本日我们朗读一首享誉英语天下专为小孩子写的诗If All the Seas Were One Sea（如果所有的海都汇成一片海），诗的作者已无从考证，但诗的影响却极为深远。
If All the Seas Were One Sea
If all the seas were one sea,
What a great sea that would be!
And if all the trees were one tree,
What a great tree that would be!
And if all the axes were one axe,
What a great axe that would be!
And if all the men were one man,
What a great man he would be!
And if the great man took the great axe,
And cut down the great tree,
And let it fall into the great sea,
What a great splash that would be!
下面我们来一句一句地解析一下这首诗：
If all the seas were one sea,
What a great sea that would be!
如果所有的海都汇成一片大海，
那该是多大的一片海！
And if all the trees were one tree,
What a great tree that would be!
如果所有的树都变成了一棵树，
那该是多大的一棵树！
And if all the axes were one axe,
What a great axe that would be!
如果所有的斧头都融为一把斧头，
那该是多大的一把斧头！
And if all the men were one man,
What a great man he would be!
如果所有的人都领悟成一个人，
那该是多大的一个人！
And if the great man took the great axe,
And cut down the great tree,
And let it fall into the great sea,
What a great splash that would be!
如果这个大人拿上这把大斧
去砍那棵大树，
而且把它放倒在大海里，
那该溅出多大的水花！
整首诗12行，5句话，统共89个词，但仅仅用了28个不同的单词。这也便是这种专门为小孩子写的诗的措辞特点：每一个新句子都重复上一个句子，在重复的过程中更换个中的某一个词，这样可以演习和强化儿童的措辞模拟和影象能力。
整首诗用虚拟语气进行设问。所谓的虚拟语气，便是明明知道现实生活中是不太可能的，也要进行假设。这样做的目的便是要表达某种强烈的欲望或者是委婉的建议。
本诗押ABAB，CBDB，CAAB的韵，即sea, be, tree, be, axe, be, man, be, axe, tree, sea, be。前面的ABAB和CBDB易于重复，后面的CAAB方便对前述内容进行总结。
这首诗深受家长和儿童的喜好，以是这之后就有了与此标题相似的儿童诗，形成了If All the World Were系列，比如If All the World Were Apple Pie（如果天下都是苹果派），If All the World Were Paper（如果天下都是一张纸），以及If All the World Were Book（如果天下都是书）等。可见这首诗的影响非常广泛。还有一本书干脆就叫If All the World Were（如果天下都是）。
本诗的末了一行，有的版本是What a splish splash that would be!说的意思也是“溅起了多么大的水花”这个意思。但作为拟声词的splish现在已基本不用了，作为一样平常的英语学习者也就没有必要非要学习这个词了。而且从诗的重复角度看，用great也能前后呼应，把整首诗很好地串联起来。以是我们采取了目前的这个表达。
