HOME HUNTING

 It was a week or so after the Squirrel Brothers had left Nutcracker Lodge¹ to find homes for themselves that Little Jack² Rabbit came across Twinkle Tail.

 

It’s not an easy thing to find a new home, especially when all the nice warm hollow trees were already crowded with little people. Twinkle Tail discovered this when he started in house-hunting.

 

“Why don’t you take Grandmother Magpie³’s nest?” asked the little rabbit. “She hasn’t used it for some time and nobody seems to want it.” This was very true; perhaps it was because nobody liked Grandmother Magpie.

 

But after Twinkle Tail had taken it over you never would have known it. You see, he altered it and arranged it and patched it up to suit himself.

 

While he was putting on the finishing touches, who should come along but the old lady magpie herself.

 

“Do you mind my doing this to your old place?” he asked, looking up from his work.

 

“Not at all,” replied Grandmother Magpie, “I’m done with it. You’re quite welcome to it, my dear.”

 

This was the first time she had ever done a nice thing for anybody in the Shady Forest. But, you see, she liked Twinkle Tail. He was the only person she did like. I guess the reason was that she had never forgotten he had once been very polite to her.

 

“Thank you,” said Twinkle Tail, smiling sweetly, and then he set to work harder than ever.

 

After that the old lady magpie flew away, thinking how strange it was that a house which one has grown tired of often suits another person very well.

 

By and by Twinkle Tail had another caller. It was Bobbie Redvest.

 

“How do you like the way I’m fixing up my house?” asked the little squirrel.

 

“I think you’ve made one mistake,” replied Bobbie Redvest.

 

“What is it?” asked Twinkle Tail anxiously.

 

“The great thing, you know, is to hide your house as much as possible.”

 

The little squirrel dropped the piece of green moss⁴ he was about to use, and waited.

 

“You should make it look like the place it’s in,” went on the little robin⁵. “You have chosen a browny place, so you must use brown moss on the outside.”

 

“That sounds like good advice,” said Twinkle Tail. “I’ll do as you say.”

 

Here a leaf and there a twig⁶,

Piece of twine⁷ to bind⁸ them—

Then some moss to spread across,

Till it’s hard to find them.

 

Soon the tiny Treetop House

Will be built and ready;

Dry beneath the pelting⁹ rain,

Against the wind quite steady.

1 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 magpie   

n.喜欢收藏物品的人，喜鹊，饶舌者

参考例句：

• Now and then a magpie would call.不时有喜鹊的叫声。
• This young man is really a magpie.这个年轻人真是饶舌。

4 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

5 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

6 twig   

n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解

参考例句：

• He heard the sharp crack of a twig.他听到树枝清脆的断裂声。
• The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away.细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。

7 twine   

v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕

参考例句：

• He tied the parcel with twine.他用细绳捆包裹。
• Their cardboard boxes were wrapped and tied neatly with waxed twine.他们的纸板盒用蜡线扎得整整齐齐。

8 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

9 pelting   

微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的

参考例句：

• The rain came pelting down. 倾盆大雨劈头盖脸地浇了下来。
• Hailstones of abuse were pelting him. 阵阵辱骂冰雹般地向他袭来。