THE STORY IN JAN’S BOOK

 THE STORY IN JAN’S BOOK

Do you remember the book that Jan’s mother gave him for his birthday?

Jan has read the book now. He will tell you the story of little Peter. He likes it the best of all the stories in his book.

THE STORY

 

Peter was a little Dutch¹ boy. He lived in Holland². He lived by the big dike³. The dike was very big and very strong. It kept the sea from the land of Holland.

Peter knew how men watched the dikes. He knew that they had to do it, for if a leak⁴ came in the dike, the water would rush in.

 

The dike would break and the water would cover the land.

One day Peter’s mother said to Peter, “Peter, I wish you would take your father’s dinner to him. He is working far, far down on the shore. You may run along on the dike if you wish.”

So Peter started out with his basket. He went along the dike. He had gone quite far, and was tired, so he sat down to rest.

As he sat there, he heard a trickling⁵ sound. “That sounds like water trickling in a hole,” said Peter to himself.

He looked around. At last he found a little hole in the dike. The water was trickling in.

It was only a tiny stream.

 

“O, what shall I do?” said Peter. He ran to see if there was any one coming. But he could see no one. So he ran back to the hole in the dike and put his little hand over the hole. His hand stopped the water from coming in.

Poor Peter called and called, but no one heard. He became very stiff⁶ and lame⁷, but he did not take his hand from the hole in the dike.

At last the sun went down, and it began to grow dark. Peter’s father and mother came to look for him. They found him cold and frightened with his little hand over the leak in the dike.

Men came with their tools and mended the dike.

 

“Brave, brave Peter,” they said. “You have saved your country from a great flood.”

All the people thought Peter was very brave indeed. They came to see him and brought him gifts. Even the king thanked Peter and sent him a bag of gold.

“I think Peter was very brave and very unselfish,” said Jan. “He did not think of himself, though he was cold and stiff and frightened. He thought of all the people who would lose their homes and lives, and so, though he was only a little boy, he was brave and strong enough to save his country from the sea.”

1 Dutch   

adj.荷兰(人)的；荷兰语(或文化)的；n.[the~]荷兰人；荷兰语

参考例句：

• The British and Dutch belong to the same race.英国人和荷兰人是同一种族。
• Do you know anyone who speaks Dutch?你认识会讲荷兰语的人吗？

2 Holland   

n.荷兰(欧洲)

参考例句：

• There are many dairies in Holland.荷兰有很多牛奶场。
• Holland is one of Germany's neighbours.荷兰是德国的邻国之一。

3 dike   

n.堤，沟；v.开沟排水

参考例句：

• They dug a dike along walls of the school.他们沿校墙挖沟。
• Fortunately,the flood did not break the dike.还好，这场大水没有把堤坝冲坏。

4 leak   

vi.漏，渗；泄漏；vt.使渗漏，使泄漏；n.漏洞，漏隙；泄漏，漏出

参考例句：

• There is a leak in the roof.房顶上有个漏洞。
• There has been a leak of information.走漏了风声。

5 trickling   

n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Tears were trickling down her cheeks. 眼泪顺着她的面颊流了下来。
• The engine was trickling oil. 发动机在滴油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 stiff   

adj.严厉的，激烈的，硬的，僵直的，不灵活的

参考例句：

• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。
• You have to push on the handle to turn it,becanse it's very stiff.手柄很不灵活，你必须用力推才能转动它。

7 lame   

adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的

参考例句：

• The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
• I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。