I A GREAT SECRET

 Whoever Katy was, and whatever she might have done, nobody in Pleasant Valley knew anything about her except Kiddie Katydid and his numerous and noisy family.

 

To be sure, many of the wild folk—and the people in the farmhouse¹, too—remembered hearing her name mentioned the year before.

 

But they had quite forgotten about her, until August came and Kiddie Katydid and his relations brought her to their minds once more.

 

Each night the Katydids' rasping chant was repeated again and again: Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did! But since in any crowd there are always a few that want to be different from the rest, now and then some member of Kiddie's clan² insisted that Katy didn't—somewhat in this fashion: Katy did, Katy did; she did, she didn't!

 

However, there were always so many others to drown any such puzzling statement with their shrill³ clamor that Katy really did do it (whatever it was!) that nobody paid much attention to those few who didn't quite agree.

 

On warm, dry, midsummer nights the Katydids all made a terrific racket. But there wasn't one of them that outdid Kiddie. He always had the best time when he was making the most noise. And since he liked to station himself in a tree near Farmer Green's house, his uproar⁴ often rose plainly above that of the other Katydids.

 

Lying in bed in his little room under the eaves, Johnnie Green sometimes wished that Kiddie would keep quiet long enough to let him go to sleep in peace.

 

To be sure, the balmy breezes wafted⁵ many other night sounds through Johnnie's open window. From near-by came Chirpy Cricket's cheerful piping. And in the distant swamp the musical Frog family held a singing party every evening. Johnnie Green liked to hear them. But he objected strongly to the weird⁶ hooting⁷ and horrid⁸ laughter of Solomon Owl⁹, who left the hemlock¹⁰ woods after dark to hunt for field mice.

 

As for Kiddie Katydid, he paid little attention to any other of the night cries. No matter what anybody else said, he solemnly hurled¹¹ back at him that neverending refrain, Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did!

 

You would have thought, if you had heard Kiddie, that somebody had disputed his statement. But such was not the case at all. Since no one except the Katydids knew anything about the mysterious Katy, nobody was able to say truthfully that she didn't do it. In fact, the whole affair was a great secret, so far as outsiders were concerned. And one night Johnnie Green even thrust his head out of the window and cried impatiently:

 

"All right! All right! I admit that Katy did it. And now do please keep still!"

 

Of course, his plea failed to silence Kiddie Katydid. But it relieved Johnnie Green's mind and made him feel better, anyhow.

 

Kiddie told his own people about Johnnie's outburst. And they all agreed that it was a rude thing to do.

 

"Doesn't he know," they asked, "that the night belongs to us?"

作者的其它作品

The Tale of Timothy Turtle

The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat

The Tale of Solomon Owl

The Tale of Betsy Butterfly

 

1 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。

2 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

3 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

4 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

5 wafted   

v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The sound of their voices wafted across the lake. 他们的声音飘过湖面传到了另一边。
• A delicious smell of freshly baked bread wafted across the garden. 花园中飘过一股刚出炉面包的香味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

7 hooting   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩

参考例句：

• He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
• The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。

8 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

9 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。

10 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

11 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》