THE BROWNIES FISHING.

 WHEN glassy lakes and streams about

Gave up their bass¹ and speckled trout²,

The Brownies stood by water clear

As shades of evening gathered near.

  

 

Said one: "Now country lads begin

To trim the rod and bend the pin

To catch the frogs and minnows spry

That in the brooks³ and ditches lie.

While city chaps with reels come down,

And line enough to gird the town,

And flies of stranger shape and hue⁵

Than ever Mother Nature knew—

With horns like crickets, tails like mice,

And plumes⁶ like birds of Paradise.

Thus well prepared for sunny sky

Or cloudy weather, wet or dry,

They take the fish from stream and pool

By native art and printed rule."

Another said: "With peeping eyes

I've watched an angler fighting flies,

And thought, when thus he stood to bear

The torture from those pests of air,

There must indeed be pleasure fine

Behind the baited hook and line.

Now, off like arrows from the bow

In search of tackle some must go;

 

While others stay to dig supplies

Of bait that anglers highly prize,—

Such kind as best will bring the pout⁸

The dace, the chub, and 'shiner' out;

While locusts¹⁰ gathered from the grass

Will answer well for thorny¹¹ bass."

Then some with speed for tackle start,

And some to sandy banks depart,

 

And some uplift a stone or rail

In search of cricket, grub, or snail¹²;

 

While more in dewy meadows draw

The drowsy¹³ locust⁹ from the straw.

Nor is it long before the band

Stands ready for the sport in hand.

It seemed the time of all the year

When fish the starving stage were near:

They rose to straws and bits of bark,

To bubbles bright and shadows dark,

And jumped at hooks, concealed¹⁴ or bare,

While yet they dangled¹⁵ in the air.

Some Brownies many trials met

Almost before their lines were wet;

For stones below would hold them fast,

 

And limbs above would stop the cast,

And hands be forced to take a rest,

At times when fish were biting best.

Some stumbled in above their boots,

And others spoiled their finest suits;

But fun went on; for many there

Had hooks that seemed a charm to bear,

 

And fish of various scale and fin⁷

On every side were gathered in.

 

The catfish¹⁶ left his bed below,

With croaks¹⁷ and protests from the go;

And nerve as well as time it took

From such a maw to win the hook.

With horns that pointed¹⁸ every way,

And life that seemed to stick and stay,

Like antlered stag that stands at bay,

He lay and eyed the Brownie band,

And threatened every reaching hand.

 

The gamy bass, when playing fine,

Oft tried the strength of hook and line,

And strove an hour before his mind

To changing quarters was resigned.

Some eels⁴ proved more than even match

For those who made the wondrous¹⁹ catch,

And, like a fortune won with ease,

They slipped through fingers by degrees,

And bade good-bye to margin²⁰ sands,

In spite of half a dozen hands.

The hungry, wakeful birds of air

Soon gathered 'round to claim their share,

And did for days themselves regale²¹

 

On fish of every stripe and scale.

Thus sport went on with laugh and shout,

As hooks went in and fish came out,

While more escaped with wounded gill,

And yards of line they're trailing still;

But day at length began to break,

And forced the Brownies from the lake.

 

1 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

2 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

3 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 eels   

abbr. 电子发射器定位系统（=electronic emitter location system）

参考例句：

• Eels have been on the feed in the Lower Thames. 鳗鱼在泰晤士河下游寻食。
• She bought some eels for dinner. 她买回一些鳗鱼做晚餐。

5 hue   

n.色度；色调；样子

参考例句：

• The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
• The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。

6 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

7 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

8 pout   

v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴

参考例句：

• She looked at her lover with a pretentious pout.她看着恋人，故作不悦地撅着嘴。
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted.他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。

9 locust   

n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐

参考例句：

• A locust is a kind of destructive insect.蝗虫是一种害虫。
• This illustration shows a vertical section through the locust.本图所示为蝗虫的纵剖面。

10 locusts   

n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树

参考例句：

• a swarm of locusts 一大群蝗虫
• In no time the locusts came down and started eating everything. 很快蝗虫就飞落下来开始吃东西，什么都吃。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

12 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

13 drowsy   

adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的

参考例句：

• Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。
• I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

14 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

15 dangled   

悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• Gold charms dangled from her bracelet. 她的手镯上挂着许多金饰物。
• It's the biggest financial incentive ever dangled before British footballers. 这是历来对英国足球运动员的最大经济诱惑。

16 catfish   

n.鲶鱼

参考例句：

• Huge catfish are skinned and dressed by hand.用手剥去巨鲇的皮并剖洗干净。
• We gigged for catfish off the pier.我们在码头以鱼叉叉鲶鱼。

17 croaks   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的第三人称单数 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• A burst of noisy croaks came from the pond. 从池塘里传来了一阵喧噪的蛙鸣。 来自互联网
• The noise in the zoo turned out to be the croaks of bullfrogs. 动物园里喧噪得很，原来是一群牛蛙在叫。 来自互联网

18 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

19 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

20 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

21 regale   

v.取悦，款待

参考例句：

• He was constantly regaled with tales of woe.别人老是给他讲些倒霉事儿来逗他开心。
• He loved to regale his friends with tales about the many memorable characters he had known as a newspaperman.他喜欢讲些他当记者时认识的许多名人的故事给朋友们消遣。