THE OPEN GATE

 MOTTO FOR THE MOTHER

Early teach your child, through play, to guard

that which is dear to him from the danger of loss.

Froebel.

One bright summer afternoon, Fleet, the good old shepherd dog that helped to take care of the farmyard, decided¹ that he would step into the barn to see his friend Mrs. Muffet and her two little kittens, for he had not been able to chat with them for some time.

 

On his way, Fleet looked around to see that all was right. The weather was warm and the hens were taking a dust bath under the apple tree, and the brindle calf² was asleep in the shadow of the barn. The ducks and geese were at the pond, the horses were at work in a distant field, the cows and sheep were in pasture, and only the brown colt kicked up his heels in the farmyard; so Fleet barked with satisfaction, and walked into the barn.

 

Inside he found Mrs. Muffet washing her face, while her two little kittens slept in the hay; and she gave Fleet a warm welcome.

 

"Good evening, Mrs. Muffet," said he.

 

"Good evening, Friend Fleet," answered she.

 

"How are the children?" asked the good dog, "and do they grow?"

 

"Grow?" said Mrs. Muffet. "You never saw anything like them! and such tricks as they play! Tittleback is the merrier, and will play with his own tail when he can find nothing else; but Toddlekins can climb in a way that is astonishing. Why, he even talks of going to the top of the barn, and no doubt he will, some day."

 

"No doubt, no doubt," said Fleet. "Children are so remarkable³ now."

 

"But what is the news with you, Friend Fleet?" inquired Mrs. Muffet.

 

"Nothing at all," said Fleet. "The barnyard is as quiet"—but just as he spoke⁴ there arose such a clatter⁵ outside the door that he sprang to his feet to see what was the matter, and the two kittens waked up in alarm. Outside, the yard was in a commotion⁶. Everybody was talking at the same time. The hens were cackling, the roosters crowing, the ducks quacking⁷, the calf crying, and the sound of flying hoofs⁸ could be heard far down the road.

 

"Pray, what is the matter?" said Fleet to three geese, that were hurrying along, with their necks stretched out.

 

"The gate is open, the brown colt's gone, the brindle calf's going and we are thinking about it; quawk! quawk!" said the three geese, Mrs. Waddle⁹, Mrs. Gabble, and Mrs. Dabble¹⁰.

 

"Where are you going?" asked Mrs. Muffet, putting her head out of the barn door.

 

"Out into the world," said the three geese together.

 

"You'd better go back to your pond," barked Fleet, as he bounded off to help the cook, who was waving her apron¹¹ to keep back the brindle calf, while the milkmaid shut the gate, and little Dick ran down the road after the brown colt.

 

The brown colt kicked up his heels, and did not care how fast Dick ran. He had all the world to roam in, and the green grass was growing everywhere; so he tossed his head and galloped¹² away toward the blue hills.

 

After a while he looked to see whether Dick was still following him, but nobody was in sight; so he lay down and rolled over among the daisies; and this was such fun that he tried it again, and again, until he was tired.

 

Then he nibbled¹³ the grass awhile, but soon decided to take another run; and he raised such a dust, as he scampered¹⁴ along, that the birds peeped down from the trees to see what it was, and a little rabbit that ran across the road was so astonished that it did not take breath again till it reached its greenwood home.

 

"Hurrah¹⁵!" said the brown colt, not because he knew what it meant but because he had heard Dick say it. "Hurrah! maybe I'll never go back!"

 

Just then there came an awful screech¹⁶ out of a neighboring field, and, although it was only the whistle of a threshing machine, the brown colt was terribly frightened, and jumped over a fence into a cotton field.

 

"Oh!" thought he, as he tore his glossy¹⁷ coat on the sharp barbs¹⁸ of the wire fence and cut his feet as he leaped awkwardly over, "Oh! how I wish I could see Dick now."

 

But Dick was at home. He had run after the brown colt as fast as his feet could carry him, and had called "Whoa! Whoa!" but the brown colt would not listen; so Dick had gone home with his head hanging down, for he was the very one who had forgotten to shut the farmyard gate.

