精美英文欣赏:Mending Wall修篱笆,好篱笆造就好邻居

.... The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us as we go...

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard¹.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones² under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Spring is the mischief³ in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it 

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offense⁴?

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That wants it down.’....

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father’s saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, Good fences make good neighbors.

……篱笆间的这些缝隙，

决非某个人刻意为之：

可春天一到满眼都是。

对山那边的邻居我道起此事；

某一天我们相遇在篱笆边，

边走边扶起彼此间的篱笆

其实根本就用不着它：

他那边是松树我单种苹果

我的苹果决不会伸手

去吃他树下的松果。

只听他说：“好篱笆造就好邻居”。

春天总让我受伤，我真想真想向他灌输一观念：

“好篱笆怎么造就好邻居？”

有奶牛才有篱笆：这儿没有牛。

修篱笆前我一定要问：

篱笆保了什么又防了啥？

我修篱笆要防谁？

有人偏不爱篱笆，

倒想拆除它……

仿佛他走在黑夜里，

不是林间树荫下！

他不愿抛弃父辈的训话，

反而恭敬有加，继续说：

“好篱笆造就好邻居”。

1 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

2 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

3 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

4 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。