GOOD NEWS

 

 

One morning little boy Ben came home from the pasture¹, where he had taken the cows, with so much to tell that he could not wait until he got to the house to begin.

 

"The wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, and the chestnuts² are falling out of the burrs. One dropped on my hat when I came through the wood; and I saw a little gray squirrel³ eating nuts," he called to Brother Fred as soon as he reached the big gate.

 

"Hurrah⁴!" said Brother Fred. "We can go and get some this very afternoon;" and when he went to take some corn to the mill⁵ for his father, he stopped at his Cousin Pen's house to tell her about it.

 

"The wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, and the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs. We are going to get some this afternoon. Don't you want to go, too?" he asked.

 

"Yes, indeed," said Cousin Pen; "and I will bring Mary Sue⁶ with me."

 

Mary Sue was Cousin Pen's little friend; and as soon as Brother Fred had gone, Cousin Pen ran over to her house.

 

"Oh, Mary Sue!" she cried. "What do you think? The wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs, and my Cousin Fred wants us to go to the woods to get some this very day."

 

"How nice," said Mary Sue; "let's go and tell Dan."

 

Dan was Mary Sue's neighbor. He lived next door to her; and he let Cousin Pen and her ride on his pony⁷ sometimes. He was in the barn⁸ feeding the pony when the girls went to his house; and they ran through the yard to find him.

 

"The wild grapes are ripe, and the persimmons are sweet—" cried Cousin Pen.

 

"And the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs. Don't you want to go and get some?" asked Mary Sue.

 

"I'll go if Larry Brown will," said Dan; and he climbed up on a ladder and put his head out of the barn window, and called as loud as he could:—

 

"Larry, Larry, don't you want to go to the woods to get some grapes and persimmons and chestnuts? I'll go if you will."

 

Larry came running across the street from his house in a hurry to see what was the matter. He was as pleased as all the rest had been to hear the good news; and when he went home he told his little sister Nan about it.

 

"The wild grapes are ripe, the persimmons are sweet, the chestnuts are falling out of the burrs, and I am going to bring you some," he said.

 

 

But little Nan wanted to go, too. "I will carry her if she gets tired," said Larry; so after they had eaten their dinner, Mother gave Nan a little basket, and she started out, holding Larry's hand.

 

The others were ready and waiting; and away they all went to the pleasant wood.

 

Brother Fred, and little Ben;

Mary Sue, and Cousin Pen;

Larry Brown, and Neighbor Dan;

And Larry's little sister Nan.

Oh, what a good time they had! The grapes were ripe, the persimmons were sweet as sugar, the chestnuts dropped from the open burrs, and up in a tree, where they all might see, sat the little gray squirrel!

1 pasture   

n.牧场，牲畜饲养

参考例句：

• This is the place where they used to pasture.这就是他们过去经常放牧的地方。
• The boy got up very early every morning to pasture cattle.这男孩每天起得很早去放牛。

2 chestnuts   

n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马

参考例句：

• A man in the street was selling bags of hot chestnuts. 街上有个男人在卖一包包热栗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Talk of chestnuts loosened the tongue of this inarticulate young man. 因为栗子，正苦无话可说的年青人，得到同情他的人了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

3 squirrel   

n.松鼠，松鼠的毛皮；vt.贮藏以备用

参考例句：

• The squirrel makes a store of nuts for the winter.松鼠贮藏坚果以备过冬。
• A squirrel hoards nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬贮藏坚果。

4 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

5 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

6 sue   

vt.控告，起诉；vi.请求，追求，起诉

参考例句：

• If you don't pay me the money,I'll sue you.如果你不付给我钱，我就告你。
• The war criminals sue for peace.战犯求和。

7 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

8 barn   

n.谷仓，饲料仓，牲口棚

参考例句：

• That big building is a barn for keeping the grain.那幢大房子是存放粮食的谷仓。
• The cows were driven into the barn.牛被赶进了牲口棚。