STORY VII THE TEST OF WITS

Of course, Spotted¹ Tail was glad that he had been relieved of making the terrible test of courage in crossing Swinging Bridge, but, at the same time, he was chagrined³ that Bumper⁴ had come out of the contest with greater honors than ever. It seemed as if in some way the white rabbit managed to make good by successfully crawling out of every corner in which Spotted Tail put him.

“It’s just luck—blind luck,” growled⁵ Spotted Tail to himself. And so it seemed to him, for he was unwilling⁶ to face the truth, and accept it. It is always easier to blame luck for our failures, and Spotted Rabbit was like a good many boys and girls in this respect.

Instead of feeling any gratitude⁷ to Bumper for saving him the humiliation⁸ of his life by forbidding any rabbit to undertake the crossing, Spotted Tail allowed his rancor⁹ to increase day by day until he was in a fine frame of mind. He wanted more than ever to “get even” with Bumper, as he expressed it.

52Then one day when the opportunity seemed to come to him, he was prepared to take advantage of it. It was to be a test of wits, this time. Without his knowing it, this was the one ground on which Bumper was eager to be challenged. It is to be feared that Bumper had an inordinate¹⁰ conceit¹¹ about his ability to get out of difficult places by using his wits.

So when Spotted Tail started in the usual way to work up to a challenge, Bumper readily encouraged him. “A good king is always a wise king, isn’t he, Bumper?” he asked.

“He couldn’t be a good king if he wasn’t wise,” was the smiling retort.

“Just so. I agree with you. But what is wisdom? Can you describe it?”

“Can you describe the sunlight, Spotted Tail? You see it every day, and you know it when you see it. But can you describe it?”

“I can describe it by saying that it is just the opposite of darkness,” Spotted Tail replied, a little at a loss for a good answer to this unexpected question.

“Then I can describe wisdom in the same way. It’s the opposite of ignorance.”

Spotted Tail frowned when the others laughed and clapped their paws at this retort.

“But what I meant,” continued the discomfitted 53rabbit, recovering his composure, “is the application of wisdom. How do we know a thing is wise until we’ve tried it?”

“How do we know a thing is hot or cold until we’ve burnt or frozen our paw? By experience, Spotted Tail, we know that it isn’t necessary to run into a fire and scorch¹² ourselves every time we see one to find out whether it is hot.”

“Exactly, Bumper, but some things we don’t know by experience. Suppose you had never been in the water and didn’t know how to swim, but you’d seen other animals swim. Now, if you fell in the water, what would you do? Would the knowledge that you’d seen others swim save you?”

“Perhaps,” replied Bumper, hesitatingly. Then, smiling, he added: “But the first thing I’d do would be to look around for a raft. That would be safer than trying to learn to swim. Don’t you think that would be the wise thing to do?”

“Yes, if there was a raft handy. But suppose there was none in sight. What would you do then?”

Bumper stretched himself, and answered lazily: “I can’t say, Spotted Tail, until I was put to the test. But I think I’d use my wits or try to.”

54They had been sunning themselves on a board some hunter had stretched across a bend in the river. Spotted Tail had lured¹³ Bumper to the far end of the board for his wicked purpose. The middle of the board rested on a stone, and sometimes the young rabbits used it as a see-saw. By running out to the ends two rabbits could make it jump up and down so that it splashed in the water and made a great commotion¹⁴.

Spotted Tail was sitting next to Bumper on the far end which stretched over very deep water. He turned now to him, and asked:

“Can you swim, Bumper? Were you ever in the water over your head?”

“No,” Bumper answered truthfully, “but some day I must learn. I think I’ll begin to take lessons.”

“Well, to-day is as good as any day to begin,” replied Spotted Tail.

Before Bumper realized what he meant by this remark, he leaped high in the air, and landed on the other end of the spring-board with a thud. The result was that Bumper was shot straight up into the air nearly two feet right over the deepest part of the river. He turned a complete somersault in the air, and made a frantic¹⁵ struggle to reach the end of the board as he came down. 55But he missed it by a foot, and fell plump in the river.

He went down, down, down out of sight. It seemed an age before he came up again, wet, bedraggled and puffing¹⁶. The fright caused by his sudden ducking threatened to make him panicky, and his first thought was to squeal¹⁷ for help and splash around like a child in a bathtub.

