it is winter-time. the earth wears a snowy garment, and looks like marble hewn out of the rock; the air is bright and clear; the wind is sharp as a well-tempered sword, and the trees stand like branches of white coral or blooming almond twigs, and here it is keen as on the lofty alps.

the night is splendid in the gleam of the northern lights, and in the glitter of innumerable twinkling stars.

but we sit in the warm room, by the hot stove, and talk about the old times. and we listen to this story:

by the open sea was a giant’s grave; and on the grave-mound sat at midnight the spirit of the buried hero, who had been a king. the golden circlet gleamed on his brow, his hair fluttered in the wind, and he was clad in steel and iron. he bent his head mournfully, and sighed in deep sorrow, as an unquiet spirit might sigh.

and a ship came sailing by. presently the sailors lowered the anchor and landed. among them was a singer, and he approached the royal spirit, and said,

“why mournest thou, and wherefore dost thou suffer thus?”

and the dead man answered,

“no one has sung the deeds of my life; they are dead and forgotten. song doth not carry them forth over the lands, nor into the hearts of men; therefore i have no rest and no peace.”

and he spoke of his works, and of his warlike deeds, which his contemporaries had known, but which had not been sung, because there was no singer among his companions.

then the old bard struck the strings of his harp, and sang of the youthful courage of the hero, of the strength of the man, and of the greatness of his good deeds. then the face of the dead one gleamed like the margin of the cloud in the moonlight. gladly and of good courage, the form arose in splendor and in majesty, and vanished like the glancing of the northern light. nought was to be seen but the green turfy mound, with the stones on which no runic record has been graven; but at the last sound of the harp there soared over the hill, as though he had fluttered from the harp, a little bird, a charming singing-bird, with ringing voice of the thrush, with the moving voice pathos of the human heart, with a voice that told of home, like the voice that is heard by the bird of passage. the singing-bird soared away, over mountain and valley, over field and wood—he was the bird of popular song, who never dies.

编辑:Liuxuepaper.Com

作文地带知识拓展:

• 英语（English）属于印欧语系日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支，最早被中世纪的英国使用，并因其广阔的殖民地而成为世界使用面积最广的语言。英国人的祖先盎格鲁部落是后来迁移到大不列颠岛地区的日耳曼部落之一，称为英格兰。这两个名字都来自波罗地海半岛的Anglia。该语言与弗里斯兰语和下撒克森语密切相关，其词汇受到其他日耳曼语族语言的影响，尤其是北欧语（北日耳曼语），并在很大程度上由拉丁文和法文撰写。

  英语的英文释义：

  English 名词 uk  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ us  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

  the language that is spoken in the UK, the US, and in many other countries

  英语

  American/British English

  美式／英式英语

  Do you speak English?

  你会说英语吗？

  English   形容词 adjective   uk  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/ us  /ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

  in or relating to the English language

  英语的

  an English teacher

  英语老师

  relating to or from England

  英格兰的;英国的

  English films/food/people

  英国电影／食品／人

  English law

  英格兰法律