| I LONG to go over there to the further bank of the river, | 我渴想到河的对岸去。 |
| Where those boats are tied to the bamboo poles in a line; | 在那边,好些船只一行儿系在竹杆上; |
| Where men cross over in their boats in the morning with ploughs on their shoulders to till their far-away fields; | 人们在早晨乘船渡过那边去,肩上扛着犁头,去耕耘他们的远处的田; |
| Where the cowherds make their lowing cattle swim across to the riverside pasture; | 在那边,牧人使他们鸣叫着的牛游泳到河旁的牧场去; |
| Whence they all come back home in the evening, leaving the jackals to howl in the island overgrown with weeds, | 黄昏的时候,他们都回家了,只留下豺狼在这满长着野草的岛上哀叫。 |
| Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferry when I am grown up. | 妈妈,如果你不在意,我长大的时候,要做这渡船的船夫。 |
| They say there are strange pools hidden behind that high bank, | 据说有好些古怪的池塘藏在这个高岸之后。 |
| Where flocks of wild ducks come when the rains are over, and thick reeds grow round the margins where waterbirds lay their eggs; | 雨过去了,一群一群的野鹜飞到那里去,茂盛的芦苇在岸边四围生长,水鸟在那里 生蛋; |
| Where snipes with their dancing tails stamp their tiny footprints upon the clean soft mud; | 竹鸡带着跳舞的尾巴,将它们细小的足印印在洁净的软泥上; |
| Where in the evening the tall grasses crested with white flowers invite the moonbeam to float upon their waves. | 黄昏的时候,长草顶着白花,邀月光在长草的波浪上浮游。 |
| Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up. | 妈妈,如果你不在意,我长大的时候,要做这渡船的船夫。 |
| I shall cross and cross back from bank to bank, and all the boys and girls of the village will wonder at me while they are bathing. | 我要自此岸至彼岸,渡过来,渡过去,所有村中正在那儿沐浴的男孩女孩,都要诧异地望着我。 |
| When the sun climbs the mid sky and morning wears on to noon, I shall come running to you, saying, "Mother, I am hungry!" | 太阳升到中天,早晨变为正午了,我将跑到你那里去,说道:“妈妈,我饿了!” |
| When the day is done and the shadows cower under the trees, I shall come back in the dusk. | 一天完了,影子俯伏在树底下,我便要在黄昏中回家来。 |
| I shall never go away from you into the town to work like father. | 我将永不同爸爸那样,离开你到城里去作事。 |
| Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up. | 妈妈,如果你不在意,我长大的时候,要做这渡船的船夫。 |







