THE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

 Once upon a time there was a strawberry shortcake, all juicy and sweet and pleasant to eat.

 

A little boy named Ben picked the berries² for it. He went out to the field where the wild strawberries grew, all by himself; and when he came home he had a bucket full of the very ripest and reddest ones.

 

A little girl, Cousin Pen, who was visiting on the farm, capped the berries, and that was not nearly so easy to do as it sounds. It took Cousin Pen every bit of a half-hour to do it, and—do you believe it?—she did not eat a single berry¹. She saved every one of them for the strawberry shortcake.

 

Mamma made the shortcake. She was the best cook! If I should try to tell you all the good things she could make, it would take me longer than it took Cousin Pen to cap the berries; but I will tell you this, if there was one thing she liked to make better than another it was a strawberry shortcake.

 

A big boy almost nine years old, whom every one called Brother Fred, cut the wood, and split³ the kindling⁴, and made the fire that baked the pastry⁵ for the strawberry shortcake. He had a little axe⁶ of his own, and the way he could make chips fly was simply astonishing. Mamma said if he kept on as he had begun he would be as much help as his papa when he grew up.

 

Papa was away at work when the shortcake was made, and when he came home to dinner nobody said a word about it. They did not even tell him there was a dessert. They just sat down and ate their dinner as if there were not a strawberry shortcake in the world, much less one in their own kitchen. It was the funniest thing! Papa did not know anything about it; but by and by he said:—

 

"Wild strawberries are ripe. Who wants to go and get some for a shortcake?"

 

And then how the children did laugh! They laughed and laughed until Mamma knew they could not keep the secret another minute.

 

"Shut your eyes, Papa, and don't open them until we call 'ready,'" she said, and she slipped out into the kitchen and got the strawberry shortcake, and put it on the table right in front of him.

 

"Ready," called Cousin Pen and Brother Fred and little Ben. "Ready."

 

And if you could have seen how surprised Papa was when he opened his eyes and spied that strawberry shortcake, you would have laughed as much as they did.

 

1 berry   

n.浆果(如草莓等)

参考例句：

• This kind of jam is made of berry.这种果酱是由浆果做的。
• Every berry and cherry carried in the ferry is very merry.渡船里载运的每一颗草莓和樱桃都很快乐。

2 berries   

n.浆果( berry的名词复数 )；（葡萄，番茄等）浆果；干果仁；干种子

参考例句：

• Birds feed on nuts and berries in the winter. 鸟类靠坚果和浆果过冬。
• We went here and there looking for berries. 我们四处寻找浆果。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。

4 kindling   

n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• There were neat piles of kindling wood against the wall. 墙边整齐地放着几堆引火柴。
• "Coal and kindling all in the shed in the backyard." “煤，劈柴，都在后院小屋里。” 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

5 pastry   

n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。

6 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。