CHAPTER XXII Fishing for Mice

 Master Meadow Mouse peeped out of the end of his tunnel and gave a faint squeak¹. As he watched, he saw Peter Mink²'s head, on its long neck, flash out from beneath the overhanging bank of the brook³.

"What are you doing up there?" Master Meadow Mouse called.

 

"Fishing!" said Peter Mink promptly⁴.

 

"Aren't you a long way from the water?" Master Meadow Mouse inquired.

 

"With a pole, one doesn't need to stand right at the water's edge," said Peter Mink.

 

"But you haven't a pole," Master Meadow Mouse pointed⁵ out. "At least, I can't see that you have one."

 

Peter was greatly surprised—or seemed to be.

 

"I declare!" he said. "I forgot to bring my pole with me. And if you hadn't reminded me of it I shouldn't have known what was the trouble. I was wondering why I didn't get any bites." As he spoke⁶ he slid down the lower part of the bank and stretched himself like a cat. But all the time he was looking at Master Meadow Mouse out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing here?" Peter Mink asked pleasantly.

 

"I came to take a swim," Master Meadow Mouse explained.

 

"Have you had it?"

 

"Not yet!" Master Meadow Mouse told him. "And I believe I'll wait till to-morrow."

 

"The water's fine to-day," said Peter Mink. "I've been in and out of it forty times."

 

But Master Meadow Mouse wasn't to be persuaded so easily.

 

"I might spoil your fishing if I went in now," he remarked.

 

"I don't care if you do," said Peter Mink. "The pleasure of seeing you enjoy a swim would more than repay me for the loss of the biggest fish in this brook."

 

Now, such speeches sounded very strange, coming from the mouth of a surly rascal⁷ like Peter Mink, who was never known to do anybody a good turn. Master Meadow Mouse pondered over this last statement. There seemed to be a catch in it somewhere. And he decided⁸, finally, that he had discovered it.

 

"I didn't know there were any fish in this brook worth catching," he piped. "They say there were trout⁹ here once. But now there's nothing bigger than a minnow."

 

Peter Mink nodded. "That's the truth," he said. "If this brook has a fish that's as meaty as you are, I've never seen him."

 

"Ah!" cried Master Meadow Mouse. "You'd far rather catch me than catch a fish in this pool."

 

Peter Mink grinned at him brazenly¹⁰.

 

"I won't deny it," he replied.

 

"But you tried to deceive me," Master Meadow Mouse told him. "You said—when I asked you what you were doing here—you said that you were fishing."

 

"So I was!" Peter Mink exclaimed with a horrid¹¹ chuckle¹². "I was fishing for mice. And if you'd been a little less careful I'd have caught one, too."

 

"Good day!" said Master Meadow Mouse. "Good day and good-by!"

 

"Don't say good-by!" Peter Mink corrected. "Say, 'Till we meet again!'"

 

But Master Meadow Mouse had already pulled his head out of sight and vanished inside his tunnel.

 

1 squeak   

n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another squeak out of you!我不想再听到你出声！
• We won the game,but it was a narrow squeak.我们打赢了这场球赛，不过是侥幸取胜。

2 mink   

n.貂，貂皮

参考例句：

• She was wearing a blue dress and a mink coat.她穿着一身蓝色的套装和一件貂皮大衣。
• He started a mink ranch and made a fortune in five years. 他开了个水貂养殖场，五年之内就赚了不少钱。

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 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 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。

7 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

10 brazenly   

adv.厚颜无耻地；厚脸皮地肆无忌惮地

参考例句：

• How dare he distort the facts so brazenly! 他怎么敢如此肆无忌惮地歪曲事实！ 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• "I don't know," he answered, looking her brazenly over. “我也不知道，"他厚颜无耻地打量着她。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

11 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。

12 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。