To say that this particular apple tree is a "giving tree" is an understatement*.

In Shel Silverstein's popular tale of few words and simple line drawings, a tree starts out as a leafy* playground, shade provider, and apple bearer for a naughty little boy. Making the boy happy makes the tree happy, but with time it becomes more challenging for the generous tree to meet his needs.

When he asks for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches for lumber*. When the boy is old, too old and sad to play in the tree, he asks the tree for a boat. She suggests that he cut her down to a stump* so he can make a boat out of her trunk*.

He does it without giving it much thought.

At this point in the story, the double-page spread shows a poor lonely stump, cut down to the heart the boy once carved into the tree as a child that said "M.E. + T." "And then the tree was happy... but not really."

When there's nothing left of her, the boy returns again as an old man, needing a quiet place to sit and rest. The stump offers up her services, and he sits on it.

While the message of this book is unclear, Silverstein has perhaps deliberately* left the book open to interpretation*.

First published in 1964 by Harper & Row, the book has been translated into more than 30 languages.

经典儿童文学作品：《无私的树》

understatement 保守的说法

leafy 叶茂盛的

lumber 木材

stump 树桩

trunk 树干

deliberately 故意地

interpretation 诠释