THE TREE GAME

 When Margaret and Benjy were getting over the measles¹ their mamma invented a new game to amuse them.

 

"You might play you are trees," she suggested.

 

"I'm a pine tree!" cried Margaret.

 

"So'm I," agreed Benjy.

 

"Pine trees sing, you know, Benjy," Margaret went on, "so we must sing, too." And the two struck up a lively tune².

 

Too-dle-dee, too-dle-dee, doo-o-o! It was not the pine trees, however, that sang it.

 

"Oh, an organ man!" "Oh, a monkey!" And both little pine trees raced to the window.

 

The organ man smiled. "Dance, Tessa, dance!" he cried to his little girl, grinding away with all his might.

 

And then how Tessa's little brown legs did flash back and forth³, and in and out! And what funny tricks the wee monkey did!

When the music stopped Jocko scrambled⁴ up to the window and politely presented a cup to the trees. "Pennies, please," the funny, wizzened little face seemed to beg.

 

The pine trees brought their banks and shook the pennies out, one by one, into the cup. Then the biggest pine tree thought of something. "Wait a minute," she cried, and disappeared. When she came back she carried two plump bananas.

 

"Here," she said, handing them out through the window.

 

Tessa smiled her thanks politely, but Jocko just fell to munching⁵ greedily.

 

The pine trees hung out of the window and watched Tessa and her father and Jocko as they went off down the street. Finally the biggest pine tree turned to the littlest pine tree.

 

"I'm not a pine tree any longer, Benjy," she announced. "I'd rather be the kind that gives something. I'm a banana tree now."

 

"So'm I," echoed Benjy.

1 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

2 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 munching   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was munching an apple. 他在津津有味地嚼着苹果。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Munching the apple as he was, he had an eye for all her movements. 他虽然啃着苹果，但却很留神地监视着她的每一个动作。 来自辞典例句