1.Hid from our eyes,deep in the ground,Great stores of gems and gold are found,Rich mines of lead,and tin so fine;But more than these,I prize the mine Of rough,tough iron.
2.We make of gold bright seals and rings,Fine chains,and other pretty things;But spades and shovels,rakes and hoes,Saws,axes,chisels,scythes,and ploughs,Are rough,tough iron.
3.We make of silver,shining white,Bright ornaments to please the sight;But bolts and bars to guard at night,And swords and guns our foes to fight,Are rough,tough iron.
4.Then let me try to judge aright:
Oft useful things don’t please the sight,Things good for use oft are not fair-I‘ll prize the things that useful are,Like rough,tough iron.
【中文阅读】
1.深深的地下,眼睛看不到的地方,能把金银财宝的仓库找到,有丰富的铅矿,上好的锡矿,而我所钟爱的,胜过它们的,却是铁矿,坚硬又粗糙。
2.我们用金子把闪光的戒指印章,精美的项链,还有很多首饰制造;可是铲子铁锨,耙子锄头,犁铧斧头,锯子镰刀,都是钢铁,坚硬又粗糙。
3.我们用银子做出光亮的摆设,炫目的洁白,眼睛看了真好;可是看家护院的门闩门锁,保卫祖国的刀剑枪炮,都是钢铁,坚硬又粗糙。
4.那就让我来做个判断:有用之物经常不十分好看,经常把“美丽”缺少;我所钟爱的有用之物,就像钢铁,坚硬又粗糙。
11
Birdie and I
小鸟和我
1.Birdie,where are you going,dear,In such haste?
Grapes are purpling far and near;Stop and taste.
2.Apples are reddening on the bough;Warm winds blow;Never was world so pleasant as now:Why will you go?
3.Who has been filling your feathery headWith such dismayThat,with your tail and your wings outspread,You hurry away?
4.Surely if we big folks and wise See no causeTo flee from these blue and sunny skies,You might pause-5.Pause for a little while,and see ’Tis autumn yet;Winter is old and blind,and he May forget.
6.Just for a moment Birdie stops,Winks his eyeLike a shining bead,and nearer hops To make reply.
7.“Winter ‘forget’indeed!Not he!
Any linnet
Would laugh at the foolish hope,and see Nothing in it.
8.”Could you but see my nest safe swung In a great fan palm,With perfumed flower-cups overhung,With their breath of ball!
9.“Great gold oranges growing close by,Ripen at will;A single hop from my nest,and I Can use my bill.
10.”Do you think,when I can see such sweet Sights and shapes,I am likely to linger here and eat Your sour grapes?
11.“To see the roses grow pale and die,And ice and snowFill the nest we built so lovingly A while ago?
12.”Winter will come:yet stay,if so To you best seems;We birds are but small,but well we know What comfort means.“13.A flick,a whirr-he is off,he is gone,Lost in the sky;And I shiver and think,how sad I have grownToo big to fly.
【中文阅读】
1.亲爱的小鸟,你上哪里去,走得这么匆忙?远远近近,葡萄都熟了,何不停下尝一尝?
2.枝头的苹果,变得红艳艳,沐浴着暖风;这世界从没有如此美好,你为何要启程?
3.是谁,把你羽毛下的小脑袋盛满了莫大痛苦,让你展开双翼,翘起尾巴,匆匆地不愿回顾?
4.若是我们这些聪明的大块头找不到缘故,去逃离这蔚蓝的晴空,你或许仍将驻足--5.驻足片刻吧,来看一看,这秋天的模样,冬天老了,眼神又不好,他或许把来路遗忘。
6.小鸟停下了,停了一霎,它眼睛忽然轻眨;宛若闪光的珍珠,跳到近前,开口作出了回答。
7.”冬天会健忘?怎么可能!不管哪只红雀,都会讥笑这愚蠢的希望,知道它肯定断绝。
8.“莫非你看不见,我安稳的巢在芭蕉叶里摇晃,头上是盛满香脂的花朵,气息都透着芬芳?
9.”大红的橘子就生在近旁,成熟得没大没小;只需从巢里一跃,就能够消受得没完没了。
10.“你真以为,我已经见到这般甜美的模样,还愿意逗留在这里去把你的酸葡萄品尝?
11.”还看着玫瑰渐渐枯萎凋谢,还看着不久之前我们刚刚垒好的香巢淹没在冰雪之间?
12.“要是你喜欢,就留下吧,冬天一定会来;我们鸟儿虽小,舒适的意思,却比谁都明白。”
13.翅膀一拍,呼啦一响,他就消失在天际,留下颤抖的我,为自己这副沉重的躯壳惋惜。
【好一只头脑清楚,语言尖刻的红雀啊!它的学名叫“赤胸朱顶雀”,唱歌相当好听,分布在欧洲、西亚和北非。在当时的英国,它是一种常见的宠物,有很多大牌作家,包括威廉·布莱克和华兹华斯给它写诗。目前已经是受保护动物了。--译者】
12
The Sparrow in The Snow
雪中麻雀
1.He hopped down cheerily into the snow,Brave little barefoot Brownie,As if that were the warmest thing below,And as cosy as it is downy.
2.And his brown little knowing saucy head,In a way that was certainly funny,He jerked to one side,as if he had said,“I don‘t care though it isn’t sunny!”
3.“I don‘t care!I don’t care!”he chirped and said,And he winked his eye so cheery,“For somebody‘s left me some crumbs of bread,So the whole world is not dreary.
4.”And what’s a cold toe,when I have a whole suit Of the warmest and best brown feathers?
I don‘t care though I have not a shoe to my foot;I’m a bird,sir,for all sorts of weathers.
5.“I don‘t fly away at the first touch of frost,Like some of your finer-tongued birds;I don’t think everything‘s ruined and lostWhen the wind mutters threatening words.
6.”I don’t care!“he chirped;“I don‘t care!
I don’t care!
It might be a great deal colder
But I am a fellow that knows not fear;Old Winter but makes me bolder!”
7.Ah,plain,little,hardy,brown-coated bird,Through life I‘ll try to rememberTo meet all its storms with a cheerful word,And like thee to brave my December.
【中文阅读】