“G’long,” said Mr. Goodale to the horse, after passengers and luggage were all safely aboard. “Well, naow, I ain’t much on paradin’ I reckon. We got a team of oxen, but trouble is, sonny, there ain’t no folks. Ter fuss up and go into a parade yer got ter hev folks. I guess we ain’t fixed3 up fer mixin’ with them Snailsdale folks. Most on ’em are rich, I reckon. G’long. They ain’t nobody ter our place but jest Mrs. Stillmore n’ her daughter.
“Hope, she’s a mighty4 nice gal5, n’ she’s frettin’ herself ’cause there ain’t no young fellers. Says she’d go back home if t’wan’t fer her mother. Yer see we ain’t on the railroad, that’s where the trouble is. We have to depend on Snailsdale Manor6 fer mails n’ station n’ sech. I s’pose these young gals7 they want ter go ter sociables and sech like; I d’no ’s I blame ’em. When I wuz a wheezer8 I used to go ter barn dances every month or two, but there ain’t been none since Josh Berry’s barn burned daown. Maybe this here youngster will kinder cheer her up a mite,” he added pleasantly.
“It’s adventure that counts,” said Pee-wee; “size don’t count, because look at mustang ponies11, they’re stronger than horses.”
“Well, you’ll get plenty of fresh milk n’ that’ll make you grow,” said Mr. Goodale.
“And that’s what we want most of all,” said Pee-wee’s mother.
A ride of about seven miles brought them to the farm, which seemed completely isolated12 from the world. The old-fashioned porch commanded a view of mountains extending afar until the rugged13 profusion14 was tinged15 with the sky’s gray and seemed to merge16 in the horizon. Not a house was there to be seen in all that wild expanse. Once a day a train of smoke crept across above the wooded lowland near at hand, and the cheerful whistle of the locomotive could be heard echoing among the hills. Often, as she sat upon the funny, rickety little porch, Hope Stillmore wondered what would happen if she were to start out and go straight across all those wooded mountains. Where would she come out? And what would she see?
Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Stillmore, being both in search of rest, enjoyed this jointly17, and we need not trouble ourselves with their reading and crocheting18 and other wild amusements.
Pee-wee’s acquaintance with Hope began on the porch after he had attended to the more important matter of eating supper. It was then, as he wandered out through the musty sitting room with its dismal19 melodeon in the corner and its picture of Asa Goodale during his dancing days, that the buoyant spirit of our young hero was momentarily clouded by a sense of newness and strangeness.
Everybody knows those awkward minutes after the first meal before acquaintance has begun. One wanders aimlessly, and usually ends on the front porch. Pee-wee wandered through the sitting-room20, out of a side door, around the barnyard, and thence to the porch. Hope Stillmore was rocking frantically22 in a rickety chair as if in a kind of forlorn hope of extracting some excitement out of that piece of furniture. Each time she came forward her dainty little feet gave a vigorous push and back she went again. Probably she relieved her nerves in this way. This expression of impatience23 and despair is not uncommon24 on the porches of farm houses during the summer.
Hope Stillmore was of an age not exceeding sixteen (perhaps fifteen would be about right) and it is only fair to her to say that she was very pretty.
“I bet you can’t do that two hundred times without touching25 your feet to the floor,” Pee-wee said.
“I’m not counting the times,” said Miss Hope.
“Put your feet up on the cross-piece and keep them there,” Pee-wee said, “and then start and I’ll count for you. You’re not supposed to touch the floor. Most always girls go over backwards26, but don’t you care, because the window sill is there. I won’t make fun of you.”
“Oh, you won’t?” said Miss Hope ironically.
“Sure I won’t because girls can do lots of things that fellers can’t do; gee27 whiz, I have to admit that.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“If I tilt28 you over backward I bet you can’t get up by yourself with your hands clasped,” Pee-wee said. “We all tried that at scout29 meeting and I was the only one that did it. Are you good at doing things?”
