【儿童英文读物】The Water-Babies水孩儿.docx

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1、【儿童英文读物】The Water-Babies水孩儿INTRODUCTION It was in 1863 that The Water-Babies was written, showing the naturalist in the fulness of his strength, fearlessly, yet tenderly, playing with the tremendous results of advanced science in the nineteenth century. . . .The writing of the book was the outcome o

2、f a gentle reminder, at breakfast one spring morning, of an old promise, to the effect that as the three elder children had their bookThe Heroesthe baby, my youngest brother, then four years old, must have his. My father made no answer, but got up at once and went to his study, locking the door, and

3、 in an hour came back with the first chapter of The Water-Babies in his hand. At this pace and with the same ease the whole book was composed. . . . A visit in 1858 to Mr. W. E. Forster in Wharfedale, and to Mr. Morrison at Malham, gave him the local setting of the beautiful opening chapters. For th

4、e grandeur of the scenery of Godale Scar and Malham Cove had made a profound impression on his mind, as did the beauty of the Wharfe below Denton Park. Places he had seen, and many more he had read and dreamed of in his fathers fine library of voyages and travels, fairies and men of science, fads an

5、d foibles, education true and false, Pandoras box and sanitary sciencea matter always dear to his heartthe ways of beasts and birds, fishes and insects, of plant and tree and rock, of river and tide, are all interwoven here with the deepest truths of life and living, of morals and religion. So that

6、while the book enchants the child, it gives the wise man food for thought. . . . Happy are the children who get their first ideas of the marvels of nature all around them from such a lesson-book as this. . . . And perchance, when they are grown men and women, and like Tom have won their spurs in the

7、 great battle, they may look back with thankful hearts to certain pages in The Water-Babies; pages which taught them, while as little children they read a fairy tale, what a fine thing it is to love truth, mercy, justice, courage, and all things noble and of good report. Thus Rose G. Kingsley, in a

8、preface to her fathers fairy tale, describes the impromptu manner in which The Water-Babies was written. Dashed off for the pleasure of his own little son, this book has charmed and entertained thousands of children for more than fifty years, and has undoubtedly in many cases taught what a fine thin

9、g it is to love truth, mercy, justice, courage, and all things noble and of good report. The Editor.CHAPTER I NCE upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will not have much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a

10、 great town in the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep, and plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend. He could not read nor write, and did not care to do either; and he never washed himself, for there was no water up the court where he lived. He had never been

11、taught to say his prayers. He never had heard of God, or of Christ, except in words which you never have heard, and which it would2 have been well if he had never heard. He cried half his time, and laughed the other half. He cried when he had to climb the dark flues, rubbing his poor knees and elbow

12、s raw; and when the soot got into his eyes, which it did every day in the week; and when his master beat him, which he did every day in the week; and when he had not enough to eat, which happened every day in the week likewise. And he laughed the other half of the day, when he was tossing half penni

13、es with the other boys, or playing leap-frog over the posts, or bowling stones at the horses legs as they trotted by, which last was excellent fun, when there was a wall at hand behind which to hide. As for chimney-sweeping, and being hungry, and being beaten, he took all that for the way of the wor

14、ld, like the rain and snow and thunder, and stood manfully with his back to it till it was over, as his old donkey did to a hail-storm; and then shook his ears and was as jolly as ever; and thought of the fine times coming, when he would be a man, and a master sweep, and sit in the public-house with

15、 a quart of beer and a long pipe, and play cards for silver money, and wear velveteens and ankle-jacks, and keep a white bull-dog with one gray ear, and carry her puppies in his pocket, just like a man. And he would have apprentices, one, two, three, if he could. How he would bully them, and knock t

16、hem about, just as his master did to him; and make them carry home the soot sacks, while he rode before them on his donkey, with a pipe in his mouth and a flower in his buttonhole, like a king at the head of his army. Yes, there were good times coming.One day a smart little groom rode into the court

17、 where Tom lived. Tom was just hiding behind a wall, to heave half a brick at his horses legs as is the custom of that country when they welcome strangers; but the groom saw him, and halloed to him to know where Mr. Grimes, the chimney-sweep, lived. Now, Mr. Grimes was Toms own master, and Tom was a

