讀點(diǎn)好英文:The Chimney Sweeper 掃煙囪的小男孩

The Chimney Sweeper 掃煙囪的小男孩

William Blake

When my mother died I was very young，

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry“‘weep！weep！weep！weep！”

So your chimney I sweep，&in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre who cried when his head

That curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd, so I said，

“Hush, Tom！never mind it, for when our head's bare，

You know that the soot cannot spoiI your white hair.”

And so he was quiet，&that very night，

As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight！

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned，&Jack，

Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black；

And by came an angel who had a bright key，

And he open'd the coffins&set them all free；

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run

And wash in a river, and shine in the sun；

Then naked&white, all their bags left behind，

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind，

And the angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy，

He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke；and we rose in the dark，

And got with our bags&our brushes to work.

Tho'the morning was cold, Tom was happy&warm；

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

掃煙囪的小男孩

威廉·布萊克

我母親死的時(shí)候，我還小，

我父親把我賣給了別人，

我當(dāng)時(shí)還不太喊得清“掃呀，掃呀，”

就這樣白天掃你們的煙囪，晚上在煙灰里睡覺(jué)。

有個(gè)小湯姆，頭發(fā)卷得像羊毛，

剃光的時(shí)候，哭得好傷心，好難受，

我就說(shuō)：“小湯姆，別哭，光了頭，

煙灰就不會(huì)糟蹋你的頭發(fā)了?！?/p>

他平靜了下來(lái)，當(dāng)天夜里，

湯姆睡著了，夢(mèng)見(jiàn)了這樣的景象，

迪克，喬，南德，杰克等千千萬(wàn)萬(wàn)個(gè)掃煙囪小孩

統(tǒng)統(tǒng)被鎖進(jìn)了黑棺材。

后來(lái)來(lái)了個(gè)天使，拿了把金鑰匙，

他打開(kāi)棺材放出了孩子們（真是好天使?。?/p>

他們又跳又笑地來(lái)到了草地上，

洗浴于河水，晾曬于陽(yáng)光。

把工具袋丟下，赤條條的，白白的，

他們升到云端，在風(fēng)中嬉戲；

“只要你做個(gè)好孩子，”天使對(duì)湯姆說(shuō)，

“上帝會(huì)做你的父親，永不缺少歡喜?！?/p>

湯姆于是夢(mèng)醒，我們?cè)诤诎抵衅鸫玻?/p>

拿起工具袋和刷子去干活。

晨風(fēng)雖冷，湯姆自感心歡溫暖；

如果所有人都恪盡職守，就不怕災(zāi)難。

實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升

背景知識(shí)

威廉·布萊克（William Blake），18世紀(jì)末19世紀(jì)初英國(guó)著名的畫(huà)家，英國(guó)文學(xué)史上最復(fù)雜、最有個(gè)性的詩(shī)人之一。布萊克的早期詩(shī)歌以頌揚(yáng)愛(ài)情、向往歡樂(lè)與和諧為主題。他的詩(shī)歌語(yǔ)言質(zhì)樸，形象鮮明，富有音樂(lè)感，充滿瑰麗的想象和奔放的激情。后期詩(shī)作明顯具有神秘主義傾向和宗教色彩，用象征的手法來(lái)表達(dá)深邃的思想。布萊克生活清貧，靠繪畫(huà)和雕刻為生，他那富有個(gè)人靈念與想象力的恢弘詩(shī)篇生前并沒(méi)有得到承認(rèn)。英國(guó)文學(xué)界直到19世紀(jì)末才開(kāi)始意識(shí)到他們?cè)瓉?lái)忽略的的不僅僅是一位頗有造詣的版畫(huà)家，而且還是一位詩(shī)哲。

在很多年以前，男孩們經(jīng)常去掃煙囪。他們得爬到煙囪里面，刮干凈煤煙，然后把它們掃走，這可是一項(xiàng)艱苦的工作，而且對(duì)身體非常有害。這首詩(shī)選自《天真之歌》，進(jìn)一步表明“天真”是超越官能的感官束縛的關(guān)鍵，這樣就賦予天真以深刻的內(nèi)涵。

單詞注解

tongue[t??]說(shuō)話能力；口才

spoiI[sp?il]損壞；糟蹋

coffin['k?fin]棺材，靈柩

名句誦讀

When my mother died l was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry“‘weep！weep！weep！weep！”So your chimney l sweep，&in soot l sleep.

And by came an angel who had a bright key, And he open'd the coffins&set them all free；Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run And wash in a river, and shine in the sun；

And so Tom awoke；and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags&our brushes to work. Tho'the morning was cold, Tom was happy&warm；So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.