“There aren’t any things here to do.”
“Sure there are,” Pee-wee said; “there are lots of things only you don’t do them. You have to invent them.”
“Well, I’m not an inventor; I’m not a boy scout.”
“No, but you’re a girl, aren’t you? Gee whiz, you have to admit that. That’s one thing I don’t like about girls, they take dares from people. I met a city feller at the station—”
“Where?” the girl asked excitedly.
“Oh, gee whiz, you wouldn’t like him. And he as much as dared me to join the parade. He said I couldn’t, so that means I have to, because there’s no such word as can’t in the dictionary. Gee, I hate language, don’t you?”
“You seem to use a good deal of it.”
“I mean studying it,” Pee-wee said. “What’s your favorite study?”
“I’m studying monotony lately.”
“If I broke my neck I wouldn’t call it logic,” the girl laughed in spite of herself.
“If you broke your neck I know all about first aid,” Pee-wee said, “and I dare you to do it, I don’t mean break your neck but anyway a person that takes a dare is scared of a ghost, I can prove it by Roy Blakeley.”
“Is he coming here?” Miss Hope Stillmore asked.
“Naaah, he’s up at Temple Camp; he can cook better than girls, he can. Only he’s crazy. All the fellers in his patrol are crazy. He says you can have fun being crazy. Gee whiz, there’s fun wherever he is, that’s sure. If you throw a dare back at a person maybe that’ll change your luck.”
Miss Hope Stillmore smiled as she rocked. “Do you dare me to do it?” she finally asked.
“Sure I do,” said Pee-wee delighted. “Put your feet up on the cross-piece, and if you put them down it’s no fair. That’s right. Now start in rocking.”
There was nothing better to do so the girl, with her pretty little pumps caught on the rung of the chair by their pretty French heels, started rocking vigorously and as the chair tipped perilously31 backward with her increasing exertions32 it skidded33 slowly across the porch, while Pee-wee counted in frantic21 excitement. She was in for it now and she would not stop. Her face was flushed and she was laughing uncontrollably. Something was happening at Goodale Manor Farm at last. Pretty soon the chair went tumbling down the steps and the girl gathered herself up, holding a bruised34 knee, but all the while laughing.
“A hundred and fifty-seven not counting when it tumbled over,” Pee-wee announced grimly. “Anyway it’s better than monotony, hey? Didn’t I tell you there were things to do? You leave it to me. Will you help me fix up a float so we can join the parade? I’ll show you how to hammer nails so you won’t get blood blisters35 and I’ll show you how to saw and we’ll get some bunting and we’ll win the prize. Will you?
“Gee whiz, there are a lot of things to do, I thought up about seventeen already and maybe even I’ll be able to get some fellers here for you, because scouts36 can do lots of things, miracles kind of, only you and I’ll be pals37, hey? Will you?”
“Indeed I will,” said Hope Stillmore, “only you made me hurt my knee.”
“Don’t you care,” said Pee-wee.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
gal
|
|
| n.姑娘，少女 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
manor
|
|
| n.庄园，领地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
gals
|
|
| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
wheezer
|
|
| 喘息； 发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
swelled
|
|
| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
mused
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
ponies
|
|
| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
rugged
|
|
| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
profusion
|
|
| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
tinged
|
|
| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
merge
|
|
| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
jointly
|
|
| ad.联合地，共同地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
crocheting
|
|
| v.用钩针编织( crochet的现在分词 )；钩编 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
dismal
|
|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
sitting-room
|
|
| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
frantic
|
|
| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
frantically
|
|
| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
backwards
|
|
| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
gee
|
|
| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
tilt
|
|
| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
scout
|
|
| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
logic
|
|
| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
perilously
|
|
| adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
exertions
|
|
| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
skidded
|
|
| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
blisters
|
|
| n.水疱( blister的名词复数 )；水肿；气泡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
scouts
|
|
| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
pals
|
|
| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |