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LESSON 42 Bruce and the spider
第四十二課 布魯斯和蜘蛛
King Bruce of Scotland flung himself down,
英格蘭國王布魯斯猛然撲倒，
In a lonely mood to think;
孤獨的心想著；
True, he was a monarch, and wore a crown,
沒錯，他是一個國王，戴著皇冠，
But his heart was beginning to sink.
但是他的心正在開始下沉。
For he had been trying to do a great deed,
因為他一直試圖去做一件偉大的事情，
To make his people glad;
來讓他的子民高興；
He had tried and tried, but could not succeed,
他試了又試，但都沒有成功，
And so he became quite sad.
所以他變得很傷心。
He flung himself down in low despair,
他整個人都陷在絕望之中，
As grieved as man could be;
人可以如此悲傷；
And after a while he pondered there, —
過了一會他沉思著，——
"I'll give it up," said he
“我會放棄的，”他說
Now just at the moment a spider dropped,
就在那時，一只蜘蛛掉下來了，
With its silken filmy clew;
還有它柔軟膜狀的線團；
And the king in the midst of his thinking stopped
國王從他的思索中停了下來
To see what the spider would do.
想看看這只蜘蛛想做什么。
'Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome,
它離天花板有一段很長的距離，
And it hung by a rope so fine,
它掛著的那根繩子非常細，
That how it would get to its cobweb home
它要怎樣回到它的蛛網之家
King Bruce could not divine.
布魯斯國王不能預測。
It soon began to cling and crawl
它很快開始抓緊并攀爬
Straight up with strong endeavour;
竭盡全力向上爬去；
But down it came with a slipping sprawl,
但它四肢張開地滑下來，
As near to the ground as ever.
一如既往的接近地面。
Up, up it ran, nor a second did stay,
向上，再向上，停留沒有超過兩秒鐘，
To utter the least complaint,
發出最小的抱怨，
Till it fell still lower; and there it lay
直到它又跌下來；躺在那兒
A little dizzy and faint.
它有一點頭暈目眩。
