Midsummer Night仲夏之夜

王燁

The children were very much puzzled what to do， for itwas Midsummer-night， and they knew that there was a dreambelonging to it; but they could not tell how to come across it.They knew that the dream had something to do with fairies， aqueen， and all manner of lovely things; but that was all.

孩子們都非常困惑接下來(lái)要做什么，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在是仲夏之夜，他們知道有一個(gè)屬于自己的夢(mèng)，但是誰(shuí)也說(shuō)不出來(lái)怎樣才會(huì)碰上這個(gè)夢(mèng)。他們知道這個(gè)夢(mèng)與仙女、王后和各種可愛(ài)的東西有關(guān)，但僅此而已。

At first， they thought they would sit up with the doors andwindows open， and the dog on the steps was ready to bark if hesaw anything unusual. Then they felt sure that they could notdream while they were wide-awake， so three of them went to bed，and one dozed in a corner of the porch， with her clothes on.

起初，他們以為他們會(huì)熬夜并把門(mén)窗開(kāi)著，臺(tái)階上的狗準(zhǔn)備在看到任何異常情況時(shí)發(fā)出吠叫聲。然后，他們確信在完全清醒的時(shí)候是不可能做夢(mèng)的，所以他們?nèi)齻€(gè)人上床睡覺(jué)，一個(gè)人穿著衣服在門(mén)廊的角落里打瞌睡。

Presently the dog barked， and two children in their nightgownsran out to see， and one took off her night-cap and lookedout of the window; but it was only old Nurse coming back froma long gossip with the village blacksmiths wife and motherin-law. So the dog looked foolish， and Nurse was angry， and putthem all to bed without any more ado.

不一會(huì)兒，狗叫了起來(lái)，兩個(gè)穿著睡衣的孩子跑出來(lái)看，其中一個(gè)人摘下睡帽，向窗外看去 ；但只是老萊斯與村里鐵匠的妻子、丈母娘結(jié)束長(zhǎng)聊后回來(lái)了。所以這狗看起來(lái)很愚蠢，萊斯很生氣，毫不猶豫地叫他們都上床睡覺(jué)。

“Oh，” they cried， “but the fairies， and the queen， and theflowers！ What shall we do to see them？”

“哦，”他們喊道，“但是仙女們，王后，還有花兒們！我們?cè)撛鯓涌吹剿麄兡?？?/p>

“Go to sleep，” said Nurse， “and the dream may come toyou;—you cant go to a dream，” she added， for you see she wasjust a peasant woman， and had never travelled far， or into any?land but her own.“

去睡覺(jué)吧，”萊斯說(shuō)，又補(bǔ)充道，“夢(mèng)會(huì)向你走來(lái)，你是不能走向夢(mèng)那里的?！比缒闼?jiàn)，她只是一個(gè)農(nóng)村婦女，從來(lái)沒(méi)有遠(yuǎn)行，或者去過(guò)任何地方，她只待在自己的土地上。

So the children shut their eyes tightly and went to sleep， and I think that they saw something， for their eyes were very bright next morning， and one of them whispered to me， softly， “The queen wore a wreath of flowers last night， dear mother， and， oh， she was very beautiful.”

于是，孩子們閉上眼睛睡著了，而我想他們還是看到了什么，因?yàn)榈诙煸缟纤麄兊难劬Ψ浅Ｃ髁?，其中一個(gè)輕聲對(duì)我說(shuō)：“親愛(ài)的媽媽，王后昨晚戴著一個(gè)花環(huán)，哦，她非常漂亮?！?/p>

Notes：

puzzled adj. 疑惑的；困惑的

midsummer-night 仲夏之夜

belong to… 屬于……

come across 遇到；碰上

fairy n. 仙女

queen n. 王后

manner n. 方式；舉止；行為

bark v. （狗）吠叫

unusual adj. 不同尋常的；異樣的

wide-awake adj. 完全醒過(guò)來(lái)的

doze v. 打瞌睡

porch n. 門(mén)廊

presently adv. 最近；不久；現(xiàn)在

night-gown n. 睡袍

gossip n. 說(shuō)閑話

blacksmith n. 鐵匠

mother-in-law n. 岳母；婆母

add v. 補(bǔ)充；補(bǔ)充道

peasant n. 農(nóng)民

tightly adv. 緊緊地

whisper v. 耳語(yǔ)

wreath n. 花環(huán)

I. Read the passage and answer the following questions.

1. Did the children know what to do at the midsummer-night？

_______________________________________

2. Did the dog on the steps see anything unusual that night？

_______________________________________

3. Did the children have a dream when they were wide-awake？

_______________________________________

4. Did old Nurse travel far before？

_______________________________________

5. Did the children have a dream of the queen that night？

_______________________________________

II. Put the following into Chinese.

1. midsummer-night __________________

2. feel sure _________________________

3. have something to do with ___________

4. go to bed _________________________

5. come across _______________________

6. in a corner _______________________

7. at first ___________________________

8. next morning _____________________

9. something unusual _________________

10. look foolish _____________________

III. Choose the correct words in the brackets to fill in the blanks.

1. Those students are puzzled ________ （what / when） to go to the zoo.

2. That night， Richard ________ （has / had） a nice dream.

3. Our teacher of music ________ （knows / knew） that thing last week.

4. That boy doesnt know ________ （how / what） to answer this question in English.

5. It must have ________ （anything /something） to do with the doctor， I think.

6. The white rabbit sat ________ （down / up） when those strangers came to her.

7. George is Marys husband， so Marys father is Georges ________ （mother-in-law / father-in-law）.

8. He came back late ________ （because / for） there was something wrong with his car.

9. He has to work hard， ________ （because / for） he wants to support his family.

10. Yesterday afternoon， their maths teacher ________ （wears / wore） a blue T-shirt.

Keys to Midsummer Night

I. 1. No， they didnt. 2. No， it didnt. 3. No， they didnt. 4. No， she didnt. 5. Yes， they did.

II. 1.仲夏之夜 2.確信 3.與……有關(guān)系 4.上床睡覺(jué) 5.遇到；碰到 6.在拐角處 7.起初；一開(kāi)始 8.第二天早晨 9.非同尋常的事情 10.看上去愚蠢

III. 1. when 2. had 3. knew 4. how 5. something 6. up （注：當(dāng)兔子坐起來(lái)時(shí)，身體的高度反而比行走時(shí)或睡著時(shí)要高，所以此空只能填寫(xiě)“up”。）

7. father-in-law 8. because 9. for 10. wore