Peter had been doing an errand for his mother. She had told him to come home early. Now he was running along the dike, thinking of the nice supper that would be ready for him at home.
The dike was a great wall of stones and earth. The men had built it to keep the sea from coming over the land.
Peter could hear the waves on the other side of the wall. “You must stay on your side, old sea,” he said. “If you were to flow over here, you would drown us, and wash away our houses and gardens.”
The little boy knew that his father and many other men kept working at the wall all the time. This was to make it strong, so that the water could not break through.
“What is that?” Peter heard a strange sound. Then he saw that a little stream of water was pouring through the wall. In a short time it would make a big hole, and the sea would then sweep in.
He could not cover the hole with his hands. What should he do? Quickly he pulled off his coat, and held it with both hands against the hole.
Soon the water stopped running in. But it would not do for Peter to move his hands. He hoped that somebody would come. The sun went down, and all grew dark.
How cold and hungry he was! He began to think again of the warm supper at home. “I wonder if I shall die,” thought Peter.
At home his mother kept watching for him. It was strange to her that he should be so late. When Peter’s father came, she told him of the errand. “It is not like Peter to stay away,” she said.
The father and his friends took lights, and went in search of the little boy. They did not find him that night. Early the next morning some men saw him. The brave lad was nearly frozen, but he was still in his place.
They mended the wall quickly, and carried the child home. “Your son has saved the land!” they shouted to Peter’s parents. “And God has saved your son.”
堤坝上的裂痕
彼得帮妈妈跑腿，妈妈让他早点回家。现在，他沿着堤坝一路跑，心里惦记着家里准备好的丰盛晚餐。
堤坝是一面巨大的墙，是用石头和泥土做的。人们建造堤坝，是为了防止海水冲到陆地上来。
彼得能听到墙的另一边传来海浪声。“你必须待在你那边，大海。”他说，“要是你流到这儿来了，就会把我们淹死，把房屋和花园都冲垮。”
小男孩知道，他的父亲和很多其他男人一样，一直在这面墙上劳动。他们要加固这面墙，好让海水别把它冲垮。
“这是怎么回事？”彼得听到了一个奇怪的声音。接着，他看到墙面上涌出了一股细细的流水。很快墙面上就出现了一个大窟窿，海水直灌了进来。
他的手掌堵不住这个洞了。他应该怎么办？他迅速脱下外套，双手拿起衣服塞住了洞口。
水流止住了，但彼得也没法把双手拿开。他祈祷着有人能来。太阳渐渐西沉，天黑了下来。
他真是饥寒交迫！他又开始想象家里香喷喷的晚餐了。“真怀疑我是不是要死了。”彼得心想。
他妈妈一直在家里等着他。儿子竟然这么晚还没回来，妈妈觉得这很不寻常。彼得的爸爸回来后，她告诉他，自己让彼得跑腿去了，还说：“彼得不会这么久不回来的。”
父亲和他的朋友们拿着手电筒去找这个孩子。当晚，他们一无所获。第二天清晨，有人发现了他。这个勇敢的小伙子几乎冻僵了，但他仍站在原地。
很快，他们就修好了墙，抱着孩子回了家。“你儿子拯救了这片土地！”他们对彼得的父母欢呼道，“然后上帝拯救了你们的儿子。”
Tip：戳左下角“原文链接”可购买常青藤版《美国语文》全书哟(* ￣3)(ε￣ *)
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