THE LAZY PINK HEN

 Once, a long time ago, there was a little girl who lived in a country where they had all sorts of hens. There was a Green Hen and a Yellow Hen and a Pink Hen; but the Rooster was Sky Blue. They all sang a different song. The Yellow Hen said: "Hoop-de-dooden-do! Hoop-de-dooden-doo!" and the Green Hen said: "Chick-a-chick-chee! Chick-a-chick-chee!" But the Pink Hen only said "Tra la la! Tra la la!" for she was very lazy.

 

Now the Green Hen laid red eggs and the Yellow Hen laid blue ones; but the Pink Hen never laid any, she was such a lazy thing.

 

Well, this little girl thought this would never do, and so did the Sky-blue Rooster. So, one day, she went to the Pink Hen and said to her:

 

"Snail¹, snail, come out of your hole, or else I'll beat you as black as a coal!"

 

And the Sky-blue Rooster said to her:

 

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star!"

 

I don't know what they meant by it, but the Pink Hen knew, for she went straight to her nest and laid a little white egg. The Sky-blue Rooster was so tickled² that he turned fourteen somersaults right off in succession, and sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" all through three times, standing³ on the tip of his longest tail feathers. But the Pink Hen only said "Tra la la!" she was such a lazy thing.

 

1 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

2 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。