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DICTATION AND TRANSLATION INTO CHINESE.
Class III A.
(Translate the first part only. End with the words "length of time."
At low water the sand becomes firm, and may be walked on in safety; but as the tide rises the water saturates the mass of sand and transforms it into a pulp of the consistency of mud. It is when in this state that the Sands are most dangerous; not only because ships that then strike on them gradually sink into the ooze, but also because then the sand shifts from place to place, so as to render charts useless for any length of time.
Three lightships are placed to warn sailors of their approach to this dangerous shoal; one at the northern extremity, one at the southern extremity, and one on a point about the middle of the western side.
Class III. B.
(Translate the first part only. End with the words "of the law.")
The Charter, creased with age and injured by fire, but with John's seal hanging to it, is still to be seen.
When it is looked into, it seems to do very little. It bound the king not to demand money from his people without the consent of the great vassals and of the burghers of the cities; it required that no one should be made an officer of justice unless he had a knowledge of the law, and that the chief court of justice should not move about with the king, but be always in one place.
Nor was the king to sell, refuse, or delay justice to any man, nor to seize the person or goods of any freeman without the lawful judgment of his peers,-i.e., equals-according to the law of the land.
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Class IV. A.
(Translate the first part only. End with the words “front ranks.”)
Sometimes the people turn out of the village which the locusts are approaching, and attempt to stem the torrent. They dig trenches, they kindle fires, they attack them with branches of trees, they sweep them back with brushes; but all to no purpose. The trenches become filled with living locusts, the fires are smothered with dead ones, and the vast column moves on in complete ignorance of the fate of the front ranks.
As for attempting to brush away this terrible enem; one might as well expect to sweep back the flowing tide with a broom. Even the direction of the march cannot be changed. A common instinct seems to carry them right onward. They pursue their line of march with the regularity of a dis- ciplined army.
Class IV. B.C.
(Translate the first part only. End with the word “fatigue.”)
The wise Romans made excellent roads, extending through all parts of their empire; and some of them can yet be traced in English, running along as straight as an arrow. One of these is Watling Street, so often mentioned in history. After the fall of the Roman Empire their roads were neglected, and they fell into decay, and the traveller could hardly proceed without great danger, or, at least, without great fatigue.
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All at once your horse plunged into a marsh, or you came to a river, and the bridge was broken down; and when you tried to ford the stream, your horse might get out of his depth, and then he and his rider would be nearly drowned.
Class V. A.
(Translate the first part only.
End with the words “her cottage window.”)
There was once a poor old widow, who, finding it hard work to get her living at home, thought she would like to go to the gold-diggings in Australia. So she crossed the sea to that far-off country. The only treasures she possessed she took with her. One of these was a pet skylark, which had been used to live in a small wicker cage, outside her cottage window.
When she got to Australia, she hired a hut, and got her living by washing the gold-diggers' clothes and cooking their dinners. Day after day, the lark sang his happy song beside her door. She listened and it cheered her at her work.. Some of the gold-diggers listened too.