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CHAPTER IX IN THE ANIMAL STORE
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 It was a long journey and I was terribly frightened. After the man had walked a long way there was a lot of noise and then we were in a train, only I didn’t know what it was at the time. The motion made me very uncomfortable and I felt a little bit sick at my stomach. But I managed to go to sleep presently, with my nose close up to one of the holes in the box.
 
The next thing I knew the box was being lifted up and then the man carried me for awhile. It was very noisy where we went and it smelled differently from any place I’d ever been. I guessed it was the City, and I was right. When we reached the end of the journey the cover of the box was taken off and I found myself in a little room with the man who had stolen me and another man who looked very dirty and fat. I could hear a lot of funny noises; dogs barking and cats meowing and birds chirping1. The man who had brought me there said:
 
“Thirty dollars takes him, Bill, and not a cent less. He’s a prize-winner, he is. Belongs to—”
 
“I don’t want to hear who he belongs to,” said the other man. “You bring him to me and say you want to sell him. That’s enough. If he wasn’t your dog I wouldn’t be buying him. But twenty dollars is all I can pay for him. There ain’t much call for dachshunds just now. They ain’t in style.”
 
So the two men talked and talked for a long time, the man who had brought me saying he must have thirty dollars and the other man saying he could only pay twenty. But after awhile they agreed on a price and the new man gave the other some money and he went away. Then the new man took me into another room that was filled with cages and put me into one and gave me water and food. I was very thirsty and a little bit hungry, but the place was so strange that I didn’t do more than drink a little water at first.
 
There were lots of dogs there in cages, some of them just little puppies2, and there were cats, too, cats with long hair and bushy tails and cats with short hair, and one cat with no tail at all! And there was a goat, too, and parrots and canaries and queer3 birds whose names I didn’t know, and lizards4 and turtles and goldfish swimming about in tanks of water. Oh, it was a funny, queer place, and as for noise—well, I’d never heard anything like it! Even the dog show was a quiet place compared to that store. People came in from the street outside and stared at us through the bars of the cages and poked5 their fingers at us and laughed when we were frightened, as I was, or when we tried to lick6 their hands, as the puppies did.
 
Right across the aisle7 from where I was there was a little cage made mostly of glass and in it were some tiny white mice with funny pink noses. Every little while one of the mice would come out of a loaf of bread where they lived and get in the middle of the cage and go around and around and around in a circle as fast as he could spin! I suppose he was chasing his tail, just as I used to do when I was a puppy8, but he did it so fast that my eyes ached. Sometimes two of the mice would spin at the same time and it made me dizzy to see them.
 
Well, I stayed in that store for many days, just how many I don’t remember. Several times folks asked about me; what my name was, how old I was, had I any tricks, what my price was; and once I was nearly bought by a very stout9 lady who had lots of rings on her fingers. But I didn’t like her smell—you know we dogs judge folks a good deal by their smell—and so I snapped10 at her when she went to stroke me and she said right away that she wouldn’t take me. I thought that the man would be very angry with me, but he wasn’t. He just chuckled11 as he put me back in the cage.
 
After that I made up my mind that I would have to stay right there in that store all the rest of my days, for I had heard the man tell folks that my price was fifty dollars, and fifty dollars seemed a great deal of money and I didn’t believe that any one would ever give that much for me. The man used to tell folks a great many fibs about me. He said my name was Kaiser and that I was raised in Germany and had taken twenty-four prizes at dog shows since I had been in this country. He said I was just two years old and as sound as a whistle. He wasn’t far wrong as to my age, and I was sound, but the rest of the things he said were just plain fibs. I was sorry about the fibs, for he was rather a nice man and treated us all quite kindly12, and I was afraid something dreadful13 would happen to him for telling stories. It is very wrong to tell fibs, of course, and dogs never do it.
 