But Spotted Tail’s words aroused him. “Now, Bumper,” he called, “you’ve got a chance to use your wits. Let me see what you can do to get ashore¹⁸.”

It was a cruel, cold-blooded thing to do, and the other rabbits who had seen the whole thing from the shore came scurrying¹⁹ to the rescue, shouting: “Shame! Shame on you, Spotted Tail!”

But, of course, this didn’t help Bumper any. The water was very deep where he had fallen in, and there wasn’t the sign of anything that could be used as a raft. Could he swim? Not much! By frantic efforts he could keep his head above water. Nearly every wild animal can do this even when a tiny baby. But that wouldn’t get him to the shore until he was exhausted²⁰.

But just when he was beginning to feel that he would drown his hind²¹ feet touched something. It was a big rock in the middle of the stream 56which could not be seen from the spring-board or the shore. Bumper found that by standing²² on his two hind feet on the rock, he could just keep his head and neck above the surface. This gave him sudden courage, and a thought. He stood stock still on the rock, and turned to the one who had thrown him in.

“It is much more dignified²³ for a king to float upright, Spotted Tail,” he said, “than to swim. Can you stand in the water like this?”

Spotted Tail and the others were amazed by the sight of Bumper standing perfectly²⁴ still in the deep water, with his head and neck just above the surface.

“Come now, Spotted Tail, you have challenged me to everything you could think of,” continued Bumper. “Now it is your turn to accept my challenge. Either show me that you can stand in the deep water, or desist from further attempts to humiliate²⁵ me. You must do one or the other, or I shall hold your challenges in contempt hereafter.”

Of course, Spotted Tail knew he could never perform this miracle, and he was at a loss to understand how Bumper could do it. “Then,” continued Bumper when he showed no intention of coming in, “you are disgraced before all of your people.”

57All the while Bumper had been watching for a way to get ashore. He had been feeling with his hind legs for other rocks in the deep river. To his joy he found one, and quickly stepped to it. There was a series of stepping-stones, which hunters used to cross the river when it was shallow. They were hidden from view now by the flood. Bumper made his way cautiously from one to the other until he reached shallow water, and then he hopped²⁶ gracefully²⁷ ashore, much to Spotted Tail’s chagrin².

1 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

2 chagrin   

n.懊恼；气愤；委屈

参考例句：

• His increasingly visible chagrin sets up a vicious circle.他的明显的不满引起了一种恶性循环。
• Much to his chagrin,he did not win the race.使他大为懊恼的是他赛跑没获胜。

3 chagrined   

adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I was most chagrined when I heard that he had got the job instead of me. 当我听说是他而不是我得到了那份工作时懊恼极了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was [felt] chagrined at his failure [at losing his pen]. 他为自己的失败 [遗失钢笔] 而感到懊恼。 来自辞典例句

4 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

5 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

7 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

8 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

9 rancor   

n.深仇，积怨

参考例句：

• I have no rancor against him.我对他无怨无仇。
• Their rancor dated from a political dogfight between them.他们的积怨来自于他们之间在政治上的狗咬狗。

10 inordinate   

adj.无节制的；过度的

参考例句：

• The idea of this gave me inordinate pleasure.我想到这一点感到非常高兴。
• James hints that his heroine's demands on life are inordinate.詹姆斯暗示他的女主人公对于人生过于苛求。

11 conceit   

n.自负，自高自大

参考例句：

• As conceit makes one lag behind,so modesty helps one make progress.骄傲使人落后，谦虚使人进步。
• She seems to be eaten up with her own conceit.她仿佛已经被骄傲冲昏了头脑。

12 scorch   

v.烧焦，烤焦；高速疾驶；n.烧焦处，焦痕

参考例句：

• I could not wash away the mark of the scorch.我洗不掉这焦痕。
• This material will scorch easily if it is too near the fire.这种材料如果太靠近炉火很容易烤焦。

13 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

14 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

15 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

16 puffing   

v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。

18 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

19 scurrying   

v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句

20 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

21 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

22 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

23 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

24 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

25 humiliate   

v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace

参考例句：

• What right had they to bully and humiliate people like this?凭什么把人欺侮到这个地步呢？
• They pay me empty compliments which only humiliate me.他们虚情假意地恭维我，这只能使我感到羞辱。

26 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

27 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。