 

Mother was at home, and she felt very sorry when she heard about it, for she knew how dear that colt was to her careless little boy; and when father came in from the fields, too late to look for the runaway¹⁹, he said that big boys and little boys and everybody else must take care of the things they wanted to keep; and Dick cried, but it did no good.

 

The cows came home when father did, and the brindle calf was glad that she had not gone away from the farmyard when she saw her mother come in from the clover lot. The chickens went to roost, and the horses were fed; but no brown colt came in sight, although Dick and Fleet went down the lane to look, a dozen times.

 

"He's sorry enough," said Friend Fleet to Mrs. Muffet, as they ate their supper; and Mrs. Muffet told Tittleback and Toddlekins all about it, when she went back to the barn.

 

Poor little Dick! and poor brown colt! They thought about each other very often that night; and early in the morning the man who owned the cotton field, drove the brown colt out.

 

"I'd like to know," said the man, as he hurried him along, "what business you have in my cotton field!" But the brown colt hung his head, as Dick had done, and limped away.

 

The long pike road stretched out, hard and white, before him, and the birds, chattering²⁰ in the bushes, seemed to say:—

 

"Is this the same brown colt that raised such a dust yesterday?"

 

Oh! how long and weary the way was, to his limping feet! But at last he reached home, just at milking time; and when the milkmaid saw him standing²¹ at the gate, she gave a scream that brought the household out.

 

Dick and the cook and Fleet tumbled over each other in their surprise, and the barnyard was in such an excitement that one hen lost her chickens and did not find them all for fifteen minutes.

 

"What did you see?" cried the brindle calf.

 

"What made you come back?" asked the geese; but Dick and Friend Fleet asked no questions, because they understood.

 

That was a long time ago, and the brown colt is a strong horse now, and Dick a tall boy; but neither of them will ever forget the day when Dick was careless and did not shut the farmyard gate.

1 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。

2 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

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 clatter   

v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声

参考例句：

• The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。
• Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。

6 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

7 quacking   

v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• For the rest it was just a noise, a quack-quack-quacking. 除此之外，便是一片噪声，一片嘎嘎嘎的叫嚣。 来自英汉文学
• The eyeless creature with the quacking voice would never be vaporized. 那没眼睛的鸭子嗓也不会给蒸发。 来自英汉文学

8 hoofs   

n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The stamp of the horse's hoofs on the wooden floor was loud. 马蹄踏在木头地板上的声音很响。 来自辞典例句
• The noise of hoofs called him back to the other window. 马蹄声把他又唤回那扇窗子口。 来自辞典例句

9 waddle   

vi.摇摆地走；n.摇摆的走路(样子)

参考例句：

• I am pregnant.I waddle awkwardly and my big stomach pressed against the weight of the world. 我怀孕了，我滑稽可笑地瞒珊而行，大肚子上压着全世界的重量。
• We waddle and hop and have lots of fun.我们走起路来摇摇摆摆，还一跳一跳的。我们的生活很有趣。

10 dabble   

v.涉足，浅赏

参考例句：

• They dabble in the stock market.他们少量投资于股市。
• Never dabble with things of which you have no knowledge.绝不要插手你不了解的事物。

11 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

12 galloped   

（使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事

参考例句：

• Jo galloped across the field towards him. 乔骑马穿过田野向他奔去。
• The children galloped home as soon as the class was over. 孩子们一下课便飞奔回家了。

13 nibbled   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• She nibbled daintily at her cake. 她优雅地一点一点地吃着自己的蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several companies have nibbled at our offer. 若干公司表示对我们的出价有兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 scampered   

v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

16 screech   

n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。
• The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。

17 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

18 barbs   

n.（箭头、鱼钩等的）倒钩( barb的名词复数 )；带刺的话；毕露的锋芒；钩状毛

参考例句：

• She slung barbs at me. 她说了些讥刺我的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I would no longer uncomplainingly accept their barbs or allow their unaccountable power to go unchallenged. 我不会再毫无怨言地洗耳恭听他们带刺的话，或让他们的不负责任的权力不受到挑战。 来自辞典例句

19 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

20 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

21 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。