CHAPTER V SAMMY JAY BRINGS LIGHTFOOT WORD

 Sammy Jay is one of those who believe in the wisdom¹ of the old saying, "Early to bed and early to rise." Sammy needs no alarm clock to get up early in the morning. He is awake as soon as it is light enough to see and wastes no time wishing he could sleep a little longer. His stomach wouldn't let him if he wanted to. Sammy always wakes up hungry. In this he is no different from all his feathered neighbors.

 

So the minute Sammy gets his[pg 30] eyes open he makes his toilet, for Sammy is very neat, and starts out to hunt for his breakfast. Long ago Sammy discovered that there is no safer time of day to visit the dooryards of those two-legged creatures called men than very early in the morning. On this particular morning he had planned to fly over to Farmer Brown's dooryard, but at the last minute he changed his mind. Instead, he flew over to the dooryard of another farm. It was so very early in the morning that Sammy didn't expect to find anybody stirring², so you can guess how surprised he was when, just as he came in sight of that dooryard, he saw the door of the house open and a man step out.

 

[pg 31]Sammy stopped on the top of the nearest tree. "Now what is that man doing up as early as this?" muttered³ Sammy. Then he caught sight of something under the man's arm. He didn't have to look twice to know what it was. It was a gun! Yes, sir, it was a gun, a terrible gun.

 

"Ha!" exclaimed⁴ Sammy, and quite forgot that his stomach was empty. "Now who can that fellow be after so early in the morning? I wonder if he is going to the dear Old Briar-patch to look for Peter Rabbit, or if he is going to the Old Pasture⁵ in search of Reddy Fox, or if it is Mr. and Mrs. Grouse⁶ he hopes to kill. I think I'll sit right here and watch."

 

[pg 32]So Sammy sat in the top of the tree and watched the hunter with the terrible gun. He saw him head straight for the Green Forest. "It's Mr. and Mrs. Grouse after all, I guess," thought Sammy. "If I knew just where they were I'd go over and warn⁷ them." But Sammy didn't know just where they were and he knew that it might take him a long time to find them, so he once more began to think of breakfast and then, right then, another thought popped into his head. He thought of Lightfoot the Deer.

 

Sammy watched the hunter enter the Green Forest, then he silently⁸ followed him. From the way the hunter moved, Sammy decided⁹ that[pg 33] he wasn't thinking of Mr. and Mrs. Grouse. "It's Lightfoot the Deer, sure as I live," muttered Sammy. "He ought to be warned¹⁰. He certainly ought to be warned. I know right where he is. I believe I'll warn him myself."

 

Sammy found Lightfoot right where he had expected to. "He's coming!" cried Sammy. "A hunter with a terrible gun is coming!"

 

1 wisdom   

n.智慧，明智的行为，学识，名言，贤人

参考例句：

• Experience is the mother of wisdom.经验为智慧之母。
• Ancient Greece was a fountain of wisdom and philosophy.古希腊是智慧和哲学的发源地。

2 stirring   

adj.激动人心的，令人兴奋的；活泼的，活跃的；忙碌的；动摇民心的v.激起(stir的ing形式)

参考例句：

• She felt a stirring of anger. 她感觉自己忍不住要生气了。
• I doubt if his deeds would match his stirring words. 我怀疑他的行动是否会与他那激动人心的话是一致的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 muttered   

轻声低语，咕哝地抱怨( mutter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He muttered a curse at the other driver. 他低声咒骂另一位开车的人。
• She turned away and muttered something unintelligible. 她转向一旁，嘴里不知咕哝些什么。

4 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》

5 pasture   

n.牧场，牲畜饲养

参考例句：

• This is the place where they used to pasture.这就是他们过去经常放牧的地方。
• The boy got up very early every morning to pasture cattle.这男孩每天起得很早去放牛。

6 grouse   

n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦

参考例句：

• They're shooting grouse up on the moors.他们在荒野射猎松鸡。
• If you don't agree with me,please forget my grouse.如果你的看法不同，请不必介意我的牢骚之言。

7 warn   

vt.警告，注意，远离；vi.提醒

参考例句：

• I must warn you that my patience is almost at an end.我必须警告你我已经没有耐心了。
• If you warn me in advance,I will have your order ready for you.你若预先通知我，我就能给您准备好了。

8 silently   

adv.沉默地，无声地

参考例句：

• She sat in the car,silently fuming at the traffic jam.她坐在汽车里，心中对交通堵塞感到十分恼火。
• He didn't shout,he just glared at me silently.他没有喊叫，只是默默地怒视着我。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 warned   

v.警告( warn的过去式和过去分词 )；提醒；告诫；预先通知

参考例句：

• Motorists have been warned to beware of icy roads. 已经提醒开车的人当心冰封的路面。
• I've warned her countless times. 我警告过她无数次了。