LESSON 1 THE SHEPHERD BOY 牧童
1.Little Roy led his sheep down to pasture,
And his cows, by the side of the brook;
But his cows never drank any water,
And his sheep never needed a crook.
2.For the pasture was gay as a garden,
And it glowed with a fl owery red;
But the meadows had never a grass blade,
And the brooklet—it slept in its bed:
3.And it lay without sparkle or murmur,
Nor refl ected the blue of the skies;
But the music was made by the shepherd,
And the sparkle was all in his eyes.
4.Oh, he sang like a bird in the summer!
And, if sometimes you fancied a bleat,
That, too, was the voice of the shepherd,
And not of the lambs at his feet.
5.And the glossy brown cows were so gentle
That they moved at the touch of his hand
O’er[1] the wonderful, rosy-red meadow,
And they stood at the word of command.
6.So he led all his sheep to the pasture,
And his cows, by the side of the brook;
Though it rained, yet the rain never pattered
O’er the beautiful way that they took.
7.And it wasn’t in Fairyland either,
But a house in the midst of the town,
Where Roy, as he looked from the window,
Saw the silvery drops trickle down.
8.For his pasture was only a table,
With its cover so fl owery fair,
And his brooklet was just a green ribbon,
That his sister had lost from her hair.
9.And his cows were but glossy horse-chestnuts,
That had grown on his grandfather’s tree;
And his sheep only snowy-white pebbles,
He had brought from the shore of the sea.
10.And at length when the shepherd was weary,
And had taken his milk and his bread,
And his mother had kissed him and tucked him,
And had bid him “good night” in his bed;
11.Then there entered his big brother Walter,
While the shepherd was soundly asleep,
And he cut up the cows into baskets,
And to jackstones turned all of the sheep.
(Emily S .Oakey)
【中文阅读】
1.小罗伊赶着羊群来到牧场，
赶着牛群来到小溪边；
但牛群不需要在溪边喝水，
羊群也不需要他挥舞牧鞭。
2.牧场像花园一样漂亮，
散发着亮丽的红色光芒；
但草地却从不长草，
小溪也只在自己的温床上静静流淌。
3.小溪既不发光也不呢喃低语，
更不会折射天空的湛蓝；
但牧童唱起欢快的歌谣，
眼里闪烁着迷人的光芒。
4.噢，他像夏日的小鸟在欢唱！
如果你恍若听到咩咩的叫声，
那一定是牧童在欢唱，
而非他脚边的小羊羔。
5.油光闪亮的棕色母牛特别温顺，
在牧童的轻轻抚摸下，
漫步在玫瑰红的奇妙草地上，
牧童一下令便立刻停下不动。
6.牧童就这样领着牛羊群，
在小溪边游荡；
尽管开始下雨，
但雨滴却不像往日那样欢快地啪嗒啪嗒。
7.这里并不是仙境乐园，
只不过是小镇上的一处屋舍；
罗伊从窗户上能够看到，
银色的雨点滴滴流下。
8.他的牧场只不过是一张桌子，
上面盖了一块带花的桌布；
那潺潺小溪也只是妹妹头上掉下的，
一条绿色丝带。
9.他的牛群是从祖父种的七叶树上采来的
光滑树片；
他的羊群只是他从海边捡来的，
雪白的鹅卵石。
10.牧童最终厌倦了这个游戏，
喝光牛奶，吃光面包之后，
妈妈亲吻了他，让他睡觉，
并轻轻道声“晚安”。
11.牧童正要熟睡之际，
大哥沃尔特走了进来；
他把“牛群”撕碎扔进篮子，
把所有“羊群”换成了小石子。
（艾米莉·S·奥凯）
注释
[1]O’er：古英语用法，同“over”。