I made several friendships at that store. There was Mouser, who lived next cage to me. I never thought that I should like a cat, but I did. He was a big grey cat and had the longest whiskers I ever saw. He and I would put our heads through the bars and have fine long talks together. He had seen a great deal of life and had always lived in the City. At first he wouldn’t believe the things I told him about the country. He took quite an interest in Ju-Ju and said he thought she was a very lucky cat. Mouser didn’t know who his parents were or where he was born. Isn’t that strange? Fancy not knowing your own father or mother! I wouldn’t like that, would you?
 
Mouser said that when he was a tiny little kitten he lived just anywhere; under doorsteps and on roofs and in sheds; and all he had to eat was what he could find in the gutters14. I guess he had a pretty hard time of it until a little girl picked him up one day and took him home with her. After that he had a nice home for nearly a year. Then the little girl’s family went away and closed the house up and Mouser was put out into the street again to get along as best he could. It was harder then than it was before, because he had got used to having his food given to him and to having a nice warm place to sleep each night. For awhile he almost starved, he said, and had to fight other cats, and dogs, too, and even rats sometimes, to get anything to eat. He said he stayed around the house he had been living in for a long time, hoping the family would come back[169] again and let him in, but they never did and so finally he wandered away to another part of the town where there were many more garbage barrels. He said he was like the cat in the verse15 that the little girl used to recite to him. I asked him what the verse was and he repeated it to me. This was it:
 
Poor little Kitty-in-the-Street!
Ain’t got no thing to eat;
Ain’t got no garbage pails,
Ain’t got no fishes’ tails;
Poor little Kitty-in-the-Street
Ain’t got no thing to eat!
I think it is quite a sad little verse, don’t you?
 
One day when Mouser was prowling about looking for his dinner a man with a net on the end of a pole came along and slipped the net over him and took him off in a wagon16 to a place where there were lots and lots of cats who had no homes, like Mouser. The next day a lady came looking for a cat who would catch mice and a man whose place it was to find homes for the cats said:
 
“Got just what you want, Lady. Here’s a fine big fellow that’s a regular mouser.”
 
So the lady liked his looks and carried him to her home in a basket and named him Mouser. Before that he had had another name, but he didn’t remember what it was. He stayed with the lady for a long time and then she, too, went away to live in a place where cats were not allowed and so she brought Mouser to the animal dealer’s, and here he was looking for a new home. I told him I didn’t think I would like having so many homes, but he said you got used to it in time and that almost anything was better than no home at all and being just a “Kitty-in-the-Street!”
 
Then there was Prince. Prince was a funny, good-natured dog who lived in a big cage across the aisle. He wasn’t any regular kind of dog, but a little of every kind. He had a long brown coat and a shaggy tail and a pointed17 nose and very yellow eyes. One of his ears stood up straight and the other fell over just as if it was tired. But he was a real nice, jolly fellow, and had the finest, deepest bark I ever heard. He was just about my age and had been born in the country. One day he came with his master to the city to sell a load of vegetables at the market and another dog quarrelled with him and they had an awful fight and the other dog bit him so that he had to run away. And when he stopped running he was quite lost! He hunted around and at last he found the market again, but his master had gone. So he stayed there for a long time and the marketman gave him pieces of meat and he got along very nicely. He thought that some day his master would come back again. And perhaps he did, but Prince wasn’t there because one day a boy tied a piece of rope about his neck and took him to the animal dealer’s and sold him for fifty cents.
 
He was quite happy and contented18, though, and I liked him very much. And I hope that he and Mouser each found a nice home. There was a little white and tan dog whose name was Peaches—which is a funny name for a dog, isn’t it?—and he lived in a cage next to Prince for awhile. He was sold while I was there and taken away by a big man with a gruff voice to hunt rats in a stable. Peaches was not a very gentlemanly dog, but he was full of fun and we all liked him a lot. One of the funny things he did was to stand on his front legs, with his hind19 legs in the air, and walk around the cage. And while he did it he would say:
 
“Mary had a little dog,
He was a noble pup;
He’d stand upon his front legs
When you held his hind legs up!”
 
