VI SAMMY JAY THINKS HE'S GOING CRAZY

   "Sammy Jay screams all day long,

    And now what do you think?

  Why, Sammy sits and yells¹ all night

    And doesn't sleep a wink²!"

 

Everywhere he went Sammy Jay heard that shouted after him. Dozens and dozens of times a day he heard it. At first he lost his temper³ and was the very maddest Jaybird ever seen on the Green Meadows⁴ or in the Green Forest.

 

"It isn't true! It isn't true! It isn't true!" he would scream at the top of his lungs.

 

And then everybody within hearing would shout: "It is true!"

 

Sammy would just dance up and down and scream and scream and scream, he was so angry. And then he was sure to hear some one pipe up:

 

  "Sammy's mad and we are glad,

    And we know how to tease⁵ him!

  But some dark night he'll get a fright,

    For Hooty'll come and seize him!"

 

That really began to worry him. At first he had thought that it was all a joke on the part of the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows, and that they had made up the story about hearing him in the night. Then he began to think that it might be true that he did talk in his sleep, and this worried him a whole lot. If he did that, Hooty the Owl⁶ would surely find him sooner or later, and in the morning there wouldn't be anything left of him but a few feathers from his fine coat.

 

The more he thought about it, the more worried Sammy Jay became. He lost his appetite and began to grow thin. He kept out of sight whenever possible and no longer screamed "Thief! thief!" through the Green Forest. In fact his voice was rarely heard during the day. But it seemed that he must be talking just as much as ever in the night. At least everybody said that he was. Worse still, different ones said that they heard him in different places in the Green Forest and even down on the Green Meadows. Could it be that he was flying about as well as talking in his sleep? And nobody believed him when he said that he was asleep all night. They thought that he was awake and doing it purposely. They might have known that he couldn't see in the night, for his eyes are made for daylight and not for darkness, like the eyes of Boomer the Nighthawk and Hooty the Owl. But they didn't seem to think of this, and insisted that almost every night they heard him down in the alders⁷ along the Laughing Brook⁸. Yet every morning when he awoke, Sammy would find himself just where he went to sleep the night before, safely hidden in the thickest part of a big pine-tree.

 

"If they are not all crazy, then I must be," said. Sammy Jay to himself, as he turned away from the breakfast which he could not eat. Then he had a happy idea. "Why didn't I think of it before? I'll sleep all day, and then I'll keep awake all night and see what happens then!" he exclaimed⁹.

 

So Sammy Jay hurried away to the darkest part of the Green Forest and tried to sleep through the day.

1 yells   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The most savage yells of all came from the schoolchildren. 最野蛮的喊叫声来自那些学童。 来自英汉文学
• Dimes, dimes, "yells another, selling $ 10 vials of crack. 另一个卖瓶装克拉克的青年也在大声叫卖。 来自名作英译部分

2 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。

3 temper   

n.恶劣的心情，心绪焦躁；性情，脾气

参考例句：

• The man lost his temper and struck out wildly.那人因发怒而大打出手。
• One day the man flew at me in a temper.一天,那个人冲着我大发脾气。

4 meadows   

草地，牧场， （河边的）低洼地( meadow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The trail wends its way through leafy woodland and sunny meadows. 这条小径穿过葱郁的林区和洒满阳光的草地。
• They have railed the meadows off from the new railway cutting. 他们已用栏杆把草地和新铁道的路堑隔离开来。

5 tease   

vt.戏弄，取笑，挑逗，撩拨；n.戏弄人者

参考例句：

• The other boys tease him because he is fat.因为他很胖，所以其他男生都取笑他。
• His friends used to tease him about his tatty clothes.他的朋友过去常常笑话他破旧的衣服。

6 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。

7 alders   

n.桤木( alder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

8 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

9 exclaimed   

vt.exclaim的过去式v.呼喊，惊叫，大声说( exclaim的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "We have a good chance of winning," he exclaimed optimistically. “我们很可能获胜。”他乐观地喊道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She exclaimed in delight when she saw the presents. 她见到礼品高兴得叫了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》