LESSON 41

RAY AND HIS KITE

芮和他的风筝

1．Ray was thought to be an odd boy. You will think him so, too, when you have read this story.

2．Ray liked well enough to play with the boys at school; yet he liked better to be alone under the shade of some tree, reading a fairy tale or dreaming daydreams^〔1〕. But there was one sport that he liked as well as his companions^〔2〕; that was kiteflying.

3．One day when he was flying his kite, he said to himself, "I wonder if anybody ever tried to fly a kite at night. It seems to me it would be nice. But then, if it were very dark, the kite could not be seen. What if I should fasten a light to it, though? That would make it show. I'll try it this very night."

4．As soon as it was dark, without saying a word to anybody, he took his kite and lantern, and went to a large, open lot, about a quarter of a mile from his home. "Well," thought he, "this is queer. How lonely and still it seems without any other boys around! But I am going to fly my kite, anyway."

5．So he tied the lantern, which was made of tin punched full of small holes, to the tail of his kite. Then he pitched the kite, and, after several attempts^〔3〕, succeeded in making it rise. Up it went, higher and higher, as Ray let out the string. When the string was all unwound, he tied it to a fence; and then he stood and gazed at his kite as it floated high up in the air.

6．While Ray was enjoying his sport, some people who were out on the street in the village, saw a strange light in the sky. They gathered in groups^〔4〕 to watch it. Now it was still for a few seconds, then it seemed to be jumping up and down; then it made long sweeps^〔5〕 back and forth through the air.

7．"What can it be?" said one person. "How strange!"said another. "It can not be a comet^〔6〕; for comets have tails,"said a third. "Perhaps it's a big firefly," said another.

8．At last some of the men determined^〔7〕 to find out what this strange light was—whether it was a hobgoblin^〔8〕 dancing in the air, or something dropped from the sky. So off they started to get as near it as they could.

9．While this was taking place, Ray, who had got tired of standing, was seated in a fence corner, behind a tree. He could see the men as they approached; but they did not see him.

10．When they were directly under the light, and saw what it was, they looked at each other, laughing, and said, "This is some boy's trick; and it has fooled us nicely. Let us keep the secret, and have our share of the joke."

11．Then they laughed again, and went back to the village; and some of the simple people there have not yet found out what that strange light was.

12．When the men had gone, Ray thought it was time for him to go; so he wound up his string, picked up his kite and lantern, and went home. His mother had been wondering what had become of him.

13．When she heard what he had been doing, she hardly knew whether to laugh or scold; but I think she laughed, and told him that it was time for him to go to bed.

【中文阅读】

1．芮被公认为是一个奇怪的小男孩。当你看到这个故事时，也会这么认为的。

2．芮很喜欢和其他的男孩子在学校里玩耍；但是，他更喜欢独自坐在树下的阴凉处，看神话故事或者做白日梦。不过，有一项体育活动让他和其他的小伙伴一样着迷，那就是放风筝。

3．有一天，当他正在放风筝时，自言自语地说：“我很奇怪，有人在晚上放风筝吗。在我看来，这样做可能很有趣。但是，如果天特别黑的话，又怎么能看到风筝呢。如果我在风筝上加一盏灯，又会怎样呢？这样就能让人看到它了。我想在今天晚上试一试。”

4．等天黑下来后，他对谁也没有说，径自拿着风筝和灯笼来到了一片开阔、空旷的地里，那里离他家只有四分之一英里远。他心里想：“好吧，这样做的确有点奇怪。周围没有其他小朋友，看上去是很孤独和寂寞！但是，无论如何，我要开始放飞自己的风筝了。”

5．于是，他把一个满是小孔的锡制灯笼系在风筝的尾巴上。接着，他掷出了风筝，经过几次努力，他才成功地使风筝升起来。芮松开了线绳，风筝不断地上升，越来越高。当所有的线绳都被松开后，他将风筝线绑在一个栅栏上，然后站在那里盯着自己的风筝看，而那风筝就在空中飘浮着。

6．就在芮正享受着自己的游戏时，村子里一些在街上行走的人看见了空中奇怪的灯光。他们聚集到一起，抬头望着天空。这才刚刚放飞了几秒钟，它好像还在上下乱窜，一会儿又开始前前后后地飘忽不定。

7．“那是什么东西呀？”其中一个人说。“多么奇怪呀！”另一个人说。“它不可能是彗星，因为彗星都有长长的尾巴，”第三个人说。“或许，它是一只大萤火虫。”又传来另外一个人的声音。

8．最后，其中几个人决定要去探个究竟，到底这个灯光是什么怪物——到底是妖怪在空中乱舞呢，还是从天上掉下来的什么东西。于是，他们开始尽可能地慢慢靠近那个灯光。

9．就在人们猜测时，一直站在那里的芮感到有些疲惫，便在栅栏旁的角落里坐了下来，背靠着一棵大树。当那些人慢慢走过来时，他能看到了人们，但是人们却看不到他。

10．当人们径直走到灯光下，看清楚了它的本来面目时，互相看看，都笑了起来，有人说：“这不过是孩子们的鬼把戏；却愚弄了我们。大家都保守这个秘密，和他们一起开这个玩笑吧。”

11．然后，他们又笑了起来，纷纷走回村子里；有一些头脑简单的人却还没有发现这个奇怪的光到底是什么东西。

12．人们离开后，芮也觉着是时候该回家了；于是，他收紧了风筝线，捡起风筝和灯笼回家了。妈妈也正在纳闷，他究竟去干什么了。

13．当她听完芮的描述，都不知道应该笑他还是该骂他了；但是，我认为她笑了，而且还会告诉芮应该去睡觉了。

注释

〔1〕Daydreams, vain fancies.

〔2〕Companions, playmates. friends.

〔3〕Attempts, trials, efforts.

〔4〕Groups, several together, small assemblages.

〔5〕Sweeps, rapid movements in the line of a curve.

〔6〕Comet, a brilliant heavenly body with a long, fiery tail.

〔7〕Determined, concluded, resolved.

〔8〕Hobgoblin, an ugly fairy or imp.