名篇背诵：The Crickets' Song of Summer's Ending 蟋蟀夏末挽歌

The Crickets' Song of Summer's Ending 蟋蟀夏末挽歌

E. B. 怀特(E. B. White)

The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer's ending, a sad,monotonous song. “Summer is over and gone,”they sang. “Over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.”

The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year — the days when summer is changing into fall — the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.

Everybody heard the song of the crickets. Avery and Fern Arable heard it as they walked the dusty road. They knew that school would soon begin again.The young geese heard it and knew that they would never be little goslings again.Charlotte heard it and knew that she hadn't much time left. Mrs. Zuckerman, at work in the kitchen, heard the crickets, and a sadness came over her, too. “Another summer gone,”she sighed. Lurvy, at work building a crate for Wilbur, heard the song and knew it was time to dig potatoes.

“Summer is over and gone,”repeated the crickets. “How many nights till frost?” sang the crickets. “Goodbye, summer, good-bye, good-bye!”

The sheep heard the crickets, and they felt so uneasy they broke a hole in the pasture fence and wandered up into the field across the road. The gander discovered the hole and led his family through, and they walked to the orchard and ate the apples that were lying on the ground. A little maple tree in the swamp heard the cricket song and turned bright red with anxiety.

- monotonous [məˈnɒtənəs] a. 乏味的；单调的

- gosling [ˈgɒzlɪŋ] n. 小鹅

- wander [ˈwændə] vi. 漫步

- swamp [swɒmp] n. 沼泽地

蟋蟀在草丛里唱歌，唱的是夏末的挽歌，一首哀伤而单调的歌。“夏日完了，一去不返了，”他们唱着，“完了，去了；完了，去了。夏日去了，夏日去了。”

蟋蟀感到自己有责任提醒大家夏日不能长久。即使是在整个一年中最美好的日子里——夏末秋初的日子里——蟋蟀也在撒布哀伤和无常的谣言。

谁都听到了蟋蟀的歌声。艾弗里和费恩·阿拉伯在尘土飞扬的路上走着，听到了蟋蟀叫，知道新学期又要开始了。小鹅听了蟋蟀叫很高兴，人家不会再叫自己小傻鹅了。夏洛特听了蟋蟀叫，有同感：属于自己的时间不多了。朱克曼太太正在厨房里忙着做饭，听了蟋蟀叫也悲伤，惋惜岁月如梭。“又一个夏天过去了，”她叹口气说。卢尔韦先生在为威尔伯编柳条箱，听了蟋蟀叫，知道干活挖土豆的日子到了。“夏日走了，夏日走了，”蟋蟀还在叫个不停。“霜降前还有多少夜？”蟋蟀唱着。“夏日再见，夏日再见！”绵羊嫌吵闹，把牧场篱笆顶了个洞，穿过马路，进入田野，寻求安静。公鹅听了蟋蟀叫，发现羊顶开的洞，领着全家穿越而过，到果园尽情享用落地的苹果。

E. B. 怀特（E. B. White），美国作家，以其儿童文学、散文和杂文而闻名。他最著名的作品包括《夏洛的网》（Charlotte's Web）和《斯图尔特小鼠》（Stuart Little）。