IV UNC' BILLY COMES HOME

 Unc' Billy Possum crept along in the darkest shadows he could find as he drew near to the great hollow tree which is his home.

 

"Ah 'specks¹ Ah'm in fo' it. Ah 'specks Ah sho'ly am in fo' it this time," he kept muttering.

 

So Unc' Billy crept along in the black shadows until he got where he could look up and see his own doorway². Then he sat down and watched a while. All was still. There wasn't a sound in the great hollow tree.

 

"Perhaps mah ol' woman am out calling, and Ah can slip in and go to bed before she gets back," said Unc' Billy hopefully to himself, as he started to climb the great hollow tree.

 

But at the first scratch of his toe-nails on the bark the sharp face of old

Mrs. Possum appeared in the doorway.

 

"Good evening, mah dear," said Unc' Billy, in the mildest kind of a voice.

 

Old Mrs. Possum said nothing, but Unc' Billy felt as if her sharp black eyes were looking right through him.

 

Unc' Billy grinned a sickly kind of grin as he said:

 

"Ah hopes yo'alls are feeling good tonight."

 

"Where's that dinner Ah sent yo' fo'?" demanded old Mrs. Possum sharply.

 

Unc' Billy fidgeted uneasily. "Ah done brought yo' two eggs from Farmer

Brown's hen-house," he replied meekly³.

 

"Two eggs! Two eggs! How do yo' think Ah am going to feed eight hungry mouths on two eggs?" snapped old Mrs. Possum.

 

Unc' Billy hung his head. He hadn't a word to say. He just couldn't tell her that he had spent the whole day tramping through the Green Forest looking for an old friend, whose voice he had thought he heard, when he ought to have been helping⁴ her find a dinner for the eight little Possums. No, Sir, Unc' Billy hadn't a word to say.

 

My, my, my, how old Mrs. Possum did scold, as she came down the great hollow tree to get the two eggs. Unc' Billy knew that he deserved every bit of it. He felt very miserable⁵, and he was too tired to have a bit of spirit left. So he just sat at the foot of the great hollow tree and said nothing, while old Mrs. Possum bit a hole in the end of one egg and began to suck it. All the time she was looking at Unc' Billy with those sharp eyes of hers. When she had finished the egg, she pushed the other over to him.

 

"Yo' eat that!" she said shortly. "Yo' look as if yo' hadn't had anything to eat to-day" (which was true). "Then yo' hustle⁶ up to bed; it's all ready fo' yo'."

 

Unc' Billy did as he was bid, and as he tucked himself into his snug⁷, warm bed he murmured sleepily:

 

  "Ol' Mrs. Possum has a sharp, sharp tongue,

    But her bark is worse than her bite.

  For Ol' Mrs. Possum has a soft, soft heart

    Though she hides it way out of sight."

1 specks   

n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Minutes later Brown spotted two specks in the ocean. 几分钟后布朗发现海洋中有两个小点。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Do you ever seem to see specks in front of your eyes? 你眼睛前面曾似乎看见过小点吗？ 来自辞典例句

2 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

3 meekly   

adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地

参考例句：

• He stood aside meekly when the new policy was proposed. 当有人提出新政策时，他唯唯诺诺地站 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He meekly accepted the rebuke. 他顺从地接受了批评。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

6 hustle   

v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌)

参考例句：

• It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
• I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。

7 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。