GRANDMOTHER’S ALPHABET

The Ant is so busy
It makes her quite dizzy,
She says that her head
Goes whirl-around-whizzy.
The Bunny is funny;
He cannot make honey,
Nor write with a pen,
Nor shoot with a gunny.
The Cow is not able
To sit at the table,
And so we must send her
To eat in the stable.
The Duck goes a-quacking
[15]And clicking and clacking,
And eats all she finds
From beeswax to blacking.

The Elephant mighty¹
Can not find his nighty!
It makes him feel nervous,
And fractious and flighty.
The Fish has no wish
To be put in a dish,
So he’s off like a flash
With a swishety-swish.
The Goose has no use
For an Indian pappoose,
So she looks at it sadly,
And says, “What’s the use?”
The Hen lays an egg,
And stands on one leg,
And says, “Cut-ker-dah-cut!
Observe me, I beg!”

The Ibis is pretty,
But not very witty²;
And when he is tired
He plays with the kitty.
The Jaguar³ so cruel
Was killed in a duel⁴,
And left his poor wife
To eat nothing but gruel⁵.
The kind Kangaroo
Has so little to do,
That he talks to the Moolly
And tries to say “Moo!”
The Lizard⁶ goes sighing,
And sobbing⁷ and crying,
Because his poor tail
Got shrunk in the dyeing.
The Moose is all humpy,
And grumpy and lumpy,
And if you say, “Boo!”
He is off with a thumpy.

The Newt has a neighbor
Who fights with a sabre,
And when he has conquered
He beats on a tabor.
The Owl⁸ and the Oyster⁹
Went off for a royster,
And when they came back
They were put in a cloister¹⁰.
The Pig bought a carrot
To give to his parrot:
But Poll was so frightened
She hid in the garret.
The Queen in her crown
And velvety¹¹ gown,
She went to the circus,
And laughed at the clown.

The Ram¹² and the Rattle-
Snake had a great battle:
For each called the other
A tittlety-tattle.
The Stork¹³ had a fancy
To go to a dancy,
But people said, “No!
You are rather too prancy!”
The timorous¹⁴ Tapir
Was reading the paper,
And found that his aunt
Had married a draper.
The Unicorn¹⁵ tried
On a camel to ride,
But there came a sad fall
To himself and his pride.
The Viper¹⁶ is vain,
[19]And cannot explain
Why people persist so
In calling him plain.

The Woodchuck is wealthy,
And hearty¹⁷ and healthy:
But sometimes his movements
Are snooping and stealthy.
The Xiphias perks¹⁸ his
Head up to see Xerxes:
And thinks him much finer
Than Tartars or Turkses.
The Yammering Yak¹⁹
Has spots on his back:
He can’t get them off,
So he puts on a sacque.
The Zebra with zeal²⁰
Was cooking a meal:
But he found it was onions
And stopped with a squeal²¹.

1 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

2 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

3 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

4 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

5 gruel   

n.稀饭，粥

参考例句：

• We had gruel for the breakfast.我们早餐吃的是粥。
• He sat down before the fireplace to eat his gruel.他坐到壁炉前吃稀饭。

6 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。

7 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

8 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

9 oyster   

n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人

参考例句：

• I enjoy eating oyster; it's really delicious.我喜欢吃牡蛎，它味道真美。
• I find I fairly like eating when he finally persuades me to taste the oyster.当他最后说服我尝尝牡蛎时，我发现我相当喜欢吃。

10 cloister   

n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝

参考例句：

• They went out into the stil,shadowy cloister garden.他们出了房间，走到那个寂静阴沉的修道院的园子里去。
• The ancient cloister was a structure of red brick picked out with white stone.古老的修道院是一座白石衬托着的红砖建筑物。

11 velvety   

adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的

参考例句：

• a velvety red wine 醇厚的红葡萄酒
• Her skin was admired for its velvety softness. 她的皮肤如天鹅绒般柔软，令人赞叹。

12 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

13 stork   

n.鹳

参考例句：

• A Fox invited a long-beaked Stork to have dinner with him.狐狸请长嘴鹳同他一起吃饭。
• He is very glad that his wife's going to get a visit from the stork.他为她的妻子将获得参观鹳鸟的机会感到非常高兴。

14 timorous   

adj.胆怯的，胆小的

参考例句：

• She is as timorous as a rabbit.她胆小得像只兔子。
• The timorous rabbit ran away.那只胆小的兔子跑开了。

15 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

16 viper   

n.毒蛇；危险的人

参考例句：

• Envy lucks at the bottom of the human heart a viper in its hole.嫉妒潜伏在人心底，如同毒蛇潜伏在穴中。
• Be careful of that viper;he is dangerous.小心那个阴险的人，他很危险。

17 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。

18 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

19 yak   

n.牦牛

参考例句：

• The most common materials Tibetan jewelry are Yak bone.藏饰最常见的材料当属牦牛骨。
• We can sell yak skin,meat and wool.我们可以卖牦牛的皮、肉和毛。

20 zeal   

n.热心，热情，热忱

参考例句：

• Revolutionary zeal caught them up,and they joined the army.革命热情激励他们，于是他们从军了。
• They worked with great zeal to finish the project.他们热情高涨地工作，以期完成这个项目。

21 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。