CHAPTER III

 After Tessie and Teddy arrived home they hunted around for mother to tell her the awful news, and how sorry they were that the bag of eggs was lying out on the sidewalk in funny yellow patches, with bits of broken shell strewn all around.

 

About half an hour later Tessie was telling her little kitten what mother had said. "And, Pussy¹ dear," confided² Tessie, "don't you ever try to carry any robin's eggs down from the nest. If you do, you'll find you get sliding faster and faster, and before you reach the ground your foot will slip and down you'll come with a crash!"

 

Pussy looked up out of the corners of her blinky green eyes but said nothing.

 

"And maybe your mother won't be so nice about it," added Tessie. "My mother didn't scold me 'cause when I 'splained how my skate nearly came off and tripped me up she just wiped my eyes, 'cause I felt awful sorry, and told me not to cry about it any more, and by and by she gave us all a lump of sugar."

 

Just then puss jumped through the low open window and skipped over the lawn. Tessie stepped out on the piazza³ to see what she was about. At the foot of the old apple tree pussy stopped and then ran up the trunk and out on a limb.

 

"I do believe," exclaimed Tessie, "that she is going to try to bring down some eggs from the robin's nest."

 

"What did my little girl say?" asked mother, who came out on the porch at that moment. When Tessie explained it all, mother laughed and said, "Why, there aren't any eggs now in that nest, little girl—don't you know all the little robins⁴ were hatched long ago?"

 

"Well, I don't believe pussy knows it," answered Tessie, "for there she is now looking into the nest—how disappointed she'll be!"

1 pussy   

n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪

参考例句：

• Why can't they leave my pussy alone?为什么他们就不能离我小猫咪远一点？
• The baby was playing with his pussy.孩子正和他的猫嬉戏。

2 confided   

v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等）

参考例句：

• She confided all her secrets to her best friend. 她向她最要好的朋友倾吐了自己所有的秘密。
• He confided to me that he had spent five years in prison. 他私下向我透露，他蹲过五年监狱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 piazza   

n.广场；走廊

参考例句：

• Siena's main piazza was one of the sights of Italy.锡耶纳的主要广场是意大利的名胜之一。
• They walked out of the cafeteria,and across the piazzadj.他们走出自助餐厅,穿过广场。

4 robins   

n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书）

参考例句：

• The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后，Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句