A THOUSAND flocks were on the hills,

A thousand flocks and more,

Feeding in sunshine pleasantly:

They were the rich man's store.

There was the while one little lamb

Beside a cottage door;

A little lamb that rested

With the children'neath the tree;

That ate, meek creature, from their hands,

And nestled to their knee;

That had a place within their hearts—

One of the family.

But want, even as an armed man,

Came down upon their shed:

The father laboured all day long

That his children might be fed;

And, one by one, their household things

Were sold to buy them bread.

That father, with a downcast eye,

Upon his threshold stood;

Gaunt poverty each pleasant thought

Had in his heart subdued.

“What is the creature's life to us?”

Said he; “'twill buy us food.

“Ay, though the children weep all day,

And with down-drooping head

Each does his small task mournfully,

The hungry must be fed;

And that which has a price to bring

Must go to buy us bread.”

It went. Oh, parting has a pang

The hardest heart to wring;

But the tender soul of a little child

With fervent love doth cling,

With love that hath no feignings false,

Unto each gentle thing.

Therefore most sorrowful it was

Those children small to see;

Most sorrowful to hear them plead

For the lamb so piteously:

“O mother dear, it loveth us!

And what besides have we?”

“Let's take him to the broad green hill, '’

In his impotent despair,

Said one strong boy—

“let's take him off,

The hills are wide and fair;

I know a little hiding-place,

And we shall keep him there.”

Oh, vain! —

They took the little lamb,

And straightway tied him down;

With a strong cord

they tied him fast,

And o'er the common brown,

And o'er the hot and flinty roads,

They took him to the town.

The little children through that day,

And throughout all the morrow,

From everything about the house

A mournful thought did borrow;

The very bread they had to eat

Was food unto their sorrow.

—MARY HOWITT

Questions

Why had the pet lamb to be sold? Who were very vexed? Why? What did they think of doing? Did they succeed? Why did the bread they got to eat make them sadder?

Pronunciation

pleas'-ant-ly mourn'-ful-ly la'-boured thou'-sand pov'-er-ty

fam'-i-ly hun'-gry crea'-ture be-side' bor'-row

chil'-dren straight'-way sor'-row-ful cot'-tage flint'-y

down'-cast sun'-shine through-out' rest'-ed gen'-tle

Write

nestled creature impotent

sunshine subdued sorrowful

laboured feignings throughout

一千頭牲畜在山上，

不，比一千頭還要多，

他們在陽光下歡快地吃草；

他們是有錢人的財產，

這群牲畜里面有一只小羊羔，

待在一個小屋門旁。

小羊羔和孩子們一起待在樹下，

這個溫順的小動物，

偎依在孩子們的膝下；

他們心中有一處

共同的棲息之地——

那就是家。

但卻希望有人能來他們的小屋，

即使這個人手握武器：

他們的父親干了一天的活，

為的是養活他的孩子們；

為了孩子們的面包，

他把家里的東西一件一件地賣了出去。

父親站在門口，

眼神沮喪又低沉；

骨瘦如柴，受著貧窮的折磨，

他抑制住內心所有愉快的念頭。

“這只小羊對我們來說意味著什么？”

他說；“它會讓我們買到食物。

“唉，雖然孩子們每天都哭泣，

他們的頭無力地低垂著，

憂郁地坐著手中的活計，

但是他們要填飽肚子；

那做工掙得的工錢，

是要用來買面包的。”

小羊羔走了。哦，離別真讓人痛苦，

即使是最堅硬的心也會感到痛苦；

但是小孩子們的靈魂充滿了愛，

充滿了強烈的愛，

沒有絲毫矯揉造作的愛，

這愛傾注到每個可愛的生命身上。

這些孩子在小小的年紀

就看到如此悲傷的場景；

最悲傷的莫過于聽孩子們可憐巴巴地

為小羊羔求情：

“哦，親愛的媽媽，小羊愛我們！

除了小羊，我們還有什么呢？”

“讓我們把它帶到遼闊的青山上去吧，”

一個壯實的男孩說道，

他感到無能為力又絕望——

“我們把它帶走吧，

山上又廣闊又漂亮；

我知道有個藏身的小地方，

我們把它放到那里吧。”

哦，但是這是徒勞的！——

他們把小羊帶走了，

并且馬上把它綁了起來；

他們用一條結實的繩子

把小羊緊緊地綁了起來，

穿越那條常走的褐色小路，

穿越那條炎熱又堅硬的小路，

把小羊帶到了城里。

小羊被帶走的當天

以及第二天，

孩子們睹物傷情，

悲傷不已；

他們吃的面包

也染上了悲傷的味道。

—— 瑪麗·豪伊特