THE RULER

It was time for the Child to have lessons. The father gave him a sheet of paper, smooth and white; a pencil, and a ruler.
man handing ruler to son

“Write as well as you can,” he said, “and be sure you keep the lines straight!”

The Child admired the ruler very much. “I willdecoration94decoration put it up on the wall,” he said, “where I can see it always.”

So he put it up on the wall, and the sunbeams sparkled¹ on it.

“It must be pure gold,” said the Child; “there is nothing else so beautiful in the world.” And then he began his task.

By and by the lesson time was over, and the father came to see what had been done.

The Child showed him the paper on which he had written his task. Up and down went the lines, here and there, from side to side of the sheet, which was covered with sprawling², straggling letters. There were spots, too, where he had tried to rub³ out something. It was not a pretty page.

“What is this?” asked the father. “Where is your ruler?”

“There it is,” said the Child. “It is up on the wall. It was so beautiful that I put it up there where I could see it all the time. See where it hangs! But it does not seem as bright as it was.”

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“No,” said the father. “It would have been brighter if you had used it.”

“But I admired it very much,” said the Child.

“But your lines are crooked,” said the father.

—Laura E. Richards (Adapted).

1 sparkled   

v.发火花，闪耀( sparkle的过去式和过去分词 )；（饮料）发泡；生气勃勃，热情奔放，神采飞扬

参考例句：

• Her jewellery sparkled in the candlelight. 烛光下，她的首饰光彩熠熠。
• Her eyes sparkled with excitement. 她的眼睛由于兴奋而发亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 rub   

n.摩擦，困难，障碍，难点，磨损处；vt.擦，搓，摩擦，惹怒；vi.摩擦，擦破

参考例句：

• Don't let the wire rub up against the pipe.别让电线碰到管子上。
• He used to rub up against many famous movie stars.他过去经常偶然碰到许多有名的影星。