RIKKA’S WONDER-BALL

 Rikka did not want to learn to knit¹. She said it was too hard. She said she would rather play on the beach.

Her mother said to her, “Rikka, if you will learn to knit, I will give you a ‘Wonder-Ball.’”

“A ‘Wonder-Ball!’ What is that, mother?” asked Rikka.

“It is a ball of yarn²,” said her mother. “There are little presents or surprise gifts wound up in the ball. As you knit the yarn from the ball, the gifts fall out.”

“Oh, I should like a Wonder-Ball, Mother,” cried Rikka.[74] “I will learn to knit and I will knit fast so that I can knit my presents from the ball.”

Rikka’s mother made her a “Wonder-Ball.” It was a very big, blue ball. She gave Rikka some shining needles and taught her how to knit.

Rikka tried and tried, and at last she learned³ to knit. It was very hard at first, but she did not give up.

The first gift she knit from her ball was a little silver pencil. She was much pleased with it.

She knit hard every day.

It seemed a long time before she came to the next gift.

 

Then a pretty chain of red beads⁴ came out of the “Wonder-Ball.”

She knit and knit away. The gifts she knit from the “Wonder-Ball” were many.

 

She sang a little song as she worked.

She called it her “Knitting Song.”

Click, clack, click, clack,

On go the needles, forward and back,

Careful never a stitch⁵ to drop,

Busily knit with never a stop.

Forward and back, forward and back,

Bright little needles, click, click, clack.

[76]

Among her gifts was a little gold ring with a blue stone in it. She had also a wooden bird, a tiny doll, and a thimble. She called her thimble her “finger-hat.”

Rikka was very happy. She thanked her good mother many times for the lovely, big “Wonder-Ball.”

Rikka soon learned to knit very well. She liked to knit even when she had no “Wonder-Ball.” She knit a scarf for her father. She knit a jacket for her doll. “It is such fun to make things,” said busy little Rikka.

1 knit   

vt.编织，密接，结合，皱眉；vi.编织，变得紧凑，愈合；n.编织

参考例句：

• She could knit up a baby's coat in an afternoon.她能在一个下午织好一件婴儿的衣服。
• Our letters enabled us to knit up our old friendship.通信使我们恢复了旧日的友谊。

2 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

3 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

4 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

5 stitch   

n.一针，疼痛，碎布条；v.缝合

参考例句：

• He had a stitch in the side.他胁部疼痛。
• Fold the fabric and stitch the two layers together.将布料对折，然后将两层缝在一起。