HOW THE CALF WAS FED.

 There was a calf¹ in the lot, and Al took the tin pail in his hand and went out to feed it.

 

Al thought it would be quite as glad to get its breakfast as the pigs were to get theirs.

 

But the calf did nothing of the kind. It had no horns as yet, but there were two knobs on its head which would soon grow up into sharp horns, and when Al came out with the tin pail, the calf bent² her head and gave the pail a butt³ with these hard bits of horns.

 

“Well,” said Al, “I can not force you to eat if you do not want to.”

 

So he went back to the house and set the pail down in the yard, and said to Em, “I tried to feed the calf, but she would not eat, and now it is time for me to go off to my work.”

 

“Would not eat?” said Em. “I will see about that.” So she took up the tin pail and went out to the lot where the calf was tied.

 

Em came up to where the calf was, gave her one or two pats on the head, and three strokes down the side, and called her all the pet names she could think of.

 

“Now, my pet Snow-drop,” she said, “here is a nice breakfast I have brought you, and I want you to eat it all, so that you can grow fat and strong. You will, won’t you? She was my own dear little pet calf so she was; and no one shall be cross to her or hurt her. Here is milk, and bread, and all sorts of nice things; now come and eat.”

 

And what did that calf do but put her head in the pail and eat as if she would never get her fill. She licked, and licked, and licked the pail, while Em stood by and laughed, and said to herself, “Well, a calf is just like a child. When it will not eat, you must just coax⁴ it, and pet it, and not scold or use cross words or looks. It is strange that e-ven the dumb beast feels the force of a kind word.”

1 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

2 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

3 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

4 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。