书城英文图书美国语文读本5(美国原版经典语文课本)
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第12章 IT SNOWS

Sarah Josepha Hale (b. 1788 d.1879) was born in Newport,N.H. Her maiden name was Buell. In 1814 she married David Hale,an eminent lawyer,whdied in 1822. Left with five children tsupport,she turned her attention tliterature. In 1828 she became editor of the "LadiesˊMagazine." In 1837 this periodical was united with "Godey's Lady's Book," of which Mrs. Hale was literary editor for more than forty years.

1."It snows!" cries the Schoolboy,"Hurrah!" and his shout Is ringing through parlor and hall,While swift as the wing of a swallow,he's out,And his playmates have answered his call;It makes the heart leap but twitness their joy;Proud wealth has npleasures,I trow1,Like the rapture that throbs in the pulse of the boy As he gathers his treasures of snow;Then lay not the trappings2 of gold on thine heirs,While health and the riches of nature are theirs.

2."It snows!" sighs the Imbecile3,"Ah!" and his breath Comes heavy,as clogged with a weight;While,from the pale aspect of nature in death,He turns tthe blaze of his grate;And nearer and nearer,his soft-cushioned chair1Trow,tthink,tbelieve. 2 Trappings,ornanents.3Imbecile,one whis feeble either in body or mind.Is wheeled toward the life-giving flame;He dreads a chill puff of the snow-burdened air,Lest it wither his delicate frame;Oh! small is the pleasure existence can give,When the fear we shall die only proves that we live!

3."It snows!" cries the Traveler,"Ho!" and the word Has quickened his steed's lagging pace;The wind rushes by,but its howl is unheard,Unfelt the sharp drift in his face;For bright through the tempest his own home appeared,Ay,though leagues intervened1,he can see:

There's the clear,glowing hearth,and the table prepared,And his wife with her babes at her knee;Blest thought! how it lightens the grief-laden hour,That those we love dearest are safe from its power!

4."It snows!" cries the Belle,"Dear,how lucky!" and turns From her mirror twatch the flakes fall,Like the first rose of summer,her dimpled cheek burns! While musing2 on sleigh ride and ball:There are visions of conquests3,of splendor,and mirth,Floating over each drear winter's day;But the tintings4 of Hope,on this storm-beaten earth,Will melt like the snowflakes away.Turn,then thee tHeaven,fair maiden,for bliss;That world has a pure fount ne'er opened in this.

5."It snows!" cries the Widow,"God!" and her sighs1Intervened,were situated between.2Musing,thinking in an absent-minded way. 3 Conquests,triumphs,successes.4Tintings,slight colorings.Have stifled1 the voice of her prayer;Its burden ye'll read in her tear-swollen eyes,On her cheek sunk with fasting and care. and her fatherless ask her for bread,But "He gives the young ravens their food,"And she trusts till her dark hearth adds horror tdread.And she lays on her last chip of wood.Poor sufferer! that sorrow thy God only knows;'T is a most bitter lot tbe poor when it snows.1Stifled,choked,suppressed.