VIII DO YOU LIKE BUTTER?

 After Mrs. Ladybug failed in her attempt to brush the dust off Betsy Butterfly she grew more jealous of Betsy than ever.

 

It was really a shame that Mrs. Ladybug should feel like that. Usually she was quite harmless, even if she was a busybody and a gossip. But she simply couldn't forgive Betsy Butterfly for being so beautiful. And now Mrs. Ladybug began to neglect her children more than ever, in order to spy upon Betsy in the hope of discovering some new fault in her.

 

Betsy Butterfly soon noticed that wherever she went she was sure to see Mrs. Ladybug, who had a way of bobbing up in a most startling fashion. But Betsy was always quite polite to the jealous little creature. And she never failed to inquire for her health and that of her children as well, even if she met Mrs. Ladybug a dozen times a day.

 

For some reason Mrs. Ladybug seemed quite touchy¹, where her family was concerned.

 

"You don't need to ask about my children," she told Betsy at last in a somewhat sharp tone. "They are in the best of health. And I'll let you know in case they fall ill.... It's strange," she continued, "how everybody in this neighborhood is always prying² into my household affairs."

 

Betsy Butterfly smiled to herself. She did not care to quarrel with Mrs. Ladybugp. 39 —nor with anyone else, for that matter. So she abruptly³ changed the subject.

 

"Do you like butter?" she asked.

 

"Why, no!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "I don't care anything about it. At least, I never ate any."

 

"Then I don't see how you know whether you like it or not," Betsy observed, "unless you've looked into a buttercup to find out."

 

Mrs. Ladybug was interested, in spite of herself.

 

"Can a person tell by doing that?" she wanted to know.

 

"It's a sure way," said Betsy Butterfly. "I was just looking into this buttercup that I'm sitting on when you flew up and spoke⁴ to me."

 

"Do you like butter?" Mrs. Ladybug inquired.

 

"I'm afraid not," Betsy told her.

 

"I'd like to try, myself," Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed eagerly. "But I don't know how."

 

"It's simple enough," Betsy Butterfly replied. "You just look into a buttercup blossom.

 

"And if it makes your face yellow, then you're fond of butter—whether you ever had any or not."

 

So Mrs. Ladybug perched herself on a big blossom and peered earnestly into its cup.

 

"Is my face yellow?" she asked Betsy.

 

"I do believe it is!" Betsy Butterfly cried.

 

And Mrs. Ladybug looked much pleased.

 

"I've always known I had refined tastes," she remarked with a lofty air. "And now I'd like to sample a bit of butter; but I don't know where to find any."

"Butter? They make it at the farmhouse⁵," Betsy informed her.

 

"Then perhaps Farmer Green's wife will let me have a little," Mrs. Ladybug said hopefully. "I'll go over to the farmhouse at once.... It's too bad you don't like butter, too," she added.

 

But secretly she was delighted that Betsy Butterfly had looked into a buttercup in vain.

1 touchy   

adj.易怒的；棘手的

参考例句：

• Be careful what you say because he's touchy.你说话小心，因为他容易生气。
• He's a little touchy about his weight.他对自己的体重感到有点儿苦恼。

2 prying   

adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开

参考例句：

• I'm sick of you prying into my personal life! 我讨厌你刺探我的私生活！
• She is always prying into other people's affairs. 她总是打听别人的私事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。