18、 good man of business, and always civil to customers, so he put the half-brick down quietly behind the wall, and proceeded to take orders. Mr. Grimes was to come up next morning to Sir John Harthovers, at the Place, for his old chimney-sweep was gone to prison, and the chimneys wanted sweeping. And

19、so he rode away, not giving Tom time to ask what the sweep had gone to prison for, which was a matter of interest to Tom, as he had been in prison once or twice himself. Moreover, the groom looked so very neat and clean, with his drab gaiters, drab breeches, drab jacket, snow-white tie with a smart

20、pin in it, and clean round ruddy face, that Tom was offended and disgusted at his appearance, and considered him a stuck-up fellow, who gave himself airs because he wore smart clothes, and other people paid for them; and went behind the wall to fetch the half-brick after all; but did not, rememberin

21、g that he had come in the way of business, and was, as it were, under a flag of truce. His master was so delighted at his new customer that he knocked Tom down out of hand, and drank more beer that night than he usually did in two, in order to be sure of getting up in time next morning; for the more

22、 a mans head aches when he wakes, the more glad he is to turn out, and have a breath of fresh air. And, when he did get up at four the next morning, he knocked Tom down again, in order to5 teach him (as young gentlemen used to be taught at public schools) that he must be an extra good boy that day,

23、as they were going to a very great house, and might make a very good thing of it, if they could but give satisfaction. And Tom thought so likewise, and, indeed, would have done and behaved his best, even without being knocked down. For, of all places upon earth, Harthover Place (which he had never s

24、een) was the most wonderful, and, of all men on earth, Sir John (whom he had seen, having been sent to gaol by him twice) was the most awful. Harthover Place was really a grand place, even for the rich North country; with a park full of deer, which Tom believed to be monsters who were in the habit o

25、f eating children; with miles of game-preserves, in which Mr. Grimes and the collier lads poached at times, on which occasions Tom saw pheasants, and wondered what they tasted like; with a noble salmon-river, in which Mr. Grimes and his friends would have liked to poach; but then they must have got

26、into cold water, and that they did not like at all. In short, Harthover was a grand place, and Sir John a grand old man, whom even Mr. Grimes respected; for not only could he send Mr. Grimes to prison when he deserved it, as he did once or twice a week; not only did he own all the land about for mil

27、es; not only was he a jolly, honest, sensible squire, as ever kept a pack of hounds, who would do what he thought right by his neighbours, as well as get what he thought right for himself; but, what was more, he weighed full fifteen stone, was nobody knew how many inches round the chest, and could h

28、ave thrashed Mr. Grimes himself in fair fight, which very few folk round there could do, and which would not have been right for him to do, as a great many things are not which one both can do, and would like very much to do. So Mr. Grimes touched his hat to him when he rode through the town. Now, I

29、 dare say, you never got up at three oclock on a midsummer morning. Some people get up then because they want to catch salmon; and some because they want to climb Alps; and a great many more because they must, like Tom. But, I assure you, that three oclock on a midsummer morning is the pleasantest t

30、ime of all the twenty-four hours, and all the three hundred and sixty-five days; and why every one does not get up then, I never could tell, save that they are all determined to spoil their nerves and their complexions by doing all night what they might just as well do all day. But Tom, instead of g

31、oing out7 to dinner at half-past eight at night, and to a ball at ten, and finishing off somewhere between twelve and four, went to bed at seven, when his master went to the public-house, and slept like a dead pig; for which reason he was as piert as a game-cock (who always gets up early to wake the

32、 maids), and just ready to get up when the fine gentlemen and ladies were just ready to go to bed. So he and his master set out; Grimes rode the donkey in front, and Tom and the brushes walked behind; out of the court, and up the street, past the closed window-shutters, and the winking weary policem

33、en, and the roofs all shining gray in the gray dawn. They passed through the pitmens village, all shut up and silent now, and through the turnpike; and then they were out in the real country, and plodding along the black dusty road, between black slag walls, with no sound but the groaning and thumpi

