莱曼·弗兰克·鲍姆

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies， with Uncle Henry， who was a farmer， and Aunt Em， who was the farmers wife. Their house was small， for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls， a floor and a roof， which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cook stove， a cupboard for the dishes， a table， three or four chairs， and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner， and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all， and no cellar—except a small hole dug in the ground， called a cyclone cellar， where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose， mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor， from which a ladder led down into the small， dark hole.

When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around， she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass， with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green， for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted， but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away， and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.

多蘿茜和亨利叔叔、爱姆婶婶住在堪萨斯州大草原的中部。叔叔是个农人，婶婶是他的妻子。因为盖屋子的木材要从好几英里路之外用货车载运过来，很不容易，所以他们住的屋子只是一间小小的，由四垛板壁、一个屋顶和一堂地板构成的。屋子里有一个外面锈污了的烧饭用的炉灶，一个放盆碟的橱，一张桌子，三四张椅子，还有两张床。亨利叔叔和爱姆婶婶睡的大床放在角落里，多萝茜睡的小床放在另外一个角落里。屋子里没有阁楼，也没有地下室——只有那么一个小洞，直掘到地面下，这洞叫作“旋风的地洞”。倘若大旋风刮来时，全家人可以躲进里面去，因为在旋风经过的途中，不论什么屋子它都能够吹倒。在地板的中央，装着一扇活动的木门，那里有一座梯子，走下去就到了那又小又黑的地洞里。

当多萝茜站在门口，向四周眺望时，除了四周都是灰色的大草原，什么也看不见。在那一片宽阔平坦的原野上没有一棵树，也没有一间屋子。每一个方向，都一直伸展到天边。那太阳烤炙着这片耕作过的田地，使它变成为一片灰色的有许多裂缝的荒土。即使是草也不绿了，因为太阳烤炙着它们的顶部长叶，使得不论从何处看起来，它们同样都是灰色的。有一次，屋子被粉刷过了，但是太阳把油漆晒起了泡，雨水把它洗干净了，如今这屋子也像其他东西一样暗淡和灰暗了。

Vocabulary

wagon n. 货车;四轮货车

garret n. 阁楼;顶楼

whirlwind n. 旋风

prairie n. 大草原;牧场

blade n. 叶片;刀片