X A WARNING

 Timothy Turtle's visit at the beaver¹ pond was just like all of his outings. Wherever he went he was so disagreeable and snappish that there wasn't a single person in the whole village that didn't wish Timothy had stayed away from that place.

 

He was forever grumbling², complaining that the fishing was poor in the pond. And as for frogs, he declared that he hadn't seen even one.

 

"Why anybody wants to live here is more than I can understand." That was what Timothy Turtle told everyone hep. 48 met. And of course it was a poor way of making himself welcome.

 

"Why do you come here, if you don't like our pond?" people asked him.

 

"It's a change for me," was Timothy's reply. "After I've spent a week with you I'll be pretty glad to get back home again. And I won't want to go on another excursion for a whole year—or maybe two.

 

"It's twenty years since I was here before. And I sha'n't care to come again for forty, at least."

 

Now, such dreadfully rude remarks hurt the Beaver family's feelings. And when Timothy Turtle seized a fat lady by the tail one day and wouldn't let her go until sunset, her feelings were hurt most of all. She cried that she had never been so insulted in all her life.

 

Timothy Turtle merely said that she ought not to object. He explained thatp. 49 he had been giving her a rest—for of course she couldn't cut down a tree, nor work upon the dam that held the water in the pond, while he clung³ fast to her tail.

 

Well, this fat lady happened to be Brownie Beaver's mother. And after her disagreeable experience with the stranger, Brownie made up his mind that he would make Timothy Turtle work. That was the worst punishment he could think of.

 

Whenever the members of the Beaver family were not sleeping, or eating, either they were gathering⁴ food by cutting down trees, or they were mending their dam.

 

The dam always had leaks here and there. And sooner or later every one of them had to be stopped, before it grew so big that the water would rush through it and tear a hole so great that the pond would be drained dry.

 

During his stay among the Beaversp. 50 Timothy Turtle often crawled on top of the dam and stretched himself out and watched the Beavers⁵ at their task. He said that if there was one thing that he liked to see more than another it was "a gang of men working." But he complained that they ought to work in the daytime, when the sun was shining, because then it would have been "much pleasanter for him."

 

"Don't you want to help us?" asked the brisk⁶ fellow who had told Grandaddy Beaver that he thought Timothy Turtle ought to go to work.

 

That question actually made Timothy snort.

 

"Me work?" he snapped⁷ scornfully, as he glared⁸ at the speaker.

 

Everybody knew what he meant. And everybody knew how Timothy felt, too, when he edged along the dam and made a p. 51savage pass at the plump⁹ gentleman who had spoken to him.

Luckily the brisk Beaver jumped aside before Timothy Turtle's jaws¹⁰ closed on him. And he did not say another word to the stranger during the rest of his stay at the pond.

 

But Timothy Turtle became quite talkative. He stopped all he met—old and young both—and warned them that nobody need try to get him to work, for he never had worked, and he never intended to.

1 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

2 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

3 Clung   

v.附着于( cling的过去式和过去分词 )；抓紧或抱住；坚持；依恋，依附于

参考例句：

• The Prime Minister clung to his job like a limpet, despite calls for him to resign. 首相不顾有人要求他辞职，死赖在他的职位上不下台。
• She clung to the hope that her son was not dead. 她抱定儿子并没有死的希望不放。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 beavers   

海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人

参考例句：

• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
• Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的，蜜蜂是这样做的，人也是这样做的。

6 brisk   

adj.轻快的，生气勃勃的，（天气等）令人振作的

参考例句：

• The actress is walking at a brisk pace.那位女演员正以轻快的步伐走着。
• It's great to work outdoors during brisk fall days.清爽的秋日里在户外工作是很愉快的。

7 snapped   

v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 )；（使某物）发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开，关闭]；厉声地说；拍照

参考例句：

• The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 glared   

怒目而视( glare的过去式和过去分词 )； 发强光

参考例句：

• Two fierce eyes glared at them. 一双凶狠的眼睛对着他们怒目而视。
• He didn't shout, he just glared at me silently. 他没有喊叫，只是默默地怒视着我。

9 plump   

adj.丰满的，丰富的，直接的；vi.下降，支持，变丰满；vt.突然放下，支持，使丰满；n.突然膨胀，坠落；adv.骤降，直线下降，不加限制的

参考例句：

• The baby is plump and very cute.那个婴儿白白胖胖的，十分可爱。
• The grains are quite plump.谷粒儿很饱。

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。