河流

Kenneth Grahame

作者簡(jiǎn)介：肯尼思·格雷厄姆（Kenneth Grahame），1859年生于愛(ài)丁堡。他就職于英格蘭銀行多年，同時(shí)也是一名作家。他喜歡自然和文學(xué)，業(yè)余研究動(dòng)物和寫(xiě)作，很早就是一位很有名氣的作家。在他的兒子6歲時(shí)，他為兒子編講故事，兒子聽(tīng)得入了迷，暑假也不肯到外地去過(guò)，他只好答應(yīng)用寫(xiě)信的方式把故事繼續(xù)寫(xiě)給他看。1907年他寫(xiě)給兒子的一扎信，就是《柳林風(fēng)聲》（The Wind in the Willows）的基礎(chǔ)?！读诛L(fēng)聲》于1908年出版，成為著名的兒童讀物之一，被譽(yù)為英國(guó)散文體作品的典范。

作品簡(jiǎn)介：《柳林風(fēng)聲》是以動(dòng)物為主角的童話(huà)，文筆典雅，描寫(xiě)細(xì)致，富含哲理。本書(shū)塑造了幾個(gè)可愛(ài)的動(dòng)物形象：膽小怕事但又生性喜歡冒險(xiǎn)的鼴鼠，熱情好客、充滿(mǎn)浪漫情趣的水鼠，俠義十足、具有領(lǐng)袖風(fēng)范的老獾，喜歡吹牛、炫耀、追求時(shí)髦的蛤蟆，敦厚老實(shí)的水獺——它們生活在河岸或大森林里，有樂(lè)同享，有難同當(dāng)。本文節(jié)選自《柳林風(fēng)聲》第一章，節(jié)選時(shí)有刪改。第一章“河流”始于萬(wàn)物勃生的春季：鼴鼠在春日情懷的感召下奮力爬出黑暗的地下居所，置身于充滿(mǎn)勃勃生機(jī)的河岸地帶。很快，鼴鼠與居住在河岸洞穴中的水鼠一見(jiàn)如故，成了朋友……

The Mole worked very hard all morning，cleaning his little home. He cleanedand he cleaned， until his arms and hisback ached with tiredness.

It was springtime， and the smell andthe sound of spring were everywhere， evenin the Moles dark little house under theground. And with the spring comes thepromise of change， of sunshine and of newgreen leaves. So it was not surprising that and said，“?Oh bother！ I‘m tired of cleaning！”Something up above the ground wascalling to him， and he ran out of his houseand began to dig his way upwards to thesun.

He dug and he pushed， and hepushed and he dug.“?Up we go！ Up we go！”he said to himself， until at last his nosecame out into the sunlight， and he foundhimself in the warm grass of a field.

“This is fine！”?said the Mole.“?This isbetter than cleaning！”?The sunshine waswarm on his back and the air was filledwith the songs of birds. He gave a littlejump for happiness， shook himself， andthen began to cross the field towards sometrees. Here and there he went， through thefields and the woods， looking， smelling andlistening. Everywhere animals and birdswere busy， talking and laughing， lookingfor food and making new homes for thespring. The Mole enjoyed it all.

Then， suddenly， he came to a river.He had never seen a river before in hislife—this wonderful bright shining thing，which danced its way in and out of theshadows under the trees. It was never stillfor a minute， hurrying， laughing and talkingto itself.

And at once， the Mole was in lovewith it. He walked along the river bank，listening and watching all the time. At last，he sat down on the grass and looked acrossthe river to the bank opposite. There was adark hole in the bank， and the Molewatched it dreamily， thinking that it wouldbe very pleasant to have a little house bythe river. As he watched， he saw somethingshining in the hole. Soon he saw thatit was an eye， and then a face appeared aswell—a brown little face， with whiskers，bright eyes， small ears and thick shiny hair.

It was the Water Rat！ Then the twoanimals stood up and looked at each other.

“Hello， Mole！”?said the Water Rat.

“Hello， Rat！”?said the Mole.

“Would you like to come over？”asked the Rat.

“Oh， its easy to talk，”?said the Mole， a little crossly. The river was new to himand he did not know how to get to the otherside.

The Rat said nothing， and disappeared.Then he appeared again， in a littleblue and white boat， which came quicklyacross the river towards the Mole. Itstopped by the bank， and a moment laterthe Mole， to his great surprise and excitement，found himself actually sitting in areal boat.

“Do you know，”?he said， as the Ratbegan to row away from the bank， “I‘venever been in a boat before in all my life.”

“What？”?cried the Rat.“?My dear fellow，you haven‘t lived！ Believe me，”?hewent on seriously， “there is nothing—really nothing—nicer than just messingabout in boats. You can go up river， downriver and stay where you are. It reallydoesnt matter. Theres always something todo， but you don‘t have to do it if you don‘twant to. You can do what you like. Lookhere！ If youe not busy today， why dont wespend the day on the river together？”

The Mole had listened to all this withgreat interest. Now he sat back in the comfortableseat and said，“?What a wonderfulday this is！ Let‘s start at once！”

But first， the Rat went into his hole，and after a while came out carrying a verylarge and heavy lunch basket. This wentinto the boat， under the Moles feet， andthen the Rat began to row down river. Thetwo friends talked from time to time， butmostly the Mole just watched the riverdreamily， enjoying the sounds and thesmells and the sunlight.

ReadingCheck

1. The Mole worked hard all morningcleaning his little home. What motivatedhim to stop cleaning suddenly？

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2. How did the Mole feel about thesunshine？

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3.Which sentence describes the riverand touches you most？

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4. What do you think of the Mole‘sjourney in the boat？

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