WHAT UNCLE OWL WHISPERED

Didn’t you ever wish and wish and wish that you could know what the squirrel is chattering¹ about, and what the cricket is saying when he sings his chirpy little song, and what the big owl² really means when he says “Whoo-whoo-oo”? Lucky Peter Patter does know, for all the animals tell him funny things; and the best part of it is that Peter isn’t selfish! He has told all his charming little rimes to Leroy F. Jackson, who has let Rand McNally & Company print them in a beautiful big book, with pictures by Blanche Fisher Wright. You can find it in any bookstore for $1.50. Its name is The Peter Patter Book. Don’t you like Peter’s picture?

IN THE CIRCUS TENT

“If I was a bear,” boasted Jack³, as they walked past the animal cages in the circus tent, “and strong as strong, I wouldn’t stay in a cage and go round with a circus. I’d live in the woods.”

“If I was a tiger,” echoed Nancy, “and could creepy-crawl like a big cat, I’d never let ’em put me in a circus.”

“If you’d like to know why they’re all here,” said Mother, with a smile, “we’ll stop on the way home and buy Elizabeth Gale’s stories about How the Animals Came to the Circus. Warner Carr drew the pictures and Rand McNally & Company made the book, and we can get it at any shop for 50 cents.”

THE CAT THAT FIDDLED⁴

You’ve known Tom, the Piper’s son, for a long, long time, but did you ever know that he had a pet cat which fiddled so merrily that even the King just couldn’t keep his feet still? And did you know that Little Miss Muffet had a Mother who had an Aunt who could be cured of a sick-a-bed illness only by eating hot buttered muffins? And did you know—O, ever so many more things about your Mother Goose friends? If you didn’t, let Louise A. Garnett and James McCracken tell you in The Merrymakers. Rand McNally & Company have made their rimes and pictures into a book which you may buy in the shops for $1.00.

OPEN YOUR EYES!

Perhaps you didn’t know it, but the Little People who are so busy making the seed babies lie straight in their beds and driving off Jack Frost when he wants to nip the snowball blossoms love to talk to all children. But many children—would you believe it?—shut their ears and eyes and never hear them or even see them. Loraine was different, and they told her the most delightful⁵ things. Maybe it will help you to see and hear these Little People if you read about them in a book called Loraine and the Little People of Spring. Elizabeth Gordon and Rand McNally & Company made the book, which you may buy in any bookstore for 50 cents.

The End

1 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

2 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。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 fiddled   

v.伪造( fiddle的过去式和过去分词 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动

参考例句：

• He fiddled the company's accounts. 他篡改了公司的账目。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He began with Palestrina, and fiddled all the way through Bartok. 他从帕勒斯春纳的作品一直演奏到巴塔克的作品。 来自辞典例句

5 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。