VIII MRS. DEER EXPLAINS

 For the first time in his life Nimble felt quite grown up. He forgot that he had not yet lived a whole summer. He had made a suggestion to his mother which she had promptly¹ acted upon. It had never happened before. And that was enough to cause him great pleasure.

 

Then there was something else that made Nimble believe himself to be a person of some account: A strange affair had happened at the lake. He had seen it all. He had taken part in it himself. Really it was no wonder that he began to talk quite importantly.

 

"It was lucky I was with you," he remarked to his mother as they rested amid the tangle² of Cedar³ Swamp⁴.

 

"It was lucky we weren't any further out in the lake," she exclaimed. "If you hadn't been with me no doubt I'd have gone where the water was much deeper. And that light would have caught me before I could have reached the shore."

 

What his mother said made Nimble feel bigger than ever. He wasn't quite sure what had happened back there, where they had been surprised while eating water lilies. But he meant to find out, for he thought it would make a good story to tell his friends.

 

"Would the moon have burnt us if it had hit us?" he inquired.

 

"What in the world are you talking about?" his mother asked him.

 

He looked puzzled at her question.

 

"Wasn't that the moon that lit up the lake along the shore?" he demanded.

 

"Certainly not!" she replied.

 

"Didn't the moon fall into the water?" he asked.

 

"No, indeed!" his mother cried. She was astonished at his question.

 

Nimble was disappointed. He had thought he had a wonderful tale to tell. And he couldn't understand yet why everything wasn't as he had supposed.

 

"I was sure the moon fell into the lake and blew up," he explained. "What was that terrible noise we heard if it wasn't the moon bursting into pieces?"

 

His mother didn't laugh. Instead she was quite solemn as she answered Nimble's last question.

 

"That—" she said—"that was a gun that you heard. And the light that you saw came from a lantern in a boat."

 

It was very hard for Nimble to believe what she told him.

 

"I thought I heard a piece of the moon whistle past my head," he went on.

 

"A bullet!" his mother declared. As she spoke⁵ she moved a little distance, to a spot where the trees were not so thick. And she raised her nose towards the sky. "There!" she said. "There's the moon! It's still up there where you've always seen it."

 

Nimble looked; and at last he knew that his mother had made no mistake. But somehow he was more frightened than ever.

 

"Then—" he faltered—"then there must have been men in the boat—men that turned the light upon the shore—and fired the gun!"

 

"They were men—yes!" said his mother. "And they were lawbreakers, too. I hope the game warden⁶ will catch them at their tricks."

 

"What is a game warden?" Nimble asked her.

 

"He's a man," she answered. "He's a man that looks after all of us forest folk and he's the best friend we've got.... Goodness, child! Are you never going to stop asking questions?"

 

1 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。

2 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

3 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

4 swamp   

n.沼泽，湿地；v.淹没，陷于沼泽

参考例句：

• The swamp teems with mosquitoes.这片沼泽地蚊子多极了。
• The water in the swamp is foul.沼泽中的水很臭。

5 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。

6 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。