Hope Is the Thing with Feathers

Hope is the thing with feathers

Hope" is the thing with feathers—

That perches¹ in the soul—

And sings the tune² without the words—

And never stops—at all—

And sweetest — in the Gale— is heart—

And sore must be the storm—

That could abash³ the little bird—

That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chilliest⁴ land—

And on the strangest Sea—

Yet, never, in Extremity⁵,

It asked a crumb⁶ — of me.

------Emily Dickinson

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 abash   

v.使窘迫，使局促不安

参考例句：

• Nothing could abash him.没有什么可以使他感到难堪。
• When the child see all the room fille with strangers,he is much abash.那小孩一看到满屋子都是陌生人，感到非常局促不安。

4 chilliest   

adj.寒冷的，冷得难受的( chilly的最高级 )

参考例句：

• Relations between the girl and her parents dipped to their chilliest. 那女孩与她父母的关系降到最冷点。 来自互联网

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。