The Acorn-Gatherer
捡橡果的孩子

每一个人的生命都是宝贵的，但人们所生存的环境却各不相同，甚至相差甚远，家境好的孩子可以衣食无忧，而贫困家庭的孩子从小就需要承受更多生活的压力，比如，有一个小男孩，小小年纪就需要靠捡橡果去卖钱过日子。不管面对什么样的苦难，我们都要坦然地面对，勇往直前，不抱怨，也不能自暴自弃。

Richard Jefferies
理查德· 杰弗理斯

Black rooks, yellow oak leaves, and a boy asleep at the foot of the tree. His head was lying on a bulging root close to the stem: his feet reached to a small sack or bag half full of acorns. In his slumber his forehead frowned—they were fixed lines, like the grooves in the oak bark. There was nothing else in his features attractive or repellent: they were such as might have belonged to a dozen hedge children. The set angry frown was the only distinguishing mark—like the dents on a penny made by a hobnail boot, by which it can be known from twenty otherwise precisely similar. His clothes were little better than sacking, but clean, tidy, and repaired. Any one would have said, “Poor, but carefully tended.” A kind heart might have put a three penny-bit in his clenched little fist, and sighed. But that iron set frown on the young brow would not have unbent even for the silver. Caw! Caw!

The happiest creatures in the world are the rooks at the acorns. It is not only the eating of them, but the finding: the fluttering up there and hopping from branch to branch, the sidling out to the extreme end of the bough, and the inward chuckling when a friend lets his acorn drop tip-tap from bough to bough. Amid such plenty they cannot quarrel or fight, having no cause of battle, but they can boast of success, and do so to the loudest of their voices. He who has selected a choice one flies with it as if it were a nugget in his beak, out to some open spot of ground, followed by a general Caw!

This was going on above while the boy slept below. A thrush looked out from the hedge, and among the short grass there was still the hum of bees, constant sun-worshippers as they are. The sunshine gleamed on the rooks' black feathers overhead, and on the sward sparkled from hawkweed, some lotus and yellow weed, as from a faint ripple of water.

黑色的白嘴鸦，黄色的橡树叶，一个小男孩在树下睡着了。他的头枕在茎干旁凸起的树根上，他的脚伸向装了半袋橡果的小袋子。睡梦中他皱着眉——皱纹如同橡树皮上的裂痕一样。他的容貌既不讨人喜欢也不招人烦：看起来可能就是一个普通的贫苦人家的孩子。那看似愤怒的皱眉是唯一突出的标志——就像靴子的鞋钉踩在一美分硬币上留下的痕迹一样，那痕迹能使人把这枚硬币从其他二十枚一模一样的硬币中分辨出来。他的衣服并不比麻布袋好多少，但是很干净、整齐，修补得很好。谁都会这样评价：“家境贫穷，但是被照料得很好。”好心人也许会往他紧握的小拳头里放上三便士硬币，然后发出一声叹息。但那年轻的额头上紧缩的双眉似乎不会因为钱而舒展。呱！呱！

世界上最快乐的生物就是橡果中的白嘴鸦了。让它们高兴的除了吃橡果之外，还有找橡果：扑腾着翅膀飞上枝头，又从一根树枝跳到另一根树枝，慢慢接近大树枝的尽头，当一只白嘴鸦不小心把橡果弄掉，然后噼噼啪啪地从一根树枝弹到另一根树枝时，它的伙伴们会暗自笑个不停。在这一片丰硕之中，它们不会争吵或打架，没有争斗的理由，但是它们可以用最大的声音炫耀自己的成功。哪只白嘴鸦若是找到一颗好橡果，就会把它视若珍宝一般，并衔着它飞到一块空地上，随后会响起一片呱呱声。

树上发生这一切时，那个男孩就睡在树下。一只画眉从树篱中探出头来，矮草中还有蜜蜂嗡嗡作响——它们向来崇拜太阳。阳光照射在白嘴鸦头顶上的黑色羽毛上，照射在点缀着山柳菊、莲花和黄色的杂草的草地上，就像水面上荡起的涟漪。

巧记词汇

rook [rʊk] n. 白嘴鸦

【拓】root [ruːt] n. 根

bulge [bʌldʒ] v. 鼓起，凸出

【拓】bulgy ['bʌldʒɪ] a. 凸出的

sack [sæk] n. 大口袋，麻袋

【拓】bag [bæɡ] n. 袋子

acorn [ˈeɪkɔːn] n. 橡子

【拓】fruit [fruːt] n. 果实

hedge [hedʒ] n. 树篱

【拓】edge [edʒ] n. 边缘

frown [fraʊn] n. 皱眉

【拓】brow [braʊ] n. 眉毛

dent [dent] n. 凹痕

【拓】bent [bent] a. 弯曲的

hobnail [ˈhɒbneɪl] n. 鞋钉

【拓】nail [neɪl] n. 钉子

flutter [ˈflʌtə(r)] v. 振翅，飘动

【拓】wiggle [ˈwɪgl] v. 摆动

hop [hɒp] v. 单足跳

【拓】skitter [ˈskɪtə(r)] v. 跳跃

bough [baʊ] n. 大树枝

【拓】branch [brɑːntʃ] n. 树枝

nugget [ˈnʌɡɪt] n. 金块；珍品

【拓】magnet [ˈmæɡnət] n. 磁铁

thrush [θrʌʃ] n. 画眉

【拓】rush [rʌʃ] n. 匆匆

sward [swɔːd] n. 草皮

【拓】meadow [ˈmedəʊ] n. 草地

hawkweed ['hɔːkwiːd] n. 山柳菊

【拓】weed [wiːd] n. 杂草；水草

趣学短语

boast of 吹嘘，自夸；以有……而自豪

【例】He often boasts of his achievements in the past years and forgets that he can still do something great. 他总是吹嘘自己在过去那些年里取得的成就，而忘了他还依然可以做一些了不起的事情。