(原版)澳大利亚语文第三册 LESSON 71
LESSON 71 MEDDLESOME MATTY
MEDDLESOME MATTY
1. Oh, how one ugly trick has spoiled
The sweetest and the best!
Matilda, though a pleasant child,
One ugly trick possessed,
Which, like a cloud before the skies,
Hid all her better qualities.
2. Sometimes she'd lift the tea-pot lid,
To peep at what was in it;
Or tilt the kettle, if you did
But turn your back a minute.
In vain you told her not to touch,
Her trick of meddling [1] grew so much.
3. Her grandmamma went out one day,
And by mistake she laid
Her spectacles and snuff [2] -box gay
Too near the little maid;
Ah, well, thought she, "I'll try them on
As soon as grandmamma is gone."
4. Forthwith she placed upon her nose
The glasses large and wide;
And looking round, as I suppose,
The snuff-box too she spied:
Oh, what a pretty box is this! I'll open it, said little Miss.
5. "I know that grandmamma would say,
Don't meddle with it, dear';
But then she's far enough away,
And no one else is near;
Besides, what can there be amiss
In opening such a box as this?"
6. So thumb and finger went to work
To move the stubborn [3] lid;
And presently a mighty jerk
The mighty mischief did;
For all at once, ah, woful case!
The snuff came puffing in her face.
7. Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, and chin,
A dismal [4] sight presented;
And as the snuff got further in,
Sincerely [5] she repented [6] .
In vain she ran about for ease—
She could do nothing else but sneeze!
8. She dashed the spectacles away,
To wipe her tingling eyes;
And as in twenty bits they lay,
Her grandmamma she spies.
Hey day! and what's the matter now?
Cried grandmamma with lifted brow.
9. Matilda, smarting with the pain,
And tingling still, and sore,
Made many a promise to refrain
From meddling evermore.
And 'tis a fact, as I have heard,
She ever since has kept her word.
—MRS . GILBERT
* * *
[1] meddling: Interfering; touching things that do not concern you.
[2] snuff: A powder taken up through the nose.
[3] stubborn: Not to be moved or persuaded.
[4] dismal: Dark, sad, mournful.
[5] sincerely: Truly, honestly.
[6] repented: Was sorry.
