①Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. ②There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. ③There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. ④The locust-trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. ⑤Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.

⑥Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush.⑦He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. ⑧Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. ⑨Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. ⑩Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged. ?Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail,and singing Buffalo Gals.

fragrance [?fre?gr?ns] n．芳香，芬芳

vegetation [?ved???te??n] n．植物，草木

reposeful [r??p??zf?l] a．寧靜的，安詳的

melancholy [?mel?nk?l?] n．憂郁，惆悵

insignificant [??ns?g?n?f?k?nt] a．不重要的