The First Snow

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The first snow came. How beautiful it was，falling so silently all day 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 now 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 rattling wheels！Only the chiming of sleigh-bells，beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children.

First Snow

By John Boynton Priestley

...when I got up this morning，the world was a chilled hollow of dead white and faint blues. The light that came through the windows was very queer，and it contrived to make the familiar business of splashing and shaving and brushing and dressing very queer too. Then the sun came out，and by the time I had sat down to breakfast it was shining bravely and flushing the snow with delicate pinks，The dining room window had been transformed into a lovely Japanese print. The little plum-tree outside，with the faintly flushed snow lining its boughs and artfully disposed along its trunk，stood in full sunlight. An hour or two later everything was a cold glitter of white and blue. The world had completely changed again. The little Japanese prints had all vanished...

趣味成語

Castles in Spain （Castles in the air）空中樓閣，空想

Castles 必定是美麗的，可指一切美好的計劃和東西。但若這些東西在空中就不切實際了。Spain 一向被視為是一個很浪漫的地方，所以以castles in Spain比喻空想。

Five years ago when Mr. Li first started on the project，people said he was building castles in Spain but today his project has proved to be a big success.

Dutch courage酒后肆勇，一時之勇

荷蘭式的勇氣，是指一個平時懦弱怕事的人在酒醉后表現(xiàn)出的勇氣。

John wanted to ask for Selina’s hand but he was too nervous to do so. So he tried to get drunk in order to gain Dutch courage.

小幽默

On Miracle

A Sunday school minister was trying to illustrate the word miracle.“Suppose I stood on the roof of a ten-story building，lost my balance and fell off. Then all of a sudden in the midair，a whirlwind swept me up and brought me safely to the ground. Now what word would you use to describe this？”

After a long silence a boy raised his hand and said，“l(fā)uck？”

“It could be luck，but that is not the word I wantd.” He repeated the story and asked，“think now-what word would describe the situation？”

“Accident，”cried out one girl.

“No，no.”the minister described the whole story for the third time and asked，“what word could account for my safely reaching the ground？”

The boys and girls shouted in union：“practice！”