CHARLIE AND HIS DOG
查理和他的狗
1.“Jack!Jack !here,sir!hie on!”cried Charlie,flinging his stick far into the pond.Jack did not want to go;it was not pleasant swimming in among the great lily-leaves,that would flap against his nose and eyes,and get in the way of his feet.
2.So he looked at the stick and then at his master,and sat down,wagging his tail,as much as to say,“You are a very nice little boy,but there was no need of your throwing the stick into the water,and I don‘t think I’ll oblige you by going after it.”
3.But Charlie was determined.He found another switch,and by scolding and whipping,forced Jack into the water,and made him get the stick.
4.He dropped it on the bank,however,instead of bringing it to his master;so he had to go over the performance again and again,until he had learned that when Charlie told him to go for the stick,he was to obey at once.
5.Charlie was satisfied at length,and with Jack at his heels,went home to tell his mother about the afternoon‘s work.He seemed quite proud of it.
6.“It was pretty hard work,mother,”he said.“Jack would notmind at all,until I made him;but now he knows that he has to do itand there will be no more trouble with him.”
7.“What right have you to expect him to mind you?”asked his mother,quietly.
8.“Right,mother?Why,he is my dog!Uncle John gave him to me,and I do every thing for him.Did I not make his kennel my own self,and put nice hay in it?And do I not feed him three times every day?
9.”And I am always kind to him.I call him nice old Jack,and pat him,and let him lay his head on my knee.Indeed,I think I have the best right in the world to have him mind me!“10.His mother was cutting out a jacket.She did not look up when Charlie had finished,but going on steadily with her work,she said,slowly,“I have a little boy.He is my own.He was given to me by my Heavenly Father.
11.”I do every thing for him.I make his clothes and prepare the food he eats.I teach him his lessons,and nurse him tenderly when he is sick.Many a night have I sat up to watch by his side when fever was burning him,and daily I pray to God for every blessing upon him.
12.“I love him.I call him ’my dear little son.‘He sits on my lap,and goes to sleep with his head on my arm.I think I have the ’best right in the world‘to expect this little boy to obey me,and yet he does not,unless I make him,as I would have to make a dog.”
13.“O,mother!”cried Charlie,tear starting to his eyes,“I know it is wrong to disobey you,but I never thought before how very mean it is.Indeed,I do love you,and I will try-I really will try-to mind you as well as Jack minds me.”
【中文阅读】
1.“杰克!杰克!到这里来,先生!快!”查理喊着,把手中的棍子往远处扔去,扔到池塘中。杰克可不想去,池塘中有很多百合花叶子,那些东西会在它游泳时堵住它的鼻子和眼睛,会缠住它的四肢,很不舒服。
2.因此,它先看了棍子一眼,又看了主人一眼,然后坐了下来,摇着尾巴,仿佛在说:“你是个不错的小男孩,但是你没有必要把棍子扔到水里啊,我想我可不愿意用这种方法逼你的。”
3.但是查理是下定决心了。他又想到了一种方法,就是用又打又骂的方式强迫杰克跳进水里把棍子取回来。
4.然而,杰克取回棍子后没有直接交给主人,而是把棍子扔在了岸边;结果是,杰克不得不一遍又一遍地游到池子里去取棍子,直到它明白当查理告诉它要去取棍子时,它就要立刻服从命令为止。
5.查理最后终于对杰克满意了,回到家里后对妈妈说了他下午的成绩,似乎他对此很骄傲。
6.“妈妈,这个成绩真是来之不易。”他说,“杰克根本就不想做,一直到我成功地让它听话了。它现在知道了它必须那么做,以后再命令它就会毫不费劲。”
7.“你有什么权利让它一定听你的话呢?妈妈平静地问他。
8.”有什么权利?妈妈?他是我的狗啊!约翰叔叔把它给了我,我为它做一切事情。不是我亲自给它做了窝,还把里面铺好干草吗?不是我每天喂它三顿饭吗?
9.“我一直对它非常好。我叫它可爱的老杰克,所以我认为在这个世界上我最有权利让它服从我了!
10.妈妈当时正在做一件衣服,直到查理说完妈妈才抬起头来,但是仍没有停下手里的活。她慢慢地说:“我有个可爱的小男孩,他是我的孩子,上帝把他赐给了我。
11.”我为他做一切事情。我给他做衣服,给他做吃的。我教他学知识,他生病时我细心地照顾他。许许多多个夜晚,当他发烧时,我守在他的身边看护他,到了白天我祈求上帝保佑你。“12.”我爱他,我叫他’亲爱的儿子‘。他坐在我的腿上,头枕着我的臂弯入睡。我想在这个世界上,我最有权利希望这个孩子听我的话,但是他没有,除非我强迫他,就和我必须强迫一条狗听我话一样。“13.”哦,妈妈!“查理喊了起来,满眼充满了泪水,”我知道不听你的话是我错了,但是我以前从来没有想到过我有多自私。事实上,我非常爱你,以后我会努力--真的会努力--听你的话,就像杰克听我的话一样。
HERBERT AND THE KITTEN
赫伯特与猫
1.There was once a little kitten,who loved to play better than to do anything else.I wonder if my little reader knows any body like her.She thought every thing that moved was a plaything for her.If the wind whirled a leaf along the path,she scampered after it,as if she thought it meant to say,“Catch me,if you can,”
2.Grandma’s ball of knitting-yarn never fell on the floor but Kitty ran after it,not to pick it up again-O no!but to roll it,and to roll it about,until the yarn was in a fine tangle,giving poor grandma a great deal of trouble.
3.All this was very fine fun,no doubt;but kittens were made forsomething else besides play,and old puss thought it was high timethat her child was taught something useful.
4.So one day she called her from chasing a grasshopper,which was trying to hide from her among the tall grass,and said:“My child,do you know that you are now four months old,and yet you have never caught a single mouse?Our mistress is very kind,and gives us plenty of nice milk,so we should try to be useful to her.
5.“I heard her complain this morning that a mouse had been eating her cake,and I think I have found its hole.Now I want you to sit here very quietly,behind the door,where the mouse can‘t see you,and watch until you see it come out of its hole;then spring,as you have seen me do,and catch it with yore daws.”
6.Kitty promised to do her best,and after her mother left her she sat very still for a little while,but no mouse came,and she began to think it very dull work.“O dear!”said she,“I am very tired:I think I will take a little run,and then come back again.”
7.She had just reached the kitchen door when the wind whirled a piece of paper past her;and away she ran after it,over to the duck-pond before she caught it.
8.Master Herbert was there working for his father,but he loved play best,too;so as soon as he saw the kitten,he cried “Now for some fun!”and catching hold of her,he put her into a tin pan,which was there to hold food for the ducks,and before she could even say “mew!”she was sailing off into the middle of the pond!