DON’T WORRY

 In the last story Little Jack¹ Rabbit, of Old Bramble Patch, U. S. A., was talking to Busy Beaver², who was making a dam across the Bubbling Brook³, you remember, to keep the water from freezing up his front door in the cold winter time.

 

“Every one is getting ready for the cold weather. It won’t be long before my dam is finished and then I’ll set to work and make my house of mud and sticks,” and Busy Beaver jumped into the water with a flap of his broad tail and disappeared. So the little rabbit hopped⁴ along, and by and by he came to the cave where the Big Brown Bear made his home.

 

“Helloa!” said Little Jack Rabbit, as the Big Brown Bear looked out of his front door. “Winter time will soon be here.”

 

“Oh, that doesn’t worry me,” said the Big Brown Bear.

 

“But what will you eat?” asked the little rabbit.

 

“When you’re asleep you don’t feel hungry. On a warm sunny day I may come out for a little while and find something to eat. I don’t worry.”

 

Worry never makes you fat,

Instead, it makes you lean.

Never worry for a minute,—

Worry has the devil in it,—

Keep your mind serene⁵.

 

And if you don’t know what “serene” means, take your father’s dictionary and[91] look up, for the more words you know the wiser you’ll grow.

 

“Well, I don’t have to worry about the cold weather,” laughed the little rabbit. “Mother Nature will give me a new white fur overcoat, and the Old Bramble Patch will keep the wind away, and the cabbage leaves which mother and I have stored away will last all winter.” And then away he went to see more of his friends in the Shady Forest.

 

Well, by and by, after a while, he heard the honk⁶ of an automobile⁷ horn. “I wonder whether that’s Uncle John,” and Little Jack Rabbit stopped and looked all around, and pretty soon, not very long, Mr. John Hare drove by in his Bunnymobile. He looked very fine in his polkadot handkerchief and gold watch and chain and a great big immense diamond horseshoe pin in his pink cravat⁸. Oh, my, yes! Uncle John was quite a dandy. He was the best dressed Hare in Harebridge, and why shouldn’t he be when you consider he was President of the bank and the Harum Scarum Club!

 

“Helloa, there, little nephew,” he shouted.

 

“Hop in and take a ride with me,

We’ll take a spin for a mile or three,

And maybe we’ll come where the lollypops grow,

Pink and yellow, all in a row.”

 

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

6 honk   

n.雁叫声，汽车喇叭声

参考例句：

• Don't honk the horn indiscriminately.不要乱鸣喇叭！
• While passing another vehicle,you must honk your horn.通过另一部车时必须鸣按喇叭。

7 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

8 cravat   

n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结

参考例句：

• You're never fully dressed without a cravat.不打领结，就不算正装。
• Mr. Kenge adjusting his cravat,then looked at us.肯吉先生整了整领带，然后又望着我们。