散文：忠诚的朋友Part 4

【英文原文】  

  "Little Hans had a great many friends, but the most devoted¹ friend of all was big Hugh the Miller². Indeed, so devoted was the rich Miller to little Hans, that be would never go by his garden without leaning over the wall and plucking⁴ a large nosegay, or a handful of sweet herbs, or filling his pockets with plums and cherries if it was the fruit season.

  "'Real friends should have everything in common,' the Miller used to say, and little Hans nodded and smiled, and felt very proud of having a friend with such noble ideas.

  "Sometimes, indeed, the neighbours thought it strange that the rich Miller never gave little Hans anything in return, though he had a hundred sacks of flour stored away in his mill, and six milch cows, and a large flock⁵ of woolly sheep; but Hans never troubled his head about these things, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to listen to all the wonderful things the Miller used to say about the unselfishness of true friendship.

  "So little Hans worked away in his garden. During the spring, the summer, and the autumn he was very happy, but when the winter came, and he had no fruit or flowers to bring to the market, he suffered a good deal from cold and hunger, and often had to go to bed without any supper but a few dried pears or some hard nuts. In the winter, also, he was extremely lonely, as the Miller never came to see him then.

 

【词汇简析】

go by 经过

lean over 趴在

pluck³ v. 采

1 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

2 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

3 pluck   

v.摘，拔（毛）拨，弹奏，拉；n.勇气，决心

参考例句：

• He is full of pluck.他很有勇气。
• With a few pluck at the string of his banjo,everybody is singing along.他拨了拨班卓琴的琴弦，每个人就都跟著唱了起了。

4 plucking   

（水果，茶叶等）采摘

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar. 他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• The Country Mouse was sitting under a hazel thicket plucking nuts. 乡鼠正坐在榛树丛下摘硬果。

5 flock   

n.羊群，一群，大量；vi.群集，聚集，成群

参考例句：

• A flock of customers were waiting for the store to open.一群顾客在等候着商店开门。
• A few sheep have been lost from the flock.羊群里少了几只羊。