THREE boys, Dick, Sam, and Ned, went out to play in the fields,and fine fun they had
As they sat down to rest for a short time, they heard a lark sing.
“How well he sings!” said Dick. “He must be quite close to us, I think,” said Sam. “I should like to see him,” said Ned.
“There he is, then,” said Sam; “so you can soon have your wish.”
“Where?” said Dick; and up he sprang, just in time to see the lark as he rose once more high in the air. See, there he is, as he sings his sweet song to the boys.
Just then Dick saw that Ned had a small stone in his hand. Dick thought that he meant to throw it at the poor lark. So he said, “Ned, do you mean to throw that stone at him?”
“Yes; why not? What harm would there be?” said Ned; “I want you to see how well I can aim.”
“For shame, Ned!” said Dick. “Throw down the stone. Why should you want to kill the poor bird, that sings so sweet a song to us? If you like, I will soon show you that I can aim quite as well as you can. But I should not like to aim to do ill.” This made both Ned and Sam laugh; and Ned threw down the stone.
The lark went on with his song. Ned said, “I do like to hear the lark sing; how glad I am that I did not try to kill him.”
三个男孩,迪克、萨姆、尼德,出了家门,到田野里去玩,玩得可开心了。
三个人坐下来休息一下,这时,听见了一只云雀在唱歌。
迪克说:“它唱得多好啊!”萨姆说:“它一定离我们很近。”尼德说:“我真想看看它!”
萨姆说:“它就在那儿呢!你的愿望马上就能实现啦。”
“哪儿?”迪克一跃而起,刚好看见云雀又一次在空中高高飞起。云雀就在高天上,对三个男孩唱着甜甜的歌。
就在这时候,迪克看见尼德手里握着一块小石头。迪克想,他是想要拿石头打那只可怜的云雀吧?他就问:“尼德,你是想朝它扔石头吗?”
尼德说:“是啊,为啥不扔?有什么坏处?我想让你瞧瞧,我瞄得有多准!”
迪克说:“尼德,不嫌丢人啊?把石头扔了!这鸟儿为我们唱歌,唱得这么好听,你怎么想害死它呢?那样它该多可怜!要是你愿意,我这就能给你看看,我的准头跟你一样好。可我不想‘瞄准什么东西是为了做坏事'!”尼德跟萨姆一听,都乐了。尼德也就把石头扔下了。
云雀把歌又唱了下去。尼德说:“我真的喜欢听云雀唱歌啊。真高兴,我没想要害死它!”