“Well—I’ll—be—jiggered!” he said, affecting not to see Hope, but at the same time adjusting his scarf by a little pull, in honor of her. He also made sure that his handkerchief was properly disposed for exhibition. “What—do—you—know—about—that? I was just out taking a little spin to get away from the traffic cops when who should I see but you? How are you, Kiddo? So this is Goodale Farm, huh?” he added, looking around and giving his scarf another artistic5 little jerk so that it stuck out.
“And what the dickens are you up to?” he asked, planting himself in front of the float as if he might possibly be induced to buy it. “Great kids, these boy scouts7, hey?” He did not address this last remark to any one in particular. By way of showing how far removed he was from a boy scout6 he sat down on a box and carefully gave each trouser leg a little hoist8, then contemplated9 his ankles.
“It’s just sort of killing10 time,” Hope said, rather apologetically. “Anything’s better than nothing.”
Pee-wee was a little disappointed at that. “We’re going in the parade,” he said, “and we’re going to try for the prize; this is my partner, ain’t you, Hope?”
This was all the introduction that he received, but it was all he required.
“It’s all we could find to do in this poky old place,” said Hope, as if a little ashamed of her participation12 in the decorative13 enterprise. She stood, as if rather abashed14 by Braggen’s derisive15 inspection16 of their handiwork, a hammer dangling17 from one hand and a strip of bunting hanging over her shoulder.
Pee-wee felt disappointed, almost betrayed. He had always the courage of his convictions, and as for acknowledging defeat before the end of battle, his sturdy little heart rebelled at such a thing.
“It isn’t finished yet,” he said; “it’s going to be a good deal better than this. There’s a—a kind of a secret about it—something that’s going to be inside of it—you wait till you see it in the parade. There’s an inspiration that goes with it,” he added, darkly.
Everett Braggen winked18 significantly at Hope and she smiled. Both the work and the smile were at Pee-wee’s expense.
“You ought to see the float we’re going to shoot into the parade,” said the visitor; “it’s a traveling landscape. Yours, sincerely, is going to be sitting on the lawn playing cards while we roll merrily, merrily on. The girls up at the Snailsdale House—that’s my little old hang-out—they can’t eat their meals on account of getting that float ready. They’ve got us trotting19 over to the village store forty-eleven times a day. Every person in the house put up two bucks20. Our float’s going to be a whole parade in itself.”
“I bet your float hasn’t got a sign on it as big as this one,” Pee-wee said, seizing upon the most conspicuous21 feature of the float and hurling22 it, as it were, as a sort of bomb.
Hope looked ruefully at the enormous sign as Braggen read the words aloud. She caught the note of ridicule23 in his voice and seemed to join him in his implied derision.
“Goodale Manor24 Farm” he read. “Wherever you go around this neighborhood you find manners—Snailsdale Manor, Goodale Manor—”
“It’s a wonder you don’t have some yourself,” Pee-wee vociferated.
“Are there many boys at the Snailsdale House?” Hope asked. “And girls,” she added, to make her query26 seem less brazen27.
“Oh, a couple of guys beside myself,” said Braggen, pinching the treasured crease28 in one trouser leg and giving it a little hitch29. “One of ’em’s got a kid sister about fourteen. We’re a pretty lively bunch. There are a couple of chaps from Hydome University coming up pretty soon—”
“College boys?” Hope asked excitedly.
“Tennis sharks,” Braggen said; “do you go in for tennis much?”
“Oh, I just love it.”
“I’m not so stuck on it; I’m out in my car most of the time.”
“Is that your car out there?”
“That’s him; small but lively; can’t hold him in.”
“I bet you can’t tell what kind of tires a car has by the tracks,” Pee-wee said, wedging his observation into the talk. “Scout’s can.”
“I should bother my young life about tracks,” laughed Braggen. “I’ll tell you about that pair,” he continued, speaking to Hope, to Pee-wee’s utter exclusion30. “We’re not saying much about it up at the house, but I don’t suppose it makes any difference what I tell down in this graveyard31.”
Hope laughed.
“They’re Hydome boys and they’re cracker-jack tennis players. So you see we’re booked to walk away with the tennis match, too. Say, if the town hall wasn’t nailed down, Snailsdale House would walk away with that, too. We’ve got a Russian pianist coming up, too, long hair and all that sort of thing; you’ve got to pronounce his name in sections—”
“I know a feller that’s got a name with five syllables,” Pee-wee interrupted, in a kind of defiance32.
“There’s a rich old guy coming, too,” said Braggen. “We’ll be whooping33 things up in a couple of weeks or so. Kind of quiet down here, huh? Something like being dead.”
“How do you know, because you were never dead?” Pee-wee shouted, at which Hope and Braggen both laughed.
“Some kid, huh?” the visitor said.
“He’s a scream,” Hope whispered.
“Why don’t you come up and stay at the Snailsdale House?” Everett Braggen asked. “There are a couple of rooms vacant now. You here with your folks?”
“Just my mother,” Hope said; “she’s run down.”
“Well, Snailsdale House is the place to get wound up, take it from me. We keep going all right up there—keep the old victrola going overtime34. Do you dance?”
“You bet I do.”
“Well, I’d like to know what you’re doing down here then—”
“She knows more about—about woodlore than you do,” Pee-wee shouted, loyal to his pal35. But Hope was not aware of his loyalty36; she was thinking of the Snailsdale House with its whirl of gayety—and its victrola.
“Are they coming soon, those bo—those people?”
“Sure, next Saturday; same day as the parade; they’ll just miss it. I think they’re all coming on the same day.”
“If we win the prize we’re going to buy a victrola,” Pee-wee announced, in a sudden inspiration, “and then we can have dances here, hey?” He looked almost imploringly37 at Hope. She was sitting on a milk stool which she had been using to stand on; her gaze was on the ground, and she was tracing lines in the dirt with her little foot.
“So you think you’ll win the prize, do you?” Everett Braggen asked, patronizingly.
“Sure, because I’m lucky,” said Pee-wee.
Neither Everett Braggen nor Hope Stillmore caught these momentous38 words. Hope was too preoccupied39 with visions of Russian pianists and college boys and dances. Everett Braggen was too much preoccupied with himself. So neither took to heart those words of defiant40 confidence uttered by this little outsider....
Girls might come and go, but Pee-wee’s luck would not forsake41 him. And it would have been well for Miss Hope Stillmore if she could have but known that.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
Ford
|
|
| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
scout
|
|
| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
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： |
|
|
|
|
8
hoist
|
|
| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
contemplated
|
|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
alluding
|
|
| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
participation
|
|
| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
decorative
|
|
| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
abashed
|
|
| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
dangling
|
|
| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
winked
|
|
| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
trotting
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
bucks
|
|
| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hurling
|
|
| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
ridicule
|
|
| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
manor
|
|
| n.庄园，领地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
query
|
|
| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
brazen
|
|
| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
crease
|
|
| n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
hitch
|
|
| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
exclusion
|
|
| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
graveyard
|
|
| n.坟场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
whooping
|
|
| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
overtime
|
|
| adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
pal
|
|
| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
imploringly
|
|
| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
momentous
|
|
| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
preoccupied
|
|
| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
defiant
|
|
| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
forsake
|
|
| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |