顺受,于是不再说话,坐在那里默默地吃着自己的午饭,而威尔o 布朗却开始不安起来。

40.“我爸爸说过,老格林先生是公司里最勇敢的人,”萨姆o莫雷尔说,“他还说,如果他不是为了别人就不会被杀死了。”

41.“我来说说该怎么办吧,伙计们。”这时,好脾气的托姆o 格兰德开口了,“我建议,首先我们应该为我们的行为感到羞愧。其次,我们都应该为尼德o 科林斯的善意举动欢呼三声。看,他正向这边走呢,还满嘴的鸡肉派。”

42.孩子们立刻都跳了起来,摘下帽子在空中摇动着,由衷地为尼德o 科林斯欢呼了三声,甚至就连威尔o 布朗都加入了欢呼的行列,而且比谁的欢呼声都高。

43.萨姆向尼德解释了整个过程,尼德仅仅回答:“我经常听萨利姨妈说,以伤害别人的感情找乐子一点也不好玩。”姨妈说的没错。