VI MR. CROW'S KIND OFFER

 "I suppose——" Timothy Turtle said to his young friend, old Mr. Crow—"I suppose Mr. Alligator¹ is a fine flier."

 

"He's a very powerful fellow," old Mr. Crow replied with a sly smile.

 

"Did you ever try to follow him?" Timothy wanted to know.

 

Mr. Crow shook his head.

 

"No!" he answered. "I shouldn't want to do that, because one never could tell when he might take a notion to jump into the water."

 

"Oh! Then he can swim, can he?"

 

"Certainly!" Mr. Crow assured him.p. 27

 

"Then that's another way in which he's like me!" Timothy Turtle cried. "And if I could only fly, I'd be still more like him."

 

"Why don't you learn?" Mr. Crow suggested wickedly.

 

"I'm too old," Timothy sighed.

 

"Not at all!" Mr. Crow hastened to assure him. "One can never be too old to try a thing."

 

But Timothy Turtle replied that even if he was young enough to attempt such a feat² as flying, he hadn't the least idea of the way to go about it.

 

Old Mr. Crow was most helpful.

 

"I'll tell you what you ought to do," he advised. "You swim down the creek³ as far as the big bluff⁴. And it will be a simple matter for you to climb up to the top of the bluff and jump off the rock that hangs high up over the water."p. 28

 

Timothy Turtle looked far from happy at that suggestion.

 

"I shouldn't care to do that," he said.

 

"Why not?" Mr. Crow asked him. "You know there's only one way of flying, and that's through the air."

 

"I might fall," Timothy objected.

 

"What if you did?" said Mr. Crow glibly⁵. "You'd only fall into the water. And everybody agrees that you're a fine swimmer.... You aren't afraid of getting your feet wet, are you?" And he laughed loudly at his own joke.

 

For some reason Timothy lost his temper. Perhaps he thought Mr. Crow was disrespectful to his elders.

 

"Look here, young man!" he snapped, glaring angrily at old Mr. Crow. "If you're laughing at me, I'll invite you to drop down here and stand on the end of my nose."p. 29

 

Old Mr. Crow grew sober at once. The mere⁶ thought of perching himself in so dangerous a place was enough to put a quick end to his noisy haw-haws.

 

"My dear sir!" he cried. "I wouldn't dream of standing⁷ on the nose of a fine old gentleman like you. No indeedy! My manners are too good for that."

 

Timothy Turtle said bluntly that he had always been told that Mr. Crow was the rudest person in all Pleasant Valley—unless it was Mr. Crow's boisterous⁸ cousin, Jasper Jay.

 

When he heard that, Mr. Crow pretended to wipe a tear away from each of his eyes.

 

"I've always been misunderstood," he declared mournfully. "I'm really a kind-hearted soul. And just to prove to you that I want to be helpful, I'll meet you at the bluff any time you say, and tell youp. 30 exactly what to do if you want to learn to fly."

 

Timothy Turtle seemed to think that the chance was too good a one to lose.

 

"I accept your offer," he shouted. "And I'll start downstream this very moment."

1 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

2 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

3 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

4 bluff   

v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗

参考例句：

• His threats are merely bluff.他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
• John is a deep card.No one can bluff him easily.约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。

5 glibly   

adv.流利地，流畅地；满口

参考例句：

• He glibly professed his ignorance of the affair. 他口口声声表白不知道这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He put ashes on his head, apologized profusely, but then went glibly about his business. 他表示忏悔，满口道歉，但接着又故态复萌了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 boisterous   

adj.喧闹的，欢闹的

参考例句：

• I don't condescend to boisterous displays of it.我并不屈就于它热热闹闹的外表。
• The children tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous play.孩子们经常是先静静地聚集在一起，不一会就开始吵吵嚷嚷戏耍开了。