CHAPTER V: A Busy Day At The Smiling Pool

 Everybody was excited. Yes, Sir, everybody in the Smiling Pool and along the Laughing Brook¹ was just bubbling over with excitement. Even Spotty the Turtle, who usually takes everything so calmly that some people think him stupid, climbed up on the highest point of an old log where he could see what was going on. Only Grandfather Frog, sitting on his big green lily-pad and watching for foolish green flies for his breakfast, appeared not to know that something unusual was going on. Really, he was just as much excited as the rest, but because he is very old and accounted very, very wise, it would not do for him to show it.

 

What was it all about? Why, all the Minks² and the Coons and the Otters³ and the Muskrats⁵, who live and play around the Smiling Pool and the Laughing Brook, were hunting for traps. Yes, Sir, they were hunting for traps set by Farmer Brown's boy, just as Grandfather Frog had advised them to.

 

Jerry Muskrat⁶ and Little Joe Otter⁴ were hunting together. They were swimming along close to shore just where the Laughing Brook leaves the Smiling Pool, when Jerry wrinkled up his funny little nose and stopped swimming. Sniff⁷, sniff, sniff, went Jerry Muskrat. Then little cold shivers ran down his backbone⁸ and way out to the tip of his tail.

 

“What is it?” asked Little Joe Otter.

 

“It's the man-smell,” whispered Jerry.

 

Just then Little Joe Otter gave a long sniff. “My, I smell fish!” he cried, his eyes sparkling, and started in the direction from which the smell came. He swam faster than Jerry, and in a minute he shouted in delight.

 

“Hi, Jerry! Some one's left a fish on the edge of the bank: What a feast!”

 

Jerry hurried as fast as he could swim, his eyes popping out with fright, for the nearer he got, the stronger grew that dreadful man-smell. “Don't touch it,” he panted. “Don't touch it, Joe Otter!”

 

Little Joe laughed. “What's the matter, Jerry? 'Fraid I'll eat it all up before you get here?” he asked, as he reached out for the fish.

 

“Stop!” shrieked⁹ Jerry, and gave Little Joe a push, just as the latter touched the fish.

 

Snap! A pair of wicked steel jaws¹⁰ flew together and caught Little Joe Otter by a claw of one toe. If it hadn't been for Jerry's push, he would have been caught by a foot.

 

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” cried Little Joe Otter.

 

“Next time I guess you'll remember what Grandfather Frog said about watching out when you find things to eat where they never were before,” said Jerry, as he helped Little Joe pull himself free from the trap. But he left the claw behind and had a dreadfully sore toe as a result. Then they buried the trap deep down in the mud and started to look for another.

 

All around the Smiling Pool and along the Laughing Brook their cousins and uncles and aunts and friends were just as busy, and every once in a while some one would have just as narrow an escape as Little Joe Otter. And all the time up at the farmhouse¹¹ Farmer Brown's boy was planning what he would do with the skins of the little animals he was sure he would catch in his traps.

1 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。

2 minks   

n.水貂( mink的名词复数 )；水貂皮

参考例句：

• Fuck like minks, forget the rug rats, and live happily ever after. 我们象水貂一样作爱，忘掉小水貂吧，然后一起幸福生活。 来自互联网
• They fuck like minks, raise rug rats, and live happily ever after. 他们象水貂一样做爱，再养一堆小水貂，然后一起幸福的生活。 来自互联网

3 otters   

n.（水）獭( otter的名词复数 )；獭皮

参考例句：

• An attempt is being made to entice otters back to the river. 人们正试图把水獭引诱回河里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Otters are believed to have been on Earth for 90 million years. 水獭被认为存活在地球上已经9千多万年。 来自互联网

4 otter   

n.水獭

参考例句：

• The economists say the competition otter to the brink of extinction.经济学家们说，竞争把海獭推到了灭绝的边缘。
• She collared my black wool coat with otter pelts.她把我的黑呢上衣镶上了水獭领。

5 muskrats   

n.麝鼠（产于北美，毛皮珍贵）( muskrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

6 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。

7 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

8 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

9 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

10 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

11 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。