34、ng of the pit-engine in the next field. But soon the road grew white, and the walls likewise; and at the walls foot grew long grass and gay flowers, all drenched with dew; and instead of the groaning of the pit-engine, they heard the skylark saying his matins high up in the air, and the pit-bird war

35、bling in the sedges, as he had warbled all night long. All else was silent. For old Mrs. Earth was still fast asleep; and, like many pretty people, she looked still prettier asleep than awake. The great elm-trees in the gold-green meadows were fast asleep above, and the cows fast asleep beneath them

36、; nay, the few clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise, and so tired that they had lain down on the earth to rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems of the elm-trees, and along the tops of the alders by the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and go about their days b

37、usiness in the clear blue overhead. On they went; and Tom looked, and looked, for he never had been so far into the country before; and longed to get over a gate, and pick buttercups, and look for birds nests in the hedge; but Mr. Grimes was a man of business, and would not have heard of that. Soon

38、they came up with a poor Irishwoman, trudging along with a bundle at her back. She had a gray shawl over her head, and a crimson madder petticoat; so you may be sure she came from Galway. She had neither shoes nor stockings, and limped along as if she were tired and footsore; but she was a very tall

39、 handsome woman, with bright gray eyes, and heavy black hair hanging about her cheeks. And9 she took Mr. Grimes fancy so much, that when he came alongside he called out to her: This is a hard road for a gradely foot like that. Will ye up, lass, and ride behind me? But, perhaps, she did not admire Mr

40、. Grimes look and voice; for she answered quietly: No, thank you: Id sooner walk with your little lad here. You may please yourself, growled Grimes, and went on smoking. So she walked beside Tom, and talked to him, and asked him where he lived, and what he knew, and all about himself, till Tom thoug

41、ht he had never met such a pleasant-spoken woman. And she asked him, at last, whether he said his prayers! and seemed sad when he told her that he knew no prayers to say. Then he asked her where she lived, and she said far away by the sea. And Tom asked her about the sea; and she told him how it rol

42、led and roared over the rocks in winter nights, and lay still in the bright summer days, for the children to bathe and play in it; and many a story more, till Tom longed to go and see the sea, and bathe in it likewise. At last, at the bottom of a hill, they came to a spring; not such a spring as you

43、 see here, which soaks10 up out of a white gravel in the bog, among red fly-catchers, and pink bottle-heath, and sweet white orchis; nor such a one as you may see, too, here, which bubbles up under the warm sandbank in the hollow lane, by the great tuft of lady ferns, and makes the sand dance reels

44、at the bottom, day and night, all the year round; not such a spring as either of those; but a real North country limestone fountain, like one of those in Sicily or Greece, where the old heathen fancied the nymphs sat cooling themselves the hot summers day, while the shepherds peeped at them from beh

45、ind the bushes. Out of a low cave of rock, at the foot of a limestone crag, the great fountain rose, quelling, and bubbling, and gurgling, so clear that you could not tell where the water ended and the air began; and ran away under the road, a stream large enough to turn a mill; among blue geranium,

46、 and golden globe-flower, and wild raspberry, and the bird-cherry with its tassels of snow. And there Grimes stopped, and looked; and Tom looked too. Tom was wondering whether anything lived in that dark cave, and came out at night to fly in the meadows. But Grimes was not wondering at all. Without

47、a word, he got off his donkey, and clambered over the low road wall, and knelt down, and began dipping his ugly head into the springand very dirty he made it. Tom was picking the flowers as fast as he could. The Irishwoman helped him, and showed him how to tie them up; and a very pretty nosegay they

48、 had made between them. But when he saw Grimes actually wash, he stopped, quite astonished; and when Grimes had finished, and began shaking his ears to dry them, he said: Why, master, I never saw you do that before. Nor will again, most likely. Twasnt for cleanliness I did it, but for coolness. Id b

49、e ashamed to want washing every week or so, like any smutty collier lad. I wish I might go and dip my head in, said poor little Tom. It must be as good as putting it under the town-pump; and there is no beadle here to drive a chap away. Thou come along, said Grimes; what dost want with washing thyself? Thou did not drink half a gallon of beer last night, like me. I dont care for you, said