The Weasel in the Granary

   A Weasel through a hole contrived¹ to squeeze,

      (She was recovering from disease),

      Which led her to a farmer's hoard².

  There lodged³, her wasted form she cherish'd;

    Heaven knows the lard and victuals⁴ stored

      That by her gnawing⁵ perish'd!

      Of which the consequence

      Was sudden corpulence.

      A week or so was past,

    When having fully⁶ broken fast,

      A noise she heard, and hurried

    To find the hole by which she came,

    And seem'd to find it not the same;

      So round she ran, most sadly flurried;

    And, coming back, thrust out her head,

    Which, sticking there, she said,

    "This is the hole, there can't be blunder:

    What makes it now so small, I wonder,

  Where, but the other day, I pass'd with ease?"

      A Rat her trouble sees,

    And cries, "But with an emptier belly⁷;

    You entered lean, and lean must sally."

 

1 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

2 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

3 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 victuals   

n.食物；食品

参考例句：

• A plateful of coarse broken victuals was set before him.一盘粗劣的剩余饭食放到了他的面前。
• There are no more victuals for the pig.猪没有吃的啦。

5 gnawing   

a.痛苦的，折磨人的

参考例句：

• The dog was gnawing a bone. 那狗在啃骨头。
• These doubts had been gnawing at him for some time. 这些疑虑已经折磨他一段时间了。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。