One autumn night, when the wind was high,
八月夜晚，狂风不断，
And the rain fell in heavy plashes,
雨滴哗啦啦敲打地面，
A little boy sat by the kitchen fire,
小男孩坐在厨房的火炉旁，
A-popping corn in the ashes;
炉灰里在爆玉米，
And his sister, a curly-haired child of three,
他的妹妹头发卷卷，年龄只有三周岁，
Sat looking on, just close to his knee.
坐在他的膝盖边细细观看。
Pop! pop! and the kernels, one by one,
砰！砰！玉米粒一个接一个爆开，
Came out of the embers flying;
炉灰的余烬飞逸出来，
The boy held a long pine stick in his hand,
男孩手里拿着一条长长的松枝，
And kept it busily plying,
不停地在炉子里拨动；
He stirred the corn and it snapped the more,
他碰一碰玉米，更多的玉米粒爆开了，
And faster jumped to the clean-swept floor.
很快都蹦到了干净的地板上。
Part of the kernels flew one way,
一部分玉米粒蹦向了一个方向，
And a part hopped out the other;
还有一部分比它们跳得还远；
Some flew plump into the sister's lap,
一些胖胖的玉米花飞到了妹妹的腿上，
Some under the stool of the brother;
还有的跑到了哥哥的椅子下面，
The little girl gathered them into a heap,
小女孩把它们集中起来堆成一堆，
And called them a flock of milk-white sheep.
管它们叫一群奶白色的绵羊。
