A NARROW ESCAPE

 Hear the engine whistle toot!

See the smoke and smell the soot¹!

Lucky that the train don't stay,

But flashes by and far away!

At first the Grown-ups in the Shady Forest and the Sunny Meadow were very sorry to have the railroad come so near, but after a while they found it didn't matter so much; for the cars passed through a "cut" so deep that the engine's smokestack hardly reached the top, and you only knew they were there by the sound.

Of course, it took Cousin Cotton Tail ever and ever so long to get used to the Old Bramble Patch. You see, it wasn't anything like the Old Brush Heap, with its covering of trailing vines, and she was glad when she was able to go back to her old home on the other side of the Bubbling Brook².

 

On this side the Sunny Meadow was just the same; so was the Shady Forest, and by and by everybody almost forgot that there had been a time when there wasn't any railroad.

 

At the Old Barnyard, however, things were very different, for the railroad made a turn just there and came in very close to the Big Red Barn.

 

Cocky Doodle had all he could do to keep the Barnyard Folk out of danger. Every morning after his early cock-a-doodle-do he read them a lesson on the dangers of crossing railroad tracks.

 

For a while Henny Penny laid her eggs in the Henhouse. The truth was that her nest in the corner of the Old Rail Fence happened to be just at the end of the Sunny Meadow where the railroad ran through the "cut," and the noise of the cars made her nervous.

 

Ducky Waddles⁴ was glad that the Old Duck Pond was still safe. He had heard how it had just escaped being bridged over for the noisy cars.

 

Yes, everyone kept away from the railroad track except Goosey Lucy. And why Goosey Lucy liked to waddle³ down the steep bank and along the hard wooden logs of the roadbed no one could find out.

 

But one fine day Goosey Lucy got caught. Yes, sir. Before she could get off the track the train came along. It was very narrow between the two steep banks, and she couldn't fly high enough to reach the top. Cocky Doodle and Henny Penny shut their eyes. They couldn't bear to see what was going to happen.

 

But Goosey Lucy wasn't such a goose, after all. She sat perfectly⁵ still between the rails, and when the train had passed over her, she got up, shook the cinders⁶ off her white feathers and waddled⁷ back to the Old Barnyard!

1 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

2 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

3 waddle   

vi.摇摆地走；n.摇摆的走路(样子)

参考例句：

• I am pregnant.I waddle awkwardly and my big stomach pressed against the weight of the world. 我怀孕了，我滑稽可笑地瞒珊而行，大肚子上压着全世界的重量。
• We waddle and hop and have lots of fun.我们走起路来摇摇摆摆，还一跳一跳的。我们的生活很有趣。

4 waddles   

v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A goose waddles aimlessly. 一只鹅在摇摇摇摆漫无目的地走着。 来自互联网

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 cinders   

n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道

参考例句：

• This material is variously termed ash, clinker, cinders or slag. 这种材料有不同的名称，如灰、炉渣、煤渣或矿渣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rake out the cinders before you start a new fire. 在重新点火前先把煤渣耙出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 waddled   

v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A family of ducks waddled along the river bank. 一群鸭子沿河岸摇摇摆摆地走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stout old man waddled across the road. 那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》