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首页 » 经典英文小说 » Half-Hours with Jimmieboy » XI. JIMMIEBOY AND THE BLANK-BOOK.
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XI. JIMMIEBOY AND THE BLANK-BOOK.
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Somebody had sighed deeply, and had said, "Oh dear!"
 
What bothered Jimmieboy was to find out who that somebody was. It couldn't have been mamma, because she had gone out that evening with papa to take dinner at Uncle Periwinkle's, and for the same reason, therefore, it could not have been papa that had sighed and said "Oh dear!" so plainly. Neither was it Moggie, as Jimmieboy called his nurse, companion, and friend, because Moggie, supposing him to be asleep, had gone up stairs to her own room to read. It might have been little Russ if it had only been a sigh that had come to Jimmieboy's ears, for little Russ was quite old enough to sigh; but as for adding "Oh dear!" that was quite out of the[Pg 133] question, because all little Russ had ever been able to say was "Bzoo," and, as you may have observed for yourself, people who can only say "Bzoo" cannot say "Oh dear!"
 
It was so mysterious altogether that Jimmieboy sat up straight on his pillow, and began to wonder if it wouldn't be well for him to get frightened and cry. The question was decided1 in favor of a shriek2 of terror; but the shriek did not come, because just as Jimmieboy got his[Pg 134] mouth open to utter it the strange somebody sighed again, and said:
 
"Aren't you sorry for me, Jimmieboy?"
 
"Who are you?" asked Jimmieboy, peering through the darkness, trying to see who it was that had addressed him.
 
"I'm a poor unhappy Blank-book," came the answer. "A Blank-book with no hope now of ever becoming great. Did you ever feel as if you wanted to become great, Jimmieboy?"
 
"Oh, yes, indeed," returned the boy. "I do yet. I'm going to be a fireman when I grow up, and drive an engine, and hold a hose, and put out great configurations3, as papa calls 'em."
 
"Then you know," returned the Blank-book, "or rather you can imagine, my awful sorrow[Pg 135] when I say that I have aspired4 to equally lofty honors, but find myself now condemned5 to do things I don't like, to devote my life not to great and noble deeds, but to miserable6 every-day affairs. You can easily see how I must feel if you will only try to imagine your own feelings if, after a life whose every thought and effort had been directed toward making you the proud driver of a fire-engine, you should find it necessary to settle down to the humdrum7 life of a lawyer, all your hopes destroyed, and the goal toward which you had ever striven placed far beyond your reach."
 
"You didn't want to be a fireman, did you?" asked Jimmieboy, softly.
 
"No," said the Blank-book, jumping off the table, and crossing over to Jimmieboy's crib, into which he climbed, much to the little fellow's delight. "No, I never wanted to be a fireman, or a policeman, or a car conductor, because I have always known that those were things I never could become. No matter how wise and great a Blank-book may be, there is a limit to his wisdom and his greatness. It sometimes makes us unhappy to realize this, but after all there is plenty in the world that a Blank-book can do, and do nobly, without envying[Pg 136] others who have to do far nobler and greater things before they can be considered famous. Everything we have to do in this world is worth doing well, and everybody should be content to do the things that are given to his kind to accomplish. The poker9 should always try to poke8 as well as he can, and not envy the garden hose because the garden hose can sprinkle flowers, while he can't. The rake should be content to do the best possible rake's work, and not sigh because he cannot sing 'Annie Rooney' the way the hand-organ does."
 
"Then why do you sigh because of the work they have given you to do?"
 
"That's very simple," returned the Blank-book. "I can explain that in a minute. While I have no right to envy a glue-pot because it can hold glue and I can't, I have a right to feel hurt and envious10 when it falls to the lot of another Blank-book, no better than myself, to become the medium through which beautiful poems and lovely thoughts are given to the world, while I am compelled to do work of the meanest kind.
 
"It has always been my dream to become the companion of a poet, of a philosopher, or of a humorist—to be the Blank-book of his heart—to lie quiet in his pocket until he had thought a[Pg 137] thought, and then to be pulled out of that pocket and to be made the receptacle of that thought.
 
