书城英文图书英国学生文学读本(套装共6册)
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第25章 A STORY OF AN APPLE

1.Little Tommy and Peter and Archie and Bob Were walking one day,when they foundAn apple;‘twas yellow and rosy and red,And lying alone on the ground.

2.Said Tommy,“I’ll have it;”said Peter,“‘Tis mine;”Said Archie,“I’ve got it;so there!”

Said Bobby,“Now,let us divide it in four,And each of us boys has a share.”

3.“No,no!”shouted Tommy;“I‘ll have it myself.”Said Peter,“I want it,I say.”

Said Archie,“I’ve got it,and I‘ll have it all;I won’t give the least bit away.”

4.Then Tommy he snatched it,and Peter he fought,(‘Tis sad and distressing to tell!)And Archie held on as hard as he could,Till out from his fingers it fell.

5.Away from the three angry brothers it flew,And then down a little green hillThat apple it rolled,and it rolled,and it rolled,As if it would never be still.

6.A lazy old cow was eating the grass,And switching her tail at the flies,When all of a sudden the apple rolled down,And stopped just in front of her eyes.

7.She gave but a bite and a swallow or two-That apple was seen never more!

“I wish,”sobbed out Archie and Peter and Tom,“We’d kept it and cut it in four.”

1.It was spring,and I used to move my chair up to the window,where I could lean out and watch all the lovely things in the garden.

2.I could see the bees sucking honey from the flowers,and dozens of happy birds building their houses.

3.Now there hung just inside my window a box of strings.For two or three days not a bitof string could be found in the box.I put some in,but when next I went to look it was all gone.

4.One afternoon a pretty bird flew down on the window-sill.He put his little head on one side and winked his bright little eye.

5.Then,without saying “If you please,”he dipped his beak into the box,and flew off with a piece of pink string.

6.I sat quite still to see if the little scamp would dare to come back.He did not;but he sent his wife,and she was just as bold as her mate.

7.She gave a hop,step,and jump,looked at me for a moment,and then took a piece of string without being a bit afraid.

8.What did the birds want with my pink string,I wonder?It was for the walls of the little nest which they were building.