英语诗歌:The Trees Are Down

Charlotte Mew (1869 - 1928)

They are cutting down the great plane-trees at the end of the gardens.

For days there has been the grate of the saw, the swish of the branches as they fall, The crash of the trunks, the rustle¹ of trodden leaves,

With the 'Whoops²' and the 'Whoas', the loud common talk, the loud common laughs of the men, above it all.

I remember one evening of a long past Spring Turning in at a gate, getting out of a cart, and finding a large dead rat in the mud of the drive.

I remember thinking: alive or dead, a rat was a god-forsaken thing, But at least, in May, that even a rat should be alive.

The week's work here is as good as done. There is just one bough³ On the roped bole, in the fine rain, Green and high  And lonely against the sky.

(Down now!-) and but for that, If an old dead rat Did once, for a moment, unmake the Spring. I might never have thought of him again.

It is not for a moment the Spring is unmade to-day;

These were great trees, it was in them from root to stem:

When the men with the 'Whoops' and the 'Whoas' have carted the whole of the whispering loveliness away Half the Spring, for me, will have gone with them.

It is going now, and my heart has been struck with the hearts of the planes;

Half my life it has beat with these, in the sun, in the rains, In the March wind, the May breeze, In the great gales⁴ that came over to them across the roofs from the great seas.

There was only a quiet rain when they were dying;

They must have heard the sparrows flying, And the small creeping creatures in the earth where they were lying - But I, all day, I heard an angel crying:

'Hurt not the trees'.

 

1 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

2 whoops   

int.呼喊声

参考例句：

• Whoops! Careful, you almost spilt coffee everywhere. 哎哟！小心点，你差点把咖啡洒得到处都是。
• We were awakened by the whoops of the sick baby. 生病婴儿的喘息声把我们弄醒了。

3 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

4 gales   

龙猫

参考例句：

• I could hear gales of laughter coming from downstairs. 我能听到来自楼下的阵阵笑声。
• This was greeted with gales of laughter from the audience. 观众对此报以阵阵笑声。