這個(gè)暑假,作為課外讀物,我購(gòu)買了一套推薦英國(guó)小學(xué)生閱讀的“The Royal Reader《英國(guó)語(yǔ)文》”,共六冊(cè)。其中第二冊(cè)給我留下了很深刻的印象。第二冊(cè)主要摘選的是英國(guó)一些朗朗上課的詩(shī)歌、散文和民間諺語(yǔ)。在開(kāi)學(xué)之季,與我校師生分享的是一篇“勸學(xué)”兒歌,其每句結(jié)尾均押韻,押韻的單詞進(jìn)行了加粗標(biāo)注。
EARLY RISING
Get up, little sister; the morning is bright,
And the birds are all singing to welcome the light:
The buds are all opening; the dew’s on the flower;
If you shake but a branch, see, the falls quite a shower.
By the side of their mothers, look, under the trees,
How the young lambs are skipping about as they please;
And by all those rings on the water, I know,
The fishes are merrily swimming below.
The bee, I dare say, has been long on the wing,
To get honey from every flower of spring;
For the bee never idles, but labors all day,
Thinking (wise little insect) work better than play.
The lark’s singing gaily; it loves the bright sun,
And rejoices that now the gay spring has begun:
For the spring is so cheerful, I think it would be wrong,
If we did not feel happy to hear the lark’s song.
Get up; for when all things are merry and glad,
Good children should never be lazy or sad:
For God gives us daylight, dear sister, that we
May rejoice like the lark, and may work like the bee.
單詞解析:
l Shower本為“洗澡”,也可指宗教儀式中的“受洗”,在文中指的是“降雨”,且通常為比較大的雨。另一個(gè)常見(jiàn)的諺語(yǔ)中也有shower一詞,“April showers bring May flowers”四月的大雨灌溉出五月的鮮花盛開(kāi),即“梅花香自苦寒來(lái)”,shower也是與flower押韻的。
l Ring一詞在本文中也不是它原始的“戒指”的意思,此處指水中環(huán)狀的“漣漪”。Ring還可做動(dòng)詞,表示“敲響”,如The class is over when the bell rings鈴響下課。
l Idle在文中作動(dòng)詞,指“散漫”“無(wú)所事事”。它的反義詞就在同一行中,即labor“辛勤勞作”。Labor是動(dòng)詞名詞同形,除了均指“勞動(dòng)”外,名詞還有一個(gè)常用意思指“分娩”如After a ten-hour labor, a baby boy was born母親辛苦了十小時(shí),小男孩平安出生。
l Gay一詞在本文中的使用比較過(guò)時(shí),在中世紀(jì)英語(yǔ)當(dāng)中,gay一詞多指cheerful and excited,bright and lively,用來(lái)形容春天萬(wàn)物復(fù)蘇和生機(jī)勃勃十分貼切,F(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)中這一形容已不常見(jiàn),F(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)中多見(jiàn)early spring早春/mid summer仲夏/late autumn暮秋這種以時(shí)間節(jié)點(diǎn)劃分的說(shuō)法,少了中世紀(jì)英語(yǔ)中的“雅致”。
l Rejoice是不是覺(jué)得很眼熟?這正是寶潔公司旗下著名的護(hù)發(fā)品牌“飄柔”的英文拼寫!寶潔公司之所以能選中這個(gè)詞,也是因?yàn)檫@個(gè)詞的詞義是“使人高興,歡慶”,充滿正能量。聯(lián)合利華公司旗下的另一款知名護(hù)法護(hù)膚品牌LUX力士,也是英文單詞luxury“奢華”的縮寫,定價(jià)比Rejoice飄柔略高。從而體現(xiàn)出其奢華。
通篇以“姐姐”的口吻,勸“妹妹”春天來(lái)了,新的一天來(lái)了,不要賴床,早些開(kāi)始新的一天,新的一年的勞作吧。這與我們中文里面常說(shuō)的“一日之計(jì)在于晨,一年之計(jì)在于春”的概念不謀而合。最后一小節(jié)為點(diǎn)睛之筆,“姐姐”告訴“妹妹”,好小孩不能lazy碌碌無(wú)為,也不能sad郁郁寡歡,好小孩應(yīng)該像高歌的云雀一樣自由快樂(lè),應(yīng)該向勤勞的蜜蜂一樣享受工作。同學(xué)們,大學(xué)四年,是大家人生當(dāng)中最值得把握的四年,希望大家珍惜時(shí)光,百尺竿頭!“怕什么真理無(wú)窮,進(jìn)一步有進(jìn)一步的驚喜!” |