Envoy for “A Child’s Garden of Verses”

WHETHER upon the garden seat

You lounge with your uplifted feet

Under the May’s whole Heaven of blue;

Or whether on the sofa you,

No grown up person being by,

Do some soft corner occupy;

Take you this volume in your hands

And enter into other lands,

For lo! (as children feign) suppose

You, hunting in the garden rows,

Or in the lumbered¹ attic², or

The cellar — a nail-studded door

And dark, descending³ stairway found

That led to kingdoms underground:

There standing⁴, you should hear with ease

Strange birds a-singing, or the trees

Swing in big robber woods, or bells

On many fairy citadels⁵:

There passing through (a step or so —

Neither mamma nor nurse need know!)

From your nice nurseries you would pass,

Like Alice through the Looking–Glass

Or Gerda following Little Ray,

To wondrous⁶ countries far away.

Well, and just so this volume can

Transport each little maid or man

Presto⁷ from where they live away

Where other children used to play.

As from the house your mother sees

You playing round the garden trees,

So you may see if you but look

Through the windows of this book

Another child far, far away

And in another garden play.

But do not think you can at all,

By knocking on the window, call

That child to hear you. He intent

Is still on his play-business bent⁸.

He does not hear, he will not look,

Nor yet be lured⁹ out of this book.

For long ago, the truth to say,

He has grown up and gone away;

And it is but a child of air

That lingers in the garden there.

1 lumbered   

砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• A rhinoceros lumbered towards them. 一头犀牛笨重地向他们走来。
• A heavy truck lumbered by. 一辆重型卡车隆隆驶过。

2 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

3 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 citadels   

n.城堡，堡垒( citadel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• citadels of private economic power 私人经济力量的堡垒
• They once were icons of integrity, citadels of civilization, bastions of benevolence. 大学曾经是正直的象征，文明的堡垒，仁爱的捍卫者阵地。 来自互联网

6 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。

7 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。