III. THE SINGERS OF THE SMILING POOL

 Mistress Spring was making everybody happy on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest and around the Smiling Pool. With her gentle fingers she wakened one by one all the little sleepers¹ who had spent the long winter dreaming of warm summer days and not knowing anything at all of rough, blustering² Brother North Wind or Jack³ Frost. As they wakened, many began to sing for joy. But the clearest, loudest singers of all lived in the Smiling Pool.

 

It was a long time before Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck knew where they lived. Every night just before going to bed, Johnny Chuck would sit on his door-step just to listen, and as he listened somehow he felt better and happier; and he always had pleasant dreams after listening to the sweet singers of the Smiling Pool. Even after he had curled himself up for the night deep down in his snug⁴ bedroom, he could hear those sweet voices, and whenever he waked up in the night he would hear them.

 

    “Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!

     Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!

     So gentle, so loving, so sweet and so fair!

     Oh, who can be cross when there's love in the air?

     Be happy! Be joyful⁵! And join in our song

     And help us to send the glad tidings along!

     Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!

     Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!”

 

 

When Johnny Chuck had first heard them, he had looked in all the tree-tops for the singers, but not one could he see. Then he had thought that they must be hidden in the bushes; but when he went to look, he found that the sweet singers were not there. It was very mysterious. Finally he asked Peter Rabbit if he knew who the sweet singers were and where they were. Peter didn't know, but he was willing to try to find out. Peter is always willing to try to find out about things he doesn't already know about. So Johnny Chuck and Peter Rabbit started out to find the sweet singers.

 

“I believe they are down in the old bulrushes around the Smiling Pool,” said Peter Rabbit, as he stood listening with a hand behind one long ear.

 

So over to the Smiling Pool they hurried. The nearer they got, the louder became the voices singing:

 

    “Spring! Spring! Spring! Spring!

     Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Spring!”

 

 

But look as they would, they couldn't see a single singer among the brown bulrushes. It was very strange, very strange indeed! It seemed as if the voices came right out of the Smiling Pool itself!

 

When Peter Rabbit made a little noise, as he hopped⁶ out on the bank where he could look all over the Smiling Pool, the singing stopped. After he had sat perfectly⁷ still for a little while, it began again. There was no doubt about it this time; those voices came right out of the water.

 

Johnny Chuck stared at Peter Rabbit, and Peter stared at Johnny Chuck. Nobody was to be seen in the Smiling Pool, and yet there were those voices—oh, so many of them—coming right out of the water.

 

“How can birds stay under water and still sing?” asked Johnny Chuck.

 

“Ho, ho, ho! Ha, ha, ha!”

 

Peter Rabbit and Johnny Chuck whirled around, to find Jerry Muskrat⁸ peeping up at them from a hole in the bank almost under their feet.

 

{Illustration: “Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!” shouted Jerry Muskrat.}

 

“Ho, ho, ho! That's the best joke this spring!” shouted Jerry Muskrat, and laughed until he had to hold his sides. “Birds under water! Ho, ho, ho!”

1 sleepers   

n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环

参考例句：

• He trod quietly so as not to disturb the sleepers. 他轻移脚步，以免吵醒睡着的人。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse was out, and we two sleepers were alone. 保姆出去了，只剩下我们两个瞌睡虫。 来自辞典例句

2 blustering   

adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹

参考例句：

• It was five and a half o'clock now, and a raw, blustering morning. 这时才五点半，正是寒气逼人，狂风咆哮的早晨。 来自辞典例句
• So sink the shadows of night, blustering, rainy, and all paths grow dark. 夜色深沉，风狂雨骤；到处途暗路黑。 来自辞典例句

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 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。

5 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

6 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 muskrat   

n.麝香鼠

参考例句：

• Muskrat fur almost equals beaver fur in quality.麝鼠皮在质量上几乎和海獭皮不相上下。
• I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice.我看到一只麝鼠从冰里面钻出来。