CHAPTER XII. PETER LEARNS SOMETHING FEOM TOMMY TIT

  When you find a friend in trouble

   Pass along a word of cheer.

 Often it is very helpful

   Just to feel a friend is near.

                              Peter Rabbit.

“Hello, Peter Rabbit! What are you doing way up here, and what are you looking so mournful about?”

 

Peter gave a great start of pleased surprise. That was the first friendly voice he had heard for days and days.

 

“Hello yourself, Tommy Tit!” shouted Peter joyously¹. “My, my, my, but I am glad to see you! But what are you doing up here in the Old Pasture yourself?”

 

Tommy Tit the Chickadee hung head down from the tip of a slender branch of a maple-tree and winked² a saucy⁴ bright eye at Peter. “I've got a secret up here,” he said.

 

Now there is nothing in the world Peter Rabbit loves more than a secret. But he cannot keep one to save him. No, Sir, Peter Rabbit can no more keep a secret than he can fly. He means to. His intentions are the very best in the world, but—

 

Alas⁵! alack! poor Peter's tongue Is very, very loosely hung. And so, because he MUST talk and WILL talk every chance he gets, he cannot keep a secret. People who talk too much never can.

 

“What is your secret?” asked Peter eagerly.

 

Tommy Tit looked down at Peter, and his sharp little eyes twinkled. “It's a nest with six of the dearest little babies in the world in it,” he replied.

 

“Oh, how lovely!” cried Peter. “Where is it, Tommy Tit?”

 

“In a hollow birch-stub,” replied Tommy, his eyes twinkling more than ever.

 

“But where is the hollow birch-stub?” persisted Peter.

 

Tommy laughed. “That's my real secret,” said he, “and if I should tell you it wouldn't be a secret at all. Now tell me what you are doing up here in the Old Pasture, Peter Rabbit.”

 

Peter saw that it was of no use to tease Tommy Tit for his secret, so instead he poured out all his own troubles. He told how lonesome he had been in the dear Old Briar-patch on the Green Meadows because he didn't dare to go about for fear of Old Man Coyote, and how at last he had decided⁶ to visit the Old Pasture. He told how Hooty the Owl⁷ had nearly caught him on his way, and then how, ever since his arrival, he had been hunted by the big, gray, old Rabbit so that he could neither eat nor sleep and had become so miserable⁸ that at last he had made up his mind to go back to the dear Old Briar-patch.

 

“Ho!” interrupted Tommy Tit, “I know him. He's Old Jed Thumper⁹, the oldest, biggest, crossest Rabbit anywhere around. He's lived in the Old Pasture so long that he thinks he owns it. It's a wonder that he hasn't killed you.”

 

“I guess perhaps he would have only I can run faster than he can,” replied Peter, looking a little shamefaced because he had to own up that he ran away instead of fighting.

 

Tommy Tit laughed. “That's the very wisest thing you could have done,” said he. “But why don't you go back to the dear Old Briar-patch in the Green Meadows?”

 

Peter hesitated and looked a wee bit foolish. Finally he told Tommy Tit all about the two soft, gentle eyes he had seen peeping at him from behind a big fern, and how he wanted to know who the eyes belonged to.

 

“If that's all you want to know, I can tell you,” said Tommy Tit, jumping out into the air to catch a foolish little bug¹⁰ who tried to fly past. “Those eyes belong to little Miss Fuzzy-tail, and she's the favorite daughter of Old Jed Thumper. You take my advice, Peter Rabbit, and trot¹¹ along home to the Old Briar-patch before you get into any more trouble. There's my wife calling. Yes, my dear, I'm coming! Chickadee-dee-dee!”

 

And with a wink³ and a nod to Peter Rabbit, off flew Tommy Tit.

 

1 joyously   

ad.快乐地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She opened the door for me and threw herself in my arms, screaming joyously and demanding that we decorate the tree immediately. 她打开门，直扑我的怀抱，欣喜地喊叫着要马上装饰圣诞树。
• They came running, crying out joyously in trilling girlish voices. 她们边跑边喊，那少女的颤音好不欢快。 来自名作英译部分

2 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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。

4 saucy   

adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的

参考例句：

• He was saucy and mischievous when he was working.他工作时总爱调皮捣蛋。
• It was saucy of you to contradict your father.你顶撞父亲，真是无礼。

5 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 thumper   

n.击键声检测器；轰鸣器

参考例句：

10 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

11 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。