THE COASTING PARTY

 The hill was fine for coasting,

The snow was well packed down,

And Sammy Black and Margie White,

And little Billy Brown,

 

And also pretty Winnie Green

And graceful¹ Gertie Gray—

Now, please, my little readers,

Don't imagine what I say

 

Means really that these boys and girls

Were painted all this way;

If so, such colored children

Would be a bit too gay!

 

Their fathers' names were Mr. Black,

Or Mr. White, or Mr. Brown;

And, funny, too, it was Greenville

The name they called the town.

 

Well, just as I was saying,

The coasting was immense,

And after school the boys and girls

Were ready to commence.

 

The sleds were in a big, long row,

All tied together, too,

As Sammy Black lay down to steer²

The merry-making crew.

 

He didn't seem to mind the wind

That o'er the snowdrifts blew,

That made his cheeks so bright and red,

His stubby nose so blue!

 

"Come on, you fellers; hurry up!

Quick, girls, get on your sled!

And push against the other ones,

I'm fixed³ to go ahead!"

 

The last sled little Billy Brown

Then pushed with all his might,

And down the hill the train of sleds

Began its snowy flight.

 

Such yells and cries! and "Hold on tight!

Don't drag your feet! Keep still!

Don't lean so far upon the right,

Or else we'll have a spill!"

 

Each face was beaming with delight,

Each voice was loud and shrill⁴,

The train was going all its might

And nearly down the hill.

 

Just as they reached the bottom,

The front sled gave a swing,

And plump into a big snowdrift

They went like anything!

 

The Blacks were mixed up with the Whites,

The Browns on top of Green,

A sort of coast kaleidoscope,

With sleds stuck in between.

 

And when they all were sorted out,

No easy thing to do,

They found that almost every boy

And girl was black and blue!

1 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

2 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。