LESSON 42 Bruce and the spider

第四十二课 布鲁斯和蜘蛛

King Bruce of Scotland flung himself down,

英格兰国王布鲁斯猛然扑倒，

In a lonely mood to think;

孤独的心想着；

True, he was a monarch, and wore a crown,

没错，他是一个国王，戴着皇冠，

But his heart was beginning to sink.

但是他的心正在开始下沉。

For he had been trying to do a great deed,

因为他一直试图去做一件伟大的事情，

To make his people glad;

来让他的子民高兴；

He had tried and tried, but could not succeed,

他试了又试，但都没有成功，

And so he became quite sad.

所以他变得很伤心。

He flung himself down in low despair,

他整个人都陷在绝望之中，

As grieved as man could be;

人可以如此悲伤；

And after a while he pondered there, —

过了一会他沉思着，——

"I'll give it up," said he

“我会放弃的，”他说

Now just at the moment a spider dropped,

就在那时，一只蜘蛛掉下来了，

With its silken filmy clew;

还有它柔软膜状的线团；

 

And the king in the midst of his thinking stopped

国王从他的思索中停了下来

To see what the spider would do.

想看看这只蜘蛛想做什么。

'Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome,

它离天花板有一段很长的距离，

And it hung by a rope so fine,

它挂着的那根绳子非常细，

That how it would get to its cobweb home

它要怎样回到它的蛛网之家

King Bruce could not divine.

布鲁斯国王不能预测。

It soon began to cling and crawl

它很快开始抓紧并攀爬

Straight up with strong endeavour;

竭尽全力向上爬去；

But down it came with a slipping sprawl,

但它四肢张开地滑下来，

As near to the ground as ever.

一如既往的接近地面。

Up, up it ran, nor a second did stay,

向上，再向上，停留没有超过两秒钟，

To utter the least complaint,

发出最小的抱怨，

Till it fell still lower; and there it lay

直到它又跌下来；躺在那儿

A little dizzy and faint.

它有一点头晕目眩。