THE FIRST TOOTH

I

 

SISTER

 

Through the house what busy joy

Just because the infant boy

Has a tiny tooth to show!

I have got a double row,

All as white and all as small;

Yet no one cares for mine at all.

He can say but half a word,

Yet that single sound’s preferr’d

To all the words that I can say

In the longest summer day.

He cannot walk; yet if he put

With mimic¹ motion out his foot,

As if he thought he were advancing,

It’s prized more than my best dancing.

BROTHER

 

Sister, I know you jesting are,

Yet O! of jealousy² beware.

If the smallest seed should be

In your mind, of jealousy,

It will spring and it will shoot

Till it bear the baneful³ fruit.

I remember you, my dear,

Young as is this infant here.

There was not a tooth of those

Your pretty even ivory rows,

But as anxiously was watch’d

Till it burst its shell new-hatch’d

As if it a phoenix⁴ were,

Or some other wonder rare.

So when you began to walk—

So when you began to talk—

As now, the same encomiums pass’d

’Tis not fitting this should last

Longer than our infant days;

A child is fed with milk and praise.

1 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

2 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

3 baneful   

adj.有害的

参考例句：

• His baneful influence was feared by all.人们都担心他所造成的有害影响。
• Lower share prices have baneful effect for companies too.更低的股价同样会有损各企业。

4 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。