Literary Gems for Recitation

01The First SnowThe First SnowHenry Wadsworth LongfellowThe first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs of the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its course by a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless trees, that against the leaden sky no w revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches. What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion!Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no more ratting wheels! Only the c himing of sleigh-bells, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of childrenTHE Humming-BirdOf all animated beings this is the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stones and metals polished by our arts are not c omparable to①this jewel of Nature②. She③has placed it least in size of④the order of birds⑤, "maxime miranda in minimis."⑥Her masterpiece. is this little humming-bird, and upon it she has heaped all the gifts ⑦which the other birds may only share. Lightness, rapidity, nimbleness, grace, and rich apparel⑧all belong to this little favorite. The emerald ⑨, the ruby ⑩, and the topaz(11) gleam upon its dress(12). It never soils them with the dust of earth, and in its aerial life scarcely touches the turfan instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness as well as their brightness. It lives upon their nectar, and dwells only in the climates wh ere they perennially bloom.From Natural Historyby George Louis Leclerc Buffon03 PinesThe pine placed nearly always among scenes disordered and desolate brings into them all possible elements of order and precision. Lowland trees may lean to this side and that, though it is but a meadow breeze that bends them, or a bank of cowslips from which their trunks lean aslope. But let storm and avalanche do their worst and let the pine find only a ledge of vertical precipice to cling to, it will nevertheless grow straight. Thrust a rod from its last shoot down the stem; it shall point to the centre of the earth as long as the tree lives. Also it may be well for lowland branches to reach hither and thither for what they need and to take all kinds of irregular shape and extension. But the pine is trained to need nothing and to endure everything. It is resolvedly whole, self-contained desiring nothing but rightness content with restricted completion. Tall or short it will be straight .04 TreesTrees 树(1)I think that I shall never see 我想我从未见过一首A poem lovely as a tree. 美如玉树的诗章。

(2)A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 一棵张着饥饿嘴巴的树，against the earth's sweet flowing breast; 紧压在大地甘美而流畅的乳房上；(3)A tree that looks at God all day, 一棵整天望着神的树，And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 举起枝叶繁茂的手臂来祈祷；(4)A tree that may in summer wear 一棵树在夏日里可能A nest of robins in her hair; 戴着一窝知更鸟在头发上；(5)Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 雪花堆积在她的怀抱里；Who intimately lives with the rain. 雨水也和她亲切地生活在一起。

(6)Poems are made by fools like me, 像我这样愚笨的人可以做诗，But only God can make a tree. 但唯有神方能造树。

by Joyce Kilmer, 1886-191905 Reading Good BooksDevote some of you leisure, I repeat, to cultivating a love of reading g ood books. Fortunate indeed are those who contrive to make themselves genuine book-lovers. For book-lovers hve some noteworthy advantages over other people. They need never know lonely hours so long as they have b ooks around them, and the better the books the more delightful the co mpany. From good books, moreover, they draw much besides entertainment . They gain mental food such as few companions can supply. Even while resting from their labors they are, through the books they read, equipping themselves to perform those labors more efficiently.This albeit they may not be deliberately reading to improve their mind. All unconsciously the ideas they derive from the printed pages are store d up, to be worked over by the imagination for their future profit. From Self-Developmentby Henry Addington Bruce06 The House-CricketCrickets are fond of kitchens and bakers' ovens, on account of their perpetual warmth. Tender insects that live abroad either enjoy only the short period of one summer, or else doze away the cold uncomfortable months in profound slumbers; but these, residing as it were in a torrid zone, are always alert and merry: a good Christmas fire is to them like the heats of the dog-days. Though they are frequently heard by day, yet is their natural time of motion only in the night. As soon as it grows dusk, the chirping increases, and they come running forth, a nd are from the size of a flea to that of their full stature. As one should suppose, from the burning atmosphere which they inhabit, they are a thirsty race, and show a great propensity for liquids, being found frequently drowned in pans of water, milk, broth, or the like. Wh atever is moist they affect; and therefore often gnaw holes in wet wool len stockings and aprons that are hung to the fire.From the natural history of selborneby Gilbert White07 on EtiquetteON ETIQUETTEEtiquette to society is what apparel is to the individual. Without apparel men would go in shameful nudity which would surely lead to the corruption of morals; and without etiquette society would be in a pitiable state and the necessary intercourse between its members would be inte rfered with by needless offences and troubles. If society were a train, the etiquette would be the rails along which only the train could rumble forth; if society were a state coach, the etiquette would b e the wheels and axis on which only the coach could roll forward. The lack of proprieties would make the most intimate friends turn to be the most decided enemies and the friendly or allied countries declare war against each other. We can find many examples in the history of mankind. Therefore I advise you to stand on ceremony before auyone else and to take pains not to do anything against etiquette lest you give offences or make enemies.08 an Hour Before Sunrisean Hour Before SunriseAn hour before sunrise in the city there in an air of cold, solitary desolation about the noiseless streets, which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely shut buildings which throughout the day are swarming with life. T he drunken, the dissipated, and the criminal have disappeared; the more sober and orderly part of the population have not yet awakened to the labors of the day, and the stillness of death is over the streets; its v ery hue seems to be imparted to them, cold and lifeless as they look i n the gray, somber light of daybreak. A partially opened bedroom window here and there bespeaks the hcat of the weather and the uneasy slumbers of its occupant; and the dim scanty flicker of a li ght through the blinds of yonder windows denotes the chamber of watching and sickness. Save for that sad light, the streets present no signs of life, nor the houses of habitation.09 The flight of youthThe Flight of Youthby Richard Henry StoddardThere are gains for all our losses.There are balms for all our pain:But when youth, the dream, departsIt takes something from our hearts,And it never comes again.We are stronger, and are better,Under manhood's sterner reign:Still we feel that something sweetFollowed youth, with flying feet,And will never come again.Something beautiful is vanished,And we sigh for it in vain;We behold it everywhere,On the earth, and in the air,But it never comes again!10 THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTSTHE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTSThe rise of modern science may perhaps be considered to date as far back as the time of Roger Bacon, the wonderful monk and philosopher o fOxford, who lived between the years 1214 and 1292. He was probably t he first in the middle ages to assert that we must learn science by ob serving and experimenting on the things around us, and he himself made many remarkable discoveries. Galileo, however, who lived more than 300 years later (1564 to 1642), was the greatest of several great men, who in Italy, France, Germany, or England, began by degrees to show ho w many important truths could be discovered by well-directed observation.Before the time of Galileo, learned men believed that large bodies fall more rapidly towards the earth than small ones, because Aris totle said so. But Galileo, going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, let fall two unequal stones, and proved to some friends, whom he had brought there to see his experiment, that Aristotle was in error . It is Galileo's spirit of going direct to Nature, and verifying our opini ons and theories by experiment, that has led to all the great discoverie s of modern science.。