"Oh, I have dreamed ambitious dreams, Jimmieboy—ambitious dreams that must now remain only dreams, and never be real. Once, as I lay with a thousand others just like me on the shelf of the little stationery11 shop where your mother bought me, I dreamed I was sold to a poet—a true poet. Everywhere he went, went I, and every beautiful line he thought of was promptly12 put down upon one of my leaves with a dainty gold pencil, contact with which was enough to thrill me through and through.
 
"Here is one of the things I dreamed he wrote upon my leaves:
 
"'What's the use of tears?
What's the use of moping?
What's the use of fears?
Here's to hoping!
 
"'Life hath more of joy
Than she hath of weeping.
When grief comes, my boy,
Pleasure's sleeping.
 
"'Only sleeping, child;
Thou art not forsaken13,
Let thy smiles run wild—
She'll awaken15!'
[Pg 138]
 
"Don't you think that's nice?" queried16 the Blank-book when he had finished reciting the poem.
 
"Very nice," said Jimmieboy. "And it's very true, too. Tears aren't any good. Why, they don't even wash your face."
 
"I know," returned the Blank-book. "Tears are just like rain clouds. A sunny smile can drive 'em away like autumn leaves before a whirl-wind."
 
"Or a clothes-line full of clothes before an east wind," suggested Jimmieboy.
 
"Yes; or like buckwheat cakes before a hungry school-boy," put in the Blank-book. "Then that same poet in my dream wrote a verse about his little boy I rather liked. It went this way:
 
"'Of rats and snails17 and puppy-dogs' tails
Some man has said boys are made;
But he who spoke18 to be truthful19 fails,
If 'twas of my boy 'twas said.
 
"'For honey, and wine, and sweet sunshine,
And fruits from over the swim,
And everything else that's fair and fine,
Are sure to be found in him.
 
"'His kisses are nice and sweet as spice,
His smile is richer than cake—
Which, if it were known to rats and mice,
[Pg 139]The cheeses they would forsake14.
 
"'His dear little voice is soft and choice,
He giggles20 all day with glee,
And it makes my heart and soul rejoice,
To think he belongs to me.'"
"That's first rate," said Jimmieboy. "Only Mother Goose has something very much like it about little girls."
 
"That was just it," returned the Blank-book. "She had been a little girl herself, and she was too proud to live. If she had been a boy instead of a girl, it would have been the boy who was made of sugar and spice and all that's nice."
 
"Didn't your dream-poet ever write anything funny in you?" asked Jimmieboy. "I do love funny poems."
 
"Well, I don't know whether some of the things he wrote were funny or not," returned the Blank-book, scratching his cover with a pencil he carried in a little loop at his side. "But they were queer. There was one about a small boy, named Napples, who spent all his time eating apples, till by some odd mistake he contracted an ache, and now with J. Ginger21 he grapples."
 
"That's the kind," said Jimmieboy. "I think to some people who never ate a green apple, or tasted Jamaica ginger, or contracted an ache,[Pg 140] it would be real funny. I don't laugh at it, because I know how solemn Tommy Napples must have felt. Did you ever have any more like that?"
 
"Oh my, yes," returned the Blank-book. "Barrels full. This was another one—only I don't believe what it says is true:
 
"A man living near Navesink,
Eats nothing but thistles and zinc22,
With mustard and glue,
And pollywog stew23,
Washed down with the best of blue ink.'"
"That's pretty funny," said Jimmieboy.
 
"Is it?" queried the Blank-book, with a sigh. "I'll have to take your word for it. I can't laugh, because I have nothing to say ha! ha! with, and even if I could say ha! ha! I don't suppose I'd know when to laugh, because I don't know a joke when I see one."
 
"Really?" asked Jimmieboy, who had never supposed any one could be born so blind that he could not at least see a joke.
 
"Really," sighed the Blank-book. "Why, a man came into the store where I was for sale once, and said he wanted a Blank-book, and the clerk asked him what for—meaning, of course, did he want an account-book, a diary, or a copy-book.[Pg 141] The man answered, 'To wash windows with, of course,' and everybody laughed but me. I simply couldn't see the point. Can you?"
 
"Why, certainly," said Jimmieboy, a broad smile coming over his lips. "It was very funny. The point was that people don't wash windows with Blank-books."
 
"What's funny about that?" asked the Blank-book. "It would be a great deal funnier if people did wash windows with a Blank-book. He might have said 'to go coasting on,' or 'to sweeten my coffee with,' or 'to send out to the heathen,' and it would have been just as funny."
 
