LESSON 20

A MOMENT TOO LATE

为时已晚

1．A moment too late, my beautiful bird,

A moment too late are you now;

The wind has your soft, downy nest disturbed—

The nest that you hung on the bough.

2．A moment too late; that string in your bill,

Would have fastened it firmly and strong;

But see, there it goes, rolling over the hill!

Oh, you staid a moment too long.

3．A moment, one moment too late, busy bee;

The honey has dropped from the flower:

No use to creep under the petals and see;

It stood ready to drop for an hour.

4．A moment too late; had you sped on your wing,

The honey would not have been gone;

Now you see what a very, a very sad thing

’T is to stay a moment too long.

5．Little girl, never be a moment too late,

It will soon end in trouble or crime;

Better be an hour early, and stand and wait,

Than a moment behind the time.

6．If the bird and the bee, little boy, were too late,

Remember, as you play along

On your way to school, with pencil and slate,

Never stay a moment too long.

【中文阅读】

1．仅只迟了一点，我漂亮的小鸟，

你只是晚了那么一点点，

你悬挂在树枝上柔软温暖的巢，

已被风吹毁不见。

2．只是迟了一点点，你嘴上的绳线，

本来可以把巢紧紧绑牢；

可是你看，它已滚落到山那边！

噢，你逗留的时间短一点点多好。

3．一点点，忙碌的蜜蜂就迟了一点点，

花朵上的蜜已经滴落在地；

现在再也不必爬到花瓣下察看，

它在那儿摇摇欲坠足有一小时。

4．只是迟了一点点，如果快点扇动翅膀，

蜂蜜就不会消失；

你看这事多么令人伤心，

哪怕它再多停留一下子。

5．小宝贝，千万不要迟到，哪怕一点点，

瞬间也会招致恶果或麻烦；

宁可提早一小时站立等候，

胜过落后迟到一点点。

6．小男孩，如果小鸟和蜜蜂为时太晚，

记住，当你在上学途中玩耍流连，

带着你的铅笔和小石板

千万不要停留太久，哪怕只是一点点。