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)

【中文閱讀】

1.小羅伊趕著羊群來到牧場，

趕著牛群來到小溪邊；

但牛群不需要在溪邊喝水，

羊群也不需要他揮舞牧鞭。

2.牧場像花園一樣漂亮，

散發著亮麗的紅色光芒；

但草地卻從不長草，

小溪也只在自己的溫床上靜靜流淌。

3.小溪既不發光也不呢喃低語，

更不會折射天空的湛藍；

但牧童唱起歡快的歌謠，

眼里閃爍著迷人的光芒。

4.噢，他像夏日的小鳥在歡唱！

如果你恍若聽到咩咩的叫聲，

那一定是牧童在歡唱，

而非他腳邊的小羊羔。

5.油光閃亮的棕色母牛特別溫順，

在牧童的輕輕撫摸下，

漫步在玫瑰紅的奇妙草地上，

牧童一下令便立刻停下不動。

6.牧童就這樣領著牛羊群，

在小溪邊游蕩；

盡管開始下雨，

但雨滴卻不像往日那樣歡快地啪嗒啪嗒。

7.這里并不是仙境樂園，

只不過是小鎮上的一處屋舍；

羅伊從窗戶上能夠看到，

銀色的雨點滴滴流下。

8.他的牧場只不過是一張桌子，

上面蓋了一塊帶花的桌布；

那潺潺小溪也只是妹妹頭上掉下的，

一條綠色絲帶。

9.他的牛群是從祖父種的七葉樹上采來的

光滑樹片；

他的羊群只是他從海邊撿來的，

雪白的鵝卵石。

10.牧童最終厭倦了這個游戲，

喝光牛奶，吃光面包之后，

媽媽親吻了他，讓他睡覺，

并輕輕道聲“晚安”。

11.牧童正要熟睡之際，

大哥沃爾特走了進來；

他把“牛群”撕碎扔進籃子，

把所有“羊群”換成了小石子。

（艾米莉·S·奧凱）

注釋

[1]O’er：古英語用法，同“over”。