100个儿童英语小故事: The Old Street Lamp 老街灯

036 The Old Street Lamp

 

There once was an old street lamp standing¹ on a remote corner of a town. The street lamp was worn out because he stayed up all night for several years to shine in a dark street. That's why he had to be replaced by a new lamp. It was the last night that the street lamp shone over the side street. He was an old kerosene² lamp.

The old street lamp burned himself as hard as he could since he thought it was his last night. "I have seen a lot of things since I stood here." The old street lamp looked back upon what he had seen for a long time. There were pleasant memories, and also sad memories, with those he could hardly keep from tears.

Suddenly the old street lamp sensed that there who were looking up at him. "Mr. Street Lamp, we heard that you will retire from your job." "Please hire me after you." "No, hire me." They were a head of a herring, a tree fragment³ and a firefly. The head of a herring glowed⁴ in the dark, and the tree fragment was bright in the dark when he was wet.

The old street lamp looked down and said, "I am sorry say this, but you both are not bright enough to be a street light." The three were angry about it. "Hum! You, old useless street lamp! You don't have to care about which of us will replace you!" They said this and went back.

The Next day, a janitor⁵ came to clear the old street lamp away. "Oh, I wish I can stay here." No one knew what the old lamp would become if he were broken to pieces. The old street lamp worried about this very much.

There were a good old man and a woman. They were living around the old street lamp. They used to turn on and put out the old street lamp at night and dawn.

The old street lamp happened to go to the old man and woman's house. The old man and woman did not want to live apart from the old street lamp which they used to take care of for a long time, so they asked the janitor to give them the old street lamp. "Whew, I am lucky." The old street lamp felt relieved⁶.

One day, one of their neighbors came and asked." What on earth is the use of this old lamp?" "We've been taking care of this lamp for a long time, so we don't want to throw it away." As the old street lamp was listening to their conversation, he felt his heart aching. "If they light me up, I can be quite helpful for them."

The old woman cleaned the old lamp in her spare time. Then, the old lamp slowly became clean. The lamp felt better. "Ha ha, it looks much better." The old man smiled pleasantly. "Shall we light up this lamp tonight?" "Yes. Let's do that."

The old woman bought a candle. That night, she lit up the clean old street lamp. "Great, I will try to brighten⁷ myself as hard as I can." The old street lamp shone all around him brightly. For the old man and woman who took care of him, he brightened⁸ his iron ornament⁹ glitteringly.

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

3 fragment   

n.碎片，碎块，断片；v.(使)成碎片

参考例句：

• I overheard a fragment of their conversation.我无意中听到他们谈话的片段。
• She dropped the cup on the floor and it broke into fragment.她把杯子扔到了地上，杯子摔成了碎片。

4 glowed   

v.（无焰地）燃烧( glow的过去式和过去分词 )；脸红；尤指热的物体发出微弱而稳定的光；喜形于色

参考例句：

• The embers still glowed in the hearth. 余烬仍在炉膛里发出暗淡的光。
• Red-hot coals glowed in the fire. 炽热的煤炭在炉子里发光。

5 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

6 relieved   

a.如释重负的

参考例句：

• You'll be relieved to know your jobs are safe. 现在知道你们的工作保住了，可以放心了。
• Your coming relieved me of the bother of writing a long letter. 你来了，省去我写长信的麻烦了。

7 brighten   

vt.使发亮，使开颜；vi.发光，发亮，生色

参考例句：

• Brighten the kitchen by painting it yellow.给厨房涂上黄色，使它发亮。
• She has brighten up my whole life.她给我的整个生活带来快乐。

8 brightened   

（使）发亮( brighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）生色； （使）生辉； （使）快乐

参考例句：

• He brightened up when they said he could go with them. 他们说他可以一起去，他就高兴起来。
• The new teacher brightened the life of all his pupils. 新来的老师使全体学生的生活变得活跃起来了。

9 ornament   

v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• The flowers were put on the table for ornament.花放在桌子上做装饰用。
• She wears a crystal ornament on her chest.她的前胸戴了一个水晶饰品。