LESSON 2

JOHNNY’S FIRST SNOWSTORM

乔尼初次见雪

country groves losing sugar freezes

1. Johnny Reed was a little boy who never had seen a snowstorm till he was six years old. Before this, he had lived in a warm country, where the sun shines down on beautiful orange groves, and fields always sweet with flowers.

2. But now he had come to visit his grandmother, who lived where the snow falls in winter. Johnny was standing at the window when the snow came down.

3. “O mamma!” he cried, joyfully, “do come quick, and see these little

white birds flying down from heaven.

4. “They are not birds, Johnny,” said mamma, smiling.

5. “Then maybe the little angels are losing their feathers! Oh! do tell me what it is; is it sugar? Let me taste it,” said Johnny. But when he tasted it, he gave a little jump—it was so cold.

6. “That is only snow, Johnny,” said his mother.

7. “What is snow, mother?”

8. “The snowflakes, Johnny, are little drops of water that fall from theclouds. But the air through which they pass is so cold it freezes them, and they come down turned into snow.”

9. As she said this, she brought out an old black hat from the closet. “See, Johnny! I have caught a snowflake on this hat. Look quick through this glass, and you will see how beautiful it is.”

10. Johnny looked through the glass. There lay the pure, feathery snowflake like a lovely little star.

11. “Twinkle, twinkle, little star!” he cried in delight. “Oh! please show me more snow-flakes, mother.

12. So his mother caught several more, and they were all beautiful.

13. The next day Johnny had a fine play in the snow, and when he camein, he said, “I love snow; and I think snowballs are a great deal prettier than oranges.”

【中文阅读】

1. 乔尼· 瑞德是个小男孩，直到六岁，他才看到暴风雪。此前，他一直生活在地球的暖热带地区。在那里，阳光洒满大片美丽的橘树林，田野里到处都是芬芳扑鼻的鲜花。

2. 但是，现在他要去看望奶奶，那里的冬天常会下雪。每当雪花纷飞的时候，乔尼就会站在窗前定睛观望。

3. 他高兴地大喊：“妈妈，快过来，瞧，这些白色的小鸟从天堂飞下来了。”

4. 妈妈笑着对他说：“乔尼，那不是小鸟。”

5. “那么，可能是小天使掉落的羽毛吧！哦，快告诉我，那是什么，是糖吗？我想尝一下。”乔尼说。但是，就在品尝雪花时，他不禁惊跳起来——太凉了。

6. 妈妈说：“那不过是雪而已，乔尼。”

7. “妈妈，雪是什么？”

8. “乔尼，雪就是从云彩上掉落的小水滴。但是，水滴从天上掉下来时，寒冷的空气将它们凝结住了，所以变成了从天而降的雪花。”

9. 她一边说着，一边从壁橱里取出一顶黑色的旧帽子。“看，乔尼！我用帽子接住了一片雪花。透过这块玻璃，你就知道雪花有多么美了。”

10. 乔尼透过玻璃看着雪花，那片纯净轻柔的雪花就像一颗可爱的小星星。

11. “哇，小星星还一闪一闪的呢！妈妈，再让我多看点雪花吧！”乔尼欢呼起来。

12. 于是，妈妈又抓住了一些雪花，都是那么漂亮！

13. 第二天，乔尼在雪地里开心地玩耍，从外面回家后，他说：“我太喜欢雪了，雪球可比橘子好玩多了。”