| A Happy Rain on a Spring Night | |
| Good rain knows its time right; It will fall when comes spring. With wind it steals in night: Mute, it moistens each thing.  | O’er wild lanes dark cloud spreads; In boat a lantern looms. Dawn sees saturated reds. The town’s heavy with blooms. —Translated by Xu Yuanchong |
This famous poem, with four couplets (对句), was written by Du Fu (712—770), Tang Dynasty.when he was living and farming in Chengdu. His farming experience taught him to be thankful for nature.
The very first word, “Good”, shows the poet’s joy and love for the spring rain. The rain is good because it “knows” the proper time to come. Here the poet uses personification (拟人化), as if the rain were smart enough to come in time for the farmer’s busy season.
When the rain comes, it appears during the night without making any noise. Unlike the summer storms, the spring rain finishes is task without being known.
In the third couplet, the poet describes a peaceful scene to us. In the night sky, the clouds look dark and heavy. It’s a sign that there will be enough rain during the night. The light from the riverboat makes the dark scene a bit livelier.
Lastly, the poet starts to imagine. Tomorrow morning, he thinks, the city of Chengdu will become beautiful when all of the flowers bloom (盛开) after the rain.
1. The Chinese title of the poem is “Ye Yu. Ji Bei”.2. The rhyme (韵律) for thus poem is ab—ab—cd—cd.
3. The word “quiet” can be used to describe the rain in thus poem.
4. Xu Yuanchong wanted to show that he’s thankful for nature in this poem.
(The next morning, Robinson Crusoe swam out to the ship again.)
There were still many things on board of it that might be useful to me in my island home. I wished to save all that I could. I climbed up the ship’s side just as I had done the day before.
Before looking for anything, I made another raft(筏子), just like the first one, but smaller. In the captain’s room I found six or seven guns, ①which I had overlooked before, and another keg(小桶) of powder. Then I gathered up as many clothes as I could find. The raft was now quite full. The things were not heavy, but they made a large pile.
When the tide turned for the shore, I was soon floating homeward. I had found a good oar (浆) in the ship. I had no trouble in guiding the raft to the right landing place.
②I looked to see if the goods were safe which I had brought over the day before. There, on one of my boxes, I saw a strange animal sitting. She looked like a wild cat. As I went toward her, she jumped down and ran a little way. Then she stood still. I had a few biscuits in my pocket. I now tossed one toward to her. “Take this and be gone,” I shouted.
Biscuits were not so many that I could well spare any. But I spared the poor animal this little bit. She smelled of it and ate it. Then she looked up for more.
“Thank you, I have no more to give you,” I said.
Whether she understood me, I do not know. But with that, she turned and ran away.
1. 从下列图片中选出文中提到的Robinson从船上带回去的东西，将其字母代号填到横线上。（多选）___________A． | B． | C． | D． |
回答问题。
2. Why did Robinson go to the ship again?
3. How did Robinson go back to shore?
4. What do you think Robinson was like?
5. 文中第三段①处划线单词which指代的是
6. 将②处划线句子 I looked to see if the goods were safe which I had brought over the day before. 翻译成汉语。
