第7章 Popping Corn 爆米花

One autumn night, when the wind was high,

And the rain fell in heavy plashes,

A little boy sat by the kitchen fire,

A-popping corn in the ashes;

And his sister, a curly-haired child of three,

Sat looking on, just close to his knee.

Pop! pop! and the kernels, one by one,

Came out of the embers flying;

The boy held a long pine stick in his hand,

And kept it busily plying;

He stirred the corn and it snapped the more,

And faster jumped to the clean-swept floor.

Part of the kernels flew one way,

And a part hopped out the other;

Some flew plump into the sister's lap,

Some under the stool of the brother;

The little girl gathered them into a heap,

And called them a flock of milk-white sheep.

一个秋天的夜晚，大风刮得很猛烈，

暴雨倾盆而下，

一个小男孩坐在壁炉旁，

爆玉米在壁炉的烟灰中。

他三岁的妹妹，头发卷曲，

坐在壁炉旁，全神贯注地看着他。

砰！砰！被炸碎的玉米粒

从烟灰中飞了出来。

小男孩拿着一根松木棍，

在里面不停地搅拌。

他越搅拌，飞溅的玉米粒就越多，

很快就跳到了一尘不染的地板上。

一些玉米粒跳向某个方向，

剩下的则跳向其他的方向。

有的蹦到了他妹妹的腿上，

有的跑到了哥哥的椅子下。

妹妹把这些玉米堆在一起，

把它们称作奶白色的羊群。