LESSON 54

THE WAVES

海　浪

1．"Where are we to go?" said the little waves to the great, deep sea.

"Go, my darlings, to the yellow sands: you will find work to do there."

2．"I want to play," said one little wave; "I want to see who can jump the highest."

"No; come on, come on," said an earnest wave; "mother must be right. I want to work."

3．"Oh, I dare not go," said another; "look at those great, black rocks close to the sands; I dare not go there, for they will tear me to pieces."

4．"Take my hand, sister," said the earnest wave; "let us go on together. How glorious it is to do some work."

5．"Shall we ever go back to mother?" "Yes, when our work is done."

6．So one and all hurried on. Even the little wave that wanted to play, pressed^〔1〕 on, and thought that work might be fun after all. The timid^〔2〕 ones did not like to be left behind, and they became earnest as they got nearer the sands.

7．After all, it was fun, pressing on one after another—jumping, laughing, running on to the broad, shining sands.

8．First, they came in their course to a great sand castle. Splash, splash! they all went over it, and down it came. "Oh, what fun!" they cried.

9．"Mother told me to bring these seaweeds; I will find a pretty place for them," said one—and she ran a long way over the sands, and left them among the pebbles. The pebbles cried, "We are glad you are come. We wanted washing."

10．"Mother sent these shells; I don't know where to put them," said a little fretful^〔3〕 wave. "Lay them one by one on the sand, and do not break them," said the eldest^〔4〕 wave.

11．And the little one went about its work, and learned to be quiet and gentle, for fear of breaking the shells.

12．"Where is my work?" said a great, full-grown wave. "This is mere play. The little ones can do this and laugh over it. Mother said there was work for me." And he came down upon some large rocks.

13．Over the rocks and into a pool he went, and he heard the fishes say, "The sea is coming. Thank you, great sea; you always send a big wave when a storm is nigh. Thank you, kind wave; we are all ready for you now."

14．Then the waves all went back over the wet sands, slowly and carelessly, for they were tired.

15．"All my shells are safe," said one.

16．And, "My seaweeds are left behind," said another.

17．"I washed all of the pebbles," said a third.

18．"And I—I only broke on a rock, and splashed into a pool," said the one that was so eager to work. "I have done no good, mother—no work at all."

19．"Hush!" said the sea. And they heard a child that was walking on the shore, say, "O mother, the sea has been here! Look, how nice and clean the sand is, and how clear the water is in that pool."

20．Then the sea, said, "Hark!" and far away they heard the deep moaning^〔5〕 of the coming storm.

21．"Come, my darlings," said she; "you have done your work, now let the storm do its work."

【中文阅读】

1．“我们要去哪里？”小海浪们对伟大而深沉的海说。

“去吧……亲爱的，去那黄色的沙滩，你们会在那里找到可以做的事情的。”

2．“我想玩耍，”其中一朵小海浪说，“我想看看谁能跳得最高。”

“不，来吧，来吧，”一朵充满干劲的海浪说，“母亲一定是对的。我想要做些事情。”

3．“噢，我不敢去，”另外一朵说，“看那些靠近沙滩的巨大的、黑黑的岩石，我不敢到那里去，因为他们会把我撕成碎片的。”

4．“拉着我的手，妹妹，”充满干劲的海浪说，“我们一起去。有所作为是多么光荣！”

5．“我们还能回到妈妈身边吗？”“会的，当我们完成任务之后。”

6．于是所有海浪都赶紧前往。甚至那朵只想玩耍的小海浪也紧随而去，心想任务也许终究是有趣的。胆小的那些不愿意被甩在后面，于是在更接近沙滩的时候，他们变得充满干劲。

7．毕竟，那是有趣的，一个紧跟着一个——跳跃、欢笑、奔跑，向着宽阔、闪闪发光的沙滩进发。

8．在前进的道路上，他们首先奔向一座了不起的城堡。飞溅，飞溅！他们全都越过了城堡，城堡坍塌了。“噢，多好玩！”他们喊叫着。

9．“母亲叫我把这些海藻带来，我会为他们找个好地方的。”一朵海浪说，她在沙滩上跑了很长的路，把海藻留在了卵石之间。卵石们呼喊道：“我们很高兴你们来了。我们需要清洁。”

10．“母亲让我们送这些贝壳，我不知道该把他们放哪里。”一朵焦躁的小海浪说。“把他们一个个放在沙滩上，不要打碎他们。”最前面的海浪告诉她。

11．小的那朵带着她的任务去了，学着安静而温柔地行动，生怕打碎了那些贝壳。

12．“我的任务在哪里？”一朵巨大的、成长完全的海浪问。“我现在这样只是玩。那些小的海浪都可以做这个事情并且一笑了之。母亲说有任务专门给‘我’的。”说着他落到一些巨大的岩石上。

13．他越过岩石，来到了一个池子里，这时他听到鱼儿说：“海水来了。谢谢你，伟大的海。每当暴风雨临近的时候，你总是送来一个巨浪。谢谢，仁慈的海浪；现在我们全都准备好了，迎接你的到来。”

14．之后，所有海浪都越过潮湿的沙滩往回走，他们走得很慢，漫不经心，因为他们都累了。

15．“我所有的贝壳都安然无恙。”一个说。

16．“还有我的海藻也留在那里了。”另一个说。

17．“我清洗了所有的卵石。”第三个说。

18．“而我——我只是撞击到一块岩石上，然后溅落到一个池子里，”那朵最急于要有所作为的浪花说，“我没有做好，母亲——我没有完成任何任务。”

19．“嘘！”大海示意。他们听见一个在岸边走着的孩子说：“噢，妈妈，海水来过这里！看，沙滩多干净多好，还有那个池子里的水多么清澈！”

20．然后，大海又说：“听！”他们听到遥远的地方传来即将到来的暴风雨低沉的呻吟。

21．“来吧，我亲爱的孩子们，”她说，“你们已经完成了你们的任务，现在让暴风雨来做他的工作吧。”

注释

〔1〕Pressed, pushed, followed closely.

〔2〕Timid, wanting courage, not bold.

〔3〕Fretful, cross, peevish.

〔4〕Eldest, first, foremost.

〔5〕Moaning, making a low, dull sound, muttering.