书城外语澳大利亚学生文学读本(第2册)
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第9章 THE WONDERful WORlD

Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world, With the wonderful water round you curled, And the wonderful grass upon your breast- World, you are beautifully drest.

The wonderful air is over me,

And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree; It walks on the water, and whirls the mills, And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.

You friendly earth, how far do you go,

With the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow with cities and gardens, and cliffs and isles,And people upon you for thousands of miles?

Ah, you are so great, and I am so small, I can hardly think of you, world, at all; And yet, when I said my prayers to-day, A whisper within me seemed to say:-"You are more than the earth, though you"re such a dot: You can love and think, and the earth cannot."-William Brighty Rands

Author.-William Brighty Rands was an English poet and essayist, who was born in 1823; he died in 1882. He wrote a charming prose book called Lilliput Legends, as well as many short poems. He wrote chiefly for children, and all his thoughts are wise and good.

General Notes.-How is the world dressed? Why is the air wonderful?

Why is the wind wonderful? What other things are on the earth"s surface besides those mentioned? Why is a boy more than the earth?