chapter 1

Summary

 我们都渴望平凡生活里的爱和精神世界里的美，而当这二者被毁灭，人的心灵又将承受怎样的痛苦呢？

The Nightingale and the Rose

窗体顶端

窗体底端

From The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888)

"She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses," cried the young Student; "but in all my garden there is no red rose."

From her nest in the holm-oak tree（圣栎树） the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.

"No red rose in all my garden!" he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. "Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose my life is made wretched."

"Here at last is a true lover," said the Nightingale. "Night after night have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night I told his story to the stars, and now I see him.

His hair is dark as the hyacinth-blossom（风信子花）, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire; but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal upon his brow."

"The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night," murmured the young Student, "and my love will be of the company. If I bring her a red rose she will dance with me till dawn.

If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in my arms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and her hand will be clasped in me. But there is no red rose in my garden, so I shall sit lonely, and she will pass me by. She will not notice me, and my heart will break."

"Here indeed is the true lover," said the Nightingale. "What I sing of, he suffers - what is joy to me, to him is pain. Surely Love is a wonderful thing.

It is more precious than emeralds（祖母绿）, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates（石榴） cannot buy it, nor is it found in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold."

"The musicians will sit in their gallery," said the young Student, "and play upon their stringed（弦） instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin.

She will dance so lightly that her feet will not touch the floor. But with me she will not dance, for I have no red rose to give her"; and he flung himself down on the grass, and buried his face in his hands, and wept.

"Why is he weeping?" asked a little Green Lizard, as he ran past him with his tail in the air.

"Why, indeed?" said a Butterfly, who was fluttering about after a sunbeam.

"Why, indeed?" whispered a Daisy to his neighbour, in a soft, low voice.

"He is weeping for a red rose," said the Nightingale.

"For a red rose?" they cried; "how very ridiculous!" and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic , laughed outright.

But the Nightingale understood the secret of the Student's sorrow, and she sat silent in the oak-tree, and thought about the mystery of Love.

Suddenly she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared into the air. She passed through the grove like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed across the garden.

In the centre of the grass-plot was standing a beautiful Rose-tree, and when she saw it she flew over to it, and lit upon a spray.

"Give me a red rose," she cried, "and I will sing you my sweetest song."

"My roses are white," it answered; "as white as the foam of the sea, and whiter than the snow upon the mountain. But go to my brother who grows round the old sun-dial（日晷）, and perhaps he will give you what you want."

So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing round the old sun-dial.

"Give me a red rose," she cried, "and I will sing you my sweetest song."

"My roses are yellow," it answered; "as yellow as the hair of the mermaiden（美人鱼） who sits upon an amber throne, and yellower than the daffodil（黄水仙） that blooms in the meadow before the mower comes with his scythe.

Go to my brother who grows beneath the Student's window, and perhaps he will give you what you want."

So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing beneath the Student's window.

770 words

今日短语

1. lean…upon依靠；依赖

2. weigh…out称出...的重量

3. have heed of留意

3. flutter about拍翅膀

4. soar into翱翔

5. set forth启程；展示

6. sail across 横渡

备注：本专辑为知米阅读提升营配套音频，方便学员循环收听。

对英文原著学习的小伙伴可以关注我们的微信公众号【知米阅读】，加入我们的学习军团，和上万名小伙伴一起阅读英文原著。100天读3-4本英文原著，思想和英语同时进步！