"I guess that's true," said Jimmieboy. "But it was funny just the same."
 
"No doubt," returned the Blank-book; "but it seems to me what's funny depends on the other fellow. You might get off a splendid joke, and if he hadn't his joke spectacles on he'd think it was nonsense."
 
"Oh no," said Jimmieboy. "If he hadn't his joke spectacles on he wouldn't think it was nonsense. Jokes are nonsense."
 
"But you said a moment ago the fun of the Blank-book joke was that you couldn't wash windows with one. That's a fact, so how could it be nonsense?"
 
[Pg 142]
 
"I never thought of it in that way," said Jimmieboy.
 
"Ah!" ejaculated the Blank-book. "Now that is really funny, because I don't see how you could think of it in any other way."
 
"I don't see anything funny about that," began Jimmieboy.
 
"Oh dear!" sighed the Blank-book. "We never shall agree, except that I am willing to believe that you know more about nonsense than I do. Perhaps you can explain this poem to me. I dreamt my poet wrote this on my twelfth page. It was called 'A Plane Tale:'
 
"'I used to be so surly, that
All men avoided me;
But now I am a diplomat24,
Of wondrous25 suavity26.
 
"'I met a carpenter one night,
Who wore a dotted vest;
And when I asked if that was right,
He told me to go West.
 
"'I seized his saw and brandished27 it,
As fiercely as I could,
And told him, with much show of wit,
I thought he was no good.
 
"'At that he looked me in the face,
And said my tone was gruff;
My manner lacked a needed grace,
[Pg 143]In every way was rough.
 
"'He seized and laid me on a plank28,
He gave a little cough;
And then, although my spirits sank,
He planed me wholly off!
 
"'And ever since that painful night,
When he so treated me,
I've been as polished, smooth a wight,
As any one can be.'"
"There isn't much sense in that," said Jimmieboy.
 
"Well, now, I think there is," said the Blank-book. "There's a moral to that. Two of 'em. One's mind your own business. If the carpenter wanted to wear a dotted vest it was nobody's affair. The other moral is, a little plane speaking goes a great way."
 
"Oh, what a joke!" cried Jimmieboy.
 
"I didn't make any joke," retorted the Blank-book, his Russia-leather cover getting red as a beet29.
 
"Yes, you did, too," returned Jimmieboy. "Plane and plain—don't you see? P-l-a-n-e and p-l-a-i-n."
 
"Bah!" said the Blank-book. "Nonsense! That can't be a joke. That's a coincidence. Is that what you call a joke?"
 
"Certainly," replied Jimmieboy.
 
"Well, then, I'm not as badly off as I thought.[Pg 144] I wanted to be a poet's book and couldn't, but it is better to be used for a wash-list as I am than to help funny men to remember stuff like that. I am very grateful to you, Jimmieboy, for the information. You have made me see that I might have fared worse than I have fared, and I thank you, and as I hear your mamma and papa coming up the stairs now, I'll run back to the desk. Good-night!"
 
And the Blank-book kissed Jimmieboy, and scampered30 over to the desk as fast as it could, and the next day Jimmieboy begged so hard for[Pg 145] it that his mamma gave it to him for his very own.
 
"What shall you do with it now that you have it?" asked mamma.
 
"I'm going to save it till I grow up," returned Jimmieboy. "Maybe I'll be a poet, and I can use it to write poems in."

