CHAPTER III PUPPY TROUBLES

 We learned a good deal about what was good to eat and what wasn’t, too. Once Delia left a tin pan filled with some whitish stuff on the back steps and I ate quite a lot of it before she came out and found what I was doing. When she did she cried “Cook! Cook! One of the Puppies has eaten the starch¹!” Of course I went right away, as I didn’t want to have any trouble about it, and pretty soon I felt very funny inside and crawled into a stall where it was quiet and dark. But William found me after a while and made me swallow something that didn’t taste at all nice and pretty soon I felt better. I didn’t think it was very kind of Delia to tell William what I had done, but maybe it was all for the best, because until he made me swallow the nasty medicine I was pretty sure I was going to die. Starch and soap taste all right but they aren’t good for puppies. I found that out.

 

It seems that we all have to learn a lot of things by what Mother calls “sad experience.” Like bees. Bees look very much like flies but they’re different. Once Freya and I saw some bees going in and out of a tiny hole in the ground back of the stable. They were very large bees and growled². We wondered why they went into the hole and so we scratched at it to find out. While we were doing it quite a lot of bees came out and Freya gave a yelp³ and began to paw at her nose. She looked so funny that I laughed at her and asked why she did it. Then I gave a yelp and forgot all about Freya. Those bees were very angry and sat down on us wherever our hair was thin, and every time they sat down they scratched. We didn’t stay there long, I can tell you! We ran as fast as we could run, but the bees flew right along with us and chased us way down to the duck-pond. By that time I had five scratches and Freya had four and they hurt a good deal and swelled⁴ up. We licked the scratches and whined⁵ and after a while we rolled over in the mud at the edge of the pond and that made them feel better. But they didn’t stop hurting for a long time. After that if a bee came buzz-buzzing around us we always made believe we didn’t see it. But we got up very quietly and moved away.

 

Then there are balls. Some balls are nice to play with and chew on. They are made of rubber. William had one and he used to throw it, and Freya and I, and sometimes Mother and Father, too, would scamper⁶ after it and see who could get it and bring it back to him. If Freya got it I always took it away from her, because I am bigger and stronger than she is. Besides, she’s only a girl dog! Once Freya found the ball in the harness room, where it had dropped off a shelf, and so she took it out under a tree and chewed on it until there was a hole in it. Then she wanted to see what was in the hole and so she tore the ball all to pieces. There wasn’t a thing in it. She ate some of the pieces and that afternoon the Doctor came and stayed quite a long time and Freya was very sick. William got another ball, but Freya would never go near it.

 

At the side of the house toward the orchard⁷ there was a lawn where the Family played a game they called croquet. They had mallets and a lot of different coloured wooden balls and they made the balls roll by hitting them with the mallets. Once Freya and I were there and we chased the balls. The Master laughed at us and said we mustn’t do it. But he didn’t really care, and the Baby, who was there with Nurse, clapped her hands and thought it was fine fun. So did we. We would run at the balls and bark at them and try to pick them up in our mouths. But we couldn’t because they were too big. The Master and Mistress laughed and laughed at us. Then I saw a ball rolling along very fast and I made believe it was a rat and ran for it as hard as I could go. But when I tried to bite it it wouldn’t stop but kept right on rolling. And so I rolled too. I rolled several times and when I found my feet I hurried off with a terrible pain in my head. Rubber balls and wooden balls are very different, like flies and bees.

 

About that time we had our first collars. Mine was black and Freya’s was brown. William said that was so people could tell us apart. I thought it was very silly of him because we didn’t look at all alike. I was bigger and, if I do say it myself, much finer looking. But that is what he said. The collars had little round brass⁸ tags on them and on the tags were numbers. They were quite like the collars that Father and Mother wore, only a great deal smaller, and we were very proud of them. William put a strap⁹ from Freya’s collar to mine and then snapped a leash¹⁰ on to the strap and said “Come on.” I trotted¹¹ right along, but Freya sat down and wouldn’t budge¹² an inch. So, of course, I had to pull her all the way to the house. It was very hard work for me, and Freya didn’t like it much, either. She howled all the way up the drive and William just laughed at her. I was quite ashamed of her for acting¹³ so. The Master and Mistress and the Baby came out to see us and I tried to put a good face on it by laughing too, but Freya just howled and howled! Girl dogs are very silly sometimes! Then the Master said:

 

“Take the leash off, William, and see what they’ll do.”

 

So he did and I ran up to the Mistress and Freya tried to run toward the stable. I wasn’t going to have that, so I dragged Freya after me and the Baby was between us and the strap upset her into the flower bed. I was sorry about it, but I thought we had better not stay there any longer, so I turned and ran as hard as I could, pulling Freya after me, toward the orchard. The orchard is quite a large place and one needn’t be caught there unless one wants to. But Freya, of course, had to spoil it all. When we came to a tree she went on the other side of it and the strap held us there. I told her to come around my side, but she just whimpered and tugged¹⁵ at the strap and paid no attention to what I said. Of course I wasn’t going to give in to her whim¹⁴, so I pulled and pulled and would have pulled her around the right way at last if William hadn’t come up just then and caught us. We got a cuffing¹⁶, which was all Freya’s fault for being so obstinate¹⁷.

1 starch   

n.淀粉；vt.给...上浆

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
• I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。

2 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 yelp   

vi.狗吠

参考例句：

• The dog gave a yelp of pain.狗疼得叫了一声。
• The puppy a yelp when John stepped on her tail.当约翰踩到小狗的尾巴，小狗发出尖叫。

4 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

5 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

6 scamper   

v.奔跑，快跑

参考例句：

• She loves to scamper through the woods of the forest.她喜欢在森林里的树林中穿梭嬉戏。
• The flash sent the foxes scampering away.闪光惊得狐狸四处逃窜。

7 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

8 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

9 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

10 leash   

n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住

参考例句：

• I reached for the leash,but the dog got in between.我伸手去拿系狗绳，但被狗挡住了路。
• The dog strains at the leash,eager to be off.狗拼命地扯拉皮带，想挣脱开去。

11 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。

12 budge   

v.移动一点儿；改变立场

参考例句：

• We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来，但它连动都没动一下。
• She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。

15 tugged   

v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
• A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 cuffing   

v.掌打，拳打( cuff的现在分词 )；袖口状白血球聚集

参考例句：

• Thickening and perivascular lymphocytic cuffing of cord blood vessels. H and E X250. 脊髓血管增粗；脊髓血管周围可见淋巴细胞浸润，形成一层套膜（苏木精-伊红染色，原始放大倍数X250倍）。 来自互联网
• In 1990 the agency allowed laser cuffing of soft tissue such as gums. 1990年，这个机构允许使用激光切割像牙龈这样的软组织。 来自互联网

17 obstinate   

adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的

参考例句：

• She's too obstinate to let anyone help her.她太倔强了，不会让任何人帮她的。
• The trader was obstinate in the negotiation.这个商人在谈判中拗强固执。