LESSON 5

POPPING CORN

1. One autumn night, when the wind was high, And the rain fell in heavy plashes,

A little boy sat by the kitchen fire,

A-popping corn in the ashes;

And his sister, a curly-haired child of three, Sat looking on, just close to his knee.

2. Pop! pop! and the kernels, one by one,

Came out of the embers flying;

The boy held a long pine stick in his hand, And kept it busily plying;

He stirred the corn and it snapped the more,

And faster jumped to the clean-swept floor.3. Part of the kernels flew one way,

And a part hopped out the other;

Some flew plump into the sister’s lap,

Some under the stool of the brother; The little girl gathered them into a heap,

And called them a flock of milk-white sheep.

【中文阅读】

1. 八月夜晚，狂风不断，

雨滴哗啦啦敲打地面，

小男孩坐在厨房的火炉旁，

炉灰里在爆玉米，

他的妹妹头发卷卷，年龄只有三周岁，

坐在他的膝盖边细细观看。

2. 砰！砰！玉米粒一个接一个爆开，

炉灰的余烬飞逸出来，

男孩手里拿着一条长长的松枝，

不停地在炉子里拨动；

他碰一碰玉米，更多的玉米粒爆开了，

很快都蹦到了干净的地板上。

3. 一部分玉米粒蹦向了一个方向，

还有一部分比它们跳得还远；

一些胖胖的玉米花飞到了妹妹的腿上，

还有的跑到了哥哥的椅子下面，

小女孩把它们集中起来堆成一堆，

管它们叫一群奶白色的绵羊。