MORE STAMPS

 Now let me see. We left little Billy Bunny on his way to the Post Office to buy Thrift¹ Stamps and the Rabbitville Gazette. And, oh dear me! I’m all mixed up. I can’t remember whether Timmy Chipmunk² gave the little rabbit ten dollars or whether Old Parson Owl³ did. Or whether the Squirrel Brothers wanted two stamps, or whether it was Busy Beaver⁴ who wanted three, or maybe four and perhaps five. Oh dear me again!

 

But never mind. I guess the little rabbit wasn’t mixed up, for he hopped⁵ along as happy as you please, and just before he came to Rabbitville, he heard a voice in the treetops say:

 

“Where are you going, little Hoppity Hop⁶,

You’re going so fast maybe you can’t stop.”

 

“Oh, yes, I can,” answered Little Jack⁷ Rabbit. “What do you want?”

 

“That depends on where you are going,” said Professor Jim Crow, for it was the old blackbird who had stopped the little rabbit, you see.

 

“I’m going to the Post Office to buy Mother Three Thrift Stamps and Uncle John the Rabbitville Gazette, and let me see. Oh, yes; oh, yes. Chippy Chipmunk gave me two quarters to buy him two Thrift Stamps, and Squirrel Nutcracker handed me a lettuce⁸ dollar bill to buy him four, and Busy Beaver gave me a fifty-cent piece to buy him two, and Parson Owl just now pinned in my inside pocket a ten-dollar lettuce bill to pay for forty stamps.”

 

“I wonder what he wants so many stamps for?” said Professor Jim Crow. “Why doesn’t he buy a Liberty Bond?”

 

“Maybe he wants to give them away,” answered the little rabbit. “But I mustn’t stop—I must be going.”

 

“Wait, wait,” said Professor Jim Crow. “Here’s some money. Buy me ten Thrift Stamps,” and he handed over a two and one-half dollar lettuce bill. “Don’t lose the half,” added the wise old crow, and then he flew up into his old pine tree and cawed away right merrily. And after that the little rabbit hopped along and when he came to the Post Office, he went up to the little stamp window and asked the old maid grasshopper⁹, who was the postmistress, you remember—but if you don’t, she was, just the same, for Bobbie Redvest told me so—if there were any letters. But there was only the Rabbitville Gazette done up in a pink wrapper and yellow two-cent stamp.

 

“Have you Thrift Stamps?” asked Bunny Boy. And when the lady grasshopper said yes, he told her just how many he wanted, for he could remember everything, you see, which is more than I can, let me tell you, unless I look back over this story. And after he had put the stamps carefully in his knapsack with little pieces of wax paper between so that they wouldn’t stick together, he started back for the Old Bramble Patch. And in the next story, if all those stamps don’t get angry and try to lick each other, I’ll tell you what happened after that.

1 thrift   

adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约

参考例句：

• He has the virtues of thrift and hard work.他具备节俭和勤奋的美德。
• His thrift and industry speak well for his future.他的节俭和勤勉预示着他美好的未来。

2 chipmunk   

n.花栗鼠

参考例句：

• This little chipmunk is hungry.这只小花栗鼠肚子饿了。
• Once I brought her a chipmunk with a wound on its stomach.一次，我带了只腹部受伤的花栗鼠去找她。

3 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

4 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

5 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

6 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

7 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。

8 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

9 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。