 
The parrots were noisy things. I don’t see why any one should want a parrot around, do you? There was one that used to look at me by the hour with his head on one side until I got quite nervous. When I barked at him he would laugh and say “Here, Fido! Here, Fido! Good dog! Good dog! Who killed the chicken?” I wished very much that I could have got hold of that parrot and pulled some of his tail-feathers out!
 
Well, I stayed in that store a long time, and I got so I didn’t mind the noise much. We had plenty to eat and drink and once a day we were taken into a tiny yard at the back to run around. Of course I wasn’t happy, and I used to long for my home and Mother and Father and the Baby and William and Freya and, most of all, I think, for Alfred. When I got to thinking about them I felt very sad and would often cry myself to sleep, just as I used to do behind the flower-pots. I tell you I missed those flower-pots a great deal those days! I had quite given up the hope of ever getting back to my home, or even getting away from the animal store, when one day a wonderful thing happened, a thing so wonderful that it deserves a chapter all to itself!

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 chirping 9ea89833a9fe2c98371e55f169aa3044     
鸟叫,虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫,把我们吵醒了。
  • The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。
2 puppies 679f34ba1ec7d7ee1f1718acc24f53d7     
n.(常指不满一岁的)小狗(puppy的复数);小狗,幼犬( puppy的名词复数 );浅薄自负的年轻男子
参考例句:
  • a litter of puppies 一窝小狗
  • The bitch bore six puppies. 母狗生了六只小狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 queer f0rzP     
adj.奇怪的,异常的,不舒服的,眩晕的
参考例句:
  • I heard some queer footsteps.我听到某种可疑的脚步声。
  • She has been queer lately.她最近身体不舒服。
4 lizards 9e3fa64f20794483b9c33d06297dcbfb     
n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Nothing lives in Pompeii except crickets and beetles and lizards. 在庞培城里除了蟋蟀、甲壳虫和蜥蜴外,没有别的生物。 来自辞典例句
  • Can lizards reproduce their tails? 蜥蜴的尾巴断了以后能再生吗? 来自辞典例句
5 poked 87f534f05a838d18eb50660766da4122     
v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 );戳出;拨弄;与(某人)性交
参考例句:
  • She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
  • His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 lick y9UzW     
vt.舔(吃),打败,轻拍,吞卷;n.舔,少许
参考例句:
  • I think we could lick the best teams there.我想我们能打败那儿最好的队。
  • The house would look better with a lick of paint.这房子稍加颜色就好看了。
7 aisle qxPz3     
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道
参考例句:
  • The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
  • The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。
8 puppy ECZyv     
n.小狗,幼犬
参考例句:
  • You must school your puppy to obey you.你要训练你的小狗服从你。
  • Their lively puppy frisks all over the house.他们的小狗在屋里到处欢快地蹦跳。
9     
参考例句:
10 snapped 049d092795475d08a3fcd2d16ef4b519     
v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 );(使某物)发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开,关闭];厉声地说;拍照
参考例句:
  • The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
  • He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了,暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 chuckled 8ce1383c838073977a08258a1f3e30f8     
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
  • She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情,她就轻轻地暗自发笑。
12 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
13 dreadful wk0z7     
adj.糟透了的,极端的,可怕的,令人畏惧的
参考例句:
  • I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
  • I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。
14 gutters 498deb49a59c1db2896b69c1523f128c     
(路边)排水沟( gutter的名词复数 ); 阴沟; (屋顶的)天沟; 贫贱的境地
参考例句:
  • Gutters lead the water into the ditch. 排水沟把水排到这条水沟里。
  • They were born, they grew up in the gutters. 他们生了下来,以后就在街头长大。
15 verse YLpzl     
n.诗,韵文,诗行
参考例句:
  • He is good at verse.他善于作诗。
  • His book was in parts written in verse.他的书有许多地方是用韵文写的。
16 wagon XhUwP     
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
参考例句:
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
17 pointed Il8zB4     
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。
18 contented Gvxzof     
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的
参考例句:
  • He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
  • The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。
19 hind Cyoya     
adj.后面的,后部的
参考例句:
  • The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
  • Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。


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