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
2 shriek fEgya     
v./n.尖叫,叫喊
参考例句:
  • Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
  • People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧,气愤或疼痛而尖叫。
3 configurations 86f23519571eb918e8812e1979d55409     
n.[化学]结构( configuration的名词复数 );构造;(计算机的)配置;构形(原子在分子中的相对空间位置)
参考例句:
  • Such configurations, obtained theoretically by calculation, are called models of a star. 通过理论计算得到的恒星结构称为恒星模型。 来自辞典例句
  • The other two configurations have overriding advantages for special applications. 其它两种接法对特殊应用具有突出的优点。 来自辞典例句
4 aspired 379d690dd1367e3bafe9aa80ae270d77     
v.渴望,追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She aspired to a scientific career. 她有志于科学事业。
  • Britain,France,the United States and Japan all aspired to hegemony after the end of World War I. 第一次世界大战后,英、法、美、日都想争夺霸权。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 condemned condemned     
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
  • The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。
6 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
7 humdrum ic4xU     
adj.单调的,乏味的
参考例句:
  • Their lives consist of the humdrum activities of everyday existence.他们的生活由日常生存的平凡活动所构成。
  • The accountant said it was the most humdrum day that she had ever passed.会计师说这是她所度过的最无聊的一天。
8 poke 5SFz9     
n.刺,戳,袋;vt.拨开,刺,戳;vi.戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢
参考例句:
  • We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
  • Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。
9 poker ilozCG     
n.扑克;vt.烙制
参考例句:
  • He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌,把钱都输光了。
  • I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了,可以玩些花样。
10 envious n8SyX     
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的
参考例句:
  • I don't think I'm envious of your success.我想我并不嫉妒你的成功。
  • She is envious of Jane's good looks and covetous of her car.她既忌妒简的美貌又垂涎她的汽车。
11 stationery ku6wb     
n.文具;(配套的)信笺信封
参考例句:
  • She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
  • There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多,心里自会觉得踏实。
12 promptly LRMxm     
adv.及时地,敏捷地
参考例句:
  • He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
  • She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。
13 Forsaken Forsaken     
adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词
参考例句:
  • He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
  • He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。
14 forsake iiIx6     
vt.遗弃,抛弃;舍弃,放弃
参考例句:
  • She pleaded with her husband not to forsake her.她恳求丈夫不要抛弃她。
  • You must forsake your bad habits.你必须革除你的坏习惯。
15 awaken byMzdD     
vi.醒,觉醒;vt.唤醒,使觉醒,唤起,激起
参考例句:
  • Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
  • Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。
16 queried 5c2c5662d89da782d75e74125d6f6932     
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问
参考例句:
  • She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事?”琴向觉民问道,她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
17 snails 23436a8a3f6bf9f3c4a9f6db000bb173     
n.蜗牛;迟钝的人;蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
18 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
19 truthful OmpwN     
adj.真实的,说实话的,诚实的
参考例句:
  • You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心,他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
  • I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。
20 giggles 0aa08b5c91758a166d13e7cd3f455951     
n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 );傻笑;玩笑;the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Her nervous giggles annoyed me. 她神经质的傻笑把我惹火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I had to rush to the loo to avoid an attack of hysterical giggles. 我不得不冲向卫生间,以免遭到别人的疯狂嘲笑。 来自辞典例句
21 ginger bzryX     
n.姜,精力,淡赤黄色;adj.淡赤黄色的;vt.使活泼,使有生气
参考例句:
  • There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
  • Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。
22 zinc DfxwX     
n.锌;vt.在...上镀锌
参考例句:
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
  • Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。
23 stew 0GTz5     
n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑
参考例句:
  • The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
  • There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。
24 diplomat Pu0xk     
n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人
参考例句:
  • The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话,紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
  • He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。
25 wondrous pfIyt     
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。
26 suavity 0tGwJ     
n.温和;殷勤
参考例句:
  • He's got a surface flow of suavity,but he's rough as a rasp underneath.他表面看来和和气气的,其实是个粗野狂暴的恶棍。
  • But the well-bred,artificial smile,when he bent upon the guests,had its wonted steely suavity.但是他哈着腰向宾客招呼的那种彬彬有礼、故意装成的笑容里,却仍然具有它平时那种沉着的殷勤。
27 brandished e0c5676059f17f4623c934389b17c149     
v.挥舞( brandish的过去式和过去分词 );炫耀
参考例句:
  • "Bang!Bang!"the small boy brandished a phoney pistol and shouted. “砰!砰!”那小男孩挥舞着一支假手枪,口中嚷嚷着。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Swords brandished and banners waved. 刀剑挥舞,旌旗飘扬。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
28 plank p2CzA     
n.板条,木板,政策要点,政纲条目
参考例句:
  • The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
  • They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。
29 beet 9uXzV     
n.甜菜;甜菜根
参考例句:
  • He farmed his pickers to work in the beet fields. 他出租他的摘棉工去甜菜地里干活。
  • The sugar beet is an entirely different kind of plant.糖用甜菜是一种完全不同的作物。
30 scampered fe23b65cda78638ec721dec982b982df     
v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑,惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》


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