XI Cured At Last

 “How do you feel now?” Aunt Polly Woodchuck asked Solomon Owl¹, when he had come back to her house after a week's absence.

 

“No better!” he groaned². “I still have pains. But they seem to have moved and scattered³ all over me.”

 

“Good!” she exclaimed with a smile. “You are much better, though you didn't know it. The wishbone is broken. You broke it by flying against the trees. And you ought not to have any more trouble. But let me examine you!” she said, prodding⁵ him in the waistcoat once more.

 

 

“This is odd!” she continued a bit later. “I can feel the wishbone more plainly than ever.”

 

“That's my own wishbone!” Solomon cried indignantly. “I've grown so thin through not eating that it's a wonder you can't feel my backbone⁶, too.”

 

Aunt Polly Woodchuck looked surprised.

 

“Perhaps you're right!” said she. “Not having a wishbone of my own, I forgot that you had one.”

 

A look of disgust came over Solomon Owl's face.

 

“You're a very poor doctor,” he told her. “Here you've kept me from eating for a whole week—and I don't believe it was necessary at all!”

 

“Well, you're better, aren't you?” she asked him.

 

 

“I shall be as soon as I have a good meal,” replied Solomon Owl, hopefully.

 

“You ought not to eat anything for another week,” Aunt Polly told him solemnly.

 

“Nonsense!” he cried.

 

“I'm a doctor; and I ought to know best,” she insisted.

 

But Solomon Owl hooted⁷ rudely.

 

“I'll never come to you for advice any more,” he declared. “I firmly believe that my whole trouble was simply that I've been eating too sparingly. And I shall take good care to see that it doesn't happen again.”

 

No one had ever spoken to Aunt Polly in quite that fashion—though old Mr. Crow had complained one time that she had cured him too quickly. But she did not lose her temper, in spite of Solomon's jeers⁸.

 

 

“You'll be back here again the very next time you're ill,” she remarked. “And if you continue to swallow your food whole——”

 

But Solomon Owl did not even wait to hear what she said. He was so impolite that he flew away while she was talking. And since it was then almost dark, and a good time to look for field mice, he began his night's hunting right there in Farmer Green's pasture.

 

By morning Solomon was so plump that Aunt Polly Woodchuck would have had a good deal of trouble finding his wishbone. But since he did not visit her again, she had no further chance to prod⁴ him in the waistcoat.

 

Afterward⁹, Solomon heard a bit of gossip that annoyed him. A friend of his reported that Aunt Polly Woodchuck was going about and telling everybody how she had saved Solomon's life.

 

 

“Mice!” he exclaimed (he often said that when some would have said “Rats!”). “There's not a word of truth in her claim. And if people in this neighborhood keep on taking her advice and her catnip tea they're going to be sorry some day. For they'll be really ill the first thing they know. And then what will they do?”

 

1 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。

2 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

4 prod   

vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励

参考例句：

• The crisis will prod them to act.那个危机将刺激他们行动。
• I shall have to prod him to pay me what he owes.我将不得不催促他把欠我的钱还给我。

5 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

7 hooted   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• An owl hooted nearby. 一只猫头鹰在附近啼叫。
• The crowd hooted and jeered at the speaker. 群众向那演讲人发出轻蔑的叫嚣和嘲笑。

8 jeers   

n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They shouted jeers at him. 他们大声地嘲讽他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The jeers from the crowd caused the speaker to leave the platform. 群众的哄笑使讲演者离开讲台。 来自辞典例句

9 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。