CHAPTER XXIX. JIMMY SKUNK VISITS PETER RABBIT

  It's hard to keep a secret which you fairly ache to tell;

 So not to know such secrets is often quite as well.

                                        Peter Rabbit.

On her way home from the Old Briar-patch, Jenny Wren¹ stopped to rest in a bush beside the Crooked² Little Path that comes down the hill, when who should come along but Jimmy Skunk³. Now just as usual Jenny Wren was fidgeting and fussing about, and Jimmy Skunk grinned as he watched her.

 

“Hello, Jenny Wren!” said he. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I'm resting on my way home from the Old Briar-patch, if you must know, Jimmy Skunk!” replied Jenny Wren, changing her position half a dozen times while she was speaking.

 

“Ho, ho, ho!” laughed Jimmy Skunk. “Do you call that resting! That's a joke, Jenny Wren. Resting! Why, you couldn't sit still and rest if you tried!”

 

“I could so! I'm resting right now, so there, Jimmy Skunk!” protested Jenny Wren in a very indignant tone of voice, and hopped⁴ all over the little bush while she was speaking. “I guess if you knew what I know, you'd be excited too.”

 

“Well, I guess the quickest way for me to know is for you to tell me,” replied Jimmy. “I'm just aching to be excited.”

 

Jimmy grinned, for you know Jimmy Skunk never does get excited and never hurries, no matter what happens.

 

“You'll have to keep right on aching then,” replied Jenny Wren, with a saucy⁵ flirt⁶ of her funny little tail. “There's great news in the Old Briar-patch, and I'm the only one that knows it, but I've promised not to tell.”

 

Jimmy pricked⁷ up his ears. “News in the Old Briar-patch must have something to do with Peter Rabbit,” said he. “What has Peter done now?”

 

“I'll never tell! I'll never tell!” cried Jenny Wren, growing so excited that it seemed to Jimmy as if there was danger that she would turn herself inside out. “I promised not to and I never will!” Then, for fear that she would in spite of herself, she flew on her way home.

 

Jimmy watched her out of sight with a puzzled frown. “If I didn't know that she gets so terribly excited over nothing, I'd think that there really is some news in the Old Briar-patch,” he muttered to himself. “Anyway, I haven't anything better to do, so I believe I'll drop around that way and make Peter Rabbit a call.”

 

He found Peter in some sweet clover just outside the Old Briar-patch, and it struck Jimmy that Peter looked uncommonly⁸ happy. He said as much.

 

“I am,” replied Peter, before he thought. Then he added hastily, “You see, I've been uncommonly happy ever since I returned with Mrs. Peter from the Old Pasture.”

 

“But I hear there's great news over here in the Old Briar-patch,” persisted Jimmy Skunk. “What is it, Peter?”

 

Peter pretended to be very much surprised. “Great news!” he repeated. “Great news! Why, what news can there be over here? Who told you that?”

 

“A little bird told me,” replied Jimmy slyly.

 

“It must have been Jenny Wren!” said Peter, once more speaking before he thought.

 

“Then there IS news over here!” cried Jimmy triumphantly⁹. “What is it, Peter?”

 

But Peter shook his head as if he hadn't the slightest idea and couldn't imagine. Jimmy coaxed¹⁰ and teased, but all in vain. Finally he started for home no wiser than before.

 

“Just the same, I believe that Jenny Wren told the truth and that there is news over in the Old Briar-patch,” he muttered to himself. “Something has happened over there, and Peter won't tell. I wonder what it can be.”

 

 

1 wren   

n.鹪鹩；英国皇家海军女子服务队成员

参考例句：

• A wren is a kind of short-winged songbird.鹪鹩是一种短翼的鸣禽。
• My bird guide confirmed that a Carolina wren had discovered the thickets near my house.我掌握的鸟类知识使我确信，一只卡罗莱纳州鹪鹩已经发现了我家的这个灌木丛。

2 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

3 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

4 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。

5 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。

6 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。

7 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

8 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

9 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

10 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》