河流

Kenneth Grahame

作者簡介：肯尼思·格雷厄姆（Kenneth Grahame），1859年生于爱丁堡。他就职于英格兰银行多年，同时也是一名作家。他喜欢自然和文学，业余研究动物和写作，很早就是一位很有名气的作家。在他的儿子6岁时，他为儿子编讲故事，儿子听得入了迷，暑假也不肯到外地去过，他只好答应用写信的方式把故事继续写给他看。1907年他写给儿子的一扎信，就是《柳林风声》（The Wind in the Willows）的基础。《柳林风声》于1908年出版，成为著名的儿童读物之一，被誉为英国散文体作品的典范。

作品简介：《柳林风声》是以动物为主角的童话，文笔典雅，描写细致，富含哲理。本书塑造了几个可爱的动物形象：胆小怕事但又生性喜欢冒险的鼹鼠，热情好客、充满浪漫情趣的水鼠，侠义十足、具有领袖风范的老獾，喜欢吹牛、炫耀、追求时髦的蛤蟆，敦厚老实的水獭——它们生活在河岸或大森林里，有乐同享，有难同当。本文节选自《柳林风声》第一章，节选时有删改。第一章“河流”始于万物勃生的春季：鼹鼠在春日情怀的感召下奋力爬出黑暗的地下居所，置身于充满勃勃生机的河岸地带。很快，鼹鼠与居住在河岸洞穴中的水鼠一见如故，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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