精美英文欣赏:Hope is the thing with feathers希望长着翅

Hope is the thing with feathers

——Emily Dickinson

 

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches¹ in the soul

And sing the tune² without the words

And never stops at all

And sweetest in the gale³ is heard

And sore must be the storm

That could abashed⁴ the little bird

That kept so many warm

I've heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest sea

Yet, never, in extremity⁵

It asked  a crumb⁶ of me
希望长着翅膀

希望是长着翅膀的鸟儿，

栖居在人们的灵魂之中，

吟唱着没有歌词的曲调，

永无止息。

在风暴中它的歌声最为甜美；

风暴必然会带来痛苦，

风暴会令小鸟窘困惊慌，

它却留给我们如斯温暖。

我已在最荒寒的陆地上，

听到过经的歌唱，

也在最陌生的海洋中听到，

但它纵然身处绝境，

也不向我索取分毫。
 

1 perches   

栖息处( perch的名词复数 )； 栖枝； 高处； 鲈鱼

参考例句：

• Other protection can be obtained by providing wooden perches througout the orchards. 其它保护措施是可在种子园中到处设置木制的栖木。
• The birds were hopping about on their perches and twittering. 鸟儿在栖木上跳来跳去，吱吱地叫着。

2 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

3 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

4 abashed   

adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He glanced at Juliet accusingly and she looked suitably abashed. 他怪罪的一瞥，朱丽叶自然显得很窘。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The girl was abashed by the laughter of her classmates. 那小姑娘因同学的哄笑而局促不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 extremity   

n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度

参考例句：

• I hope you will help them in their extremity.我希望你能帮助在穷途末路的他们。
• What shall we do in this extremity?在这种极其困难的情况下我们该怎么办呢？

6 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。