A VOYAGE TO INDIA

 

RAINING, still raining! Oh dear, oh dear! But what, you say to yourself, is a little rain? Jane Ann must be patient. She must stay at home and play with her delightful¹ toys this afternoon, and then perhaps to-morrow morning the sun will come out, and she will be able to run about in the fields again. After all, it isn’t every little girl who has a rabbit, and a horse and cart², and an india-rubber ball to play with. Come, come, Jane Ann!

 

How little you understand!

 

To-day was the day. To-morrow will be too late. Perhaps even now if it cleared up—but each time that she has said this, down has come another cloud. She tried shutting her eyes; she did try that. She tried shutting her eyes and saying, “One, two, three, four—I’ll count twenty and then I’ll open them, and please, will you let the rain stop by then, please, because it’s too{60} terribly important, you know why.” Yes, she counted twenty; quickly up to twelve, and then more slowly to fifteen, and then sixteen ... seventeen ... eighteen ... nineteen ... and then, so slowly that it wasn’t really fair, but she wanted to make it easier for God³, twe ... twe ... twe ... TWENTY! But it went on raining. She tried holding her breath⁴; she said that if she held her breath a very long time, longer than anyone in the whole world had ever held it before, then when she stopped holding it, it would stop raining. Wouldn’t it? But it didn’t. So she stood at the window and watched the raindrops sliding down the pane⁵; and she said—and she knew this would do it—that if this raindrop got to the bottom⁶ of the pane before the other, then it would stop raining, but that if the other one did, then it wouldn’t stop ... and when they were half-way down, she said, No, it was{61} the other way about, and if this one got there last, then.... But still it went on raining.

 

You see, it was the day she was going to India. Her Father and Mother lived in India, and she remembered them quite well. At first she remembered they were black, because all Indians were black, and then when Aunt Mary told her they were white, she remembered how white they were. She was to live with Aunt Mary until they came home, which was next year, and sometimes she got tired of waiting.

 

“Couldn’t they come to-morrow?” she asked.

 

“Not to-morrow,” said Aunt Mary, “because they are very busy, but it won’t be long now.”

 

Then Jane Ann had her lovely idea. If they were too busy to come to her, she would go to them.{62}

 

She counted up all her money, and thought it would be just enough, if she walked all the way. And every day that week, when she went out with her Nurse, she bought something nourishing⁷, like buns⁸ or chocolates, and put them in her special box. And every evening she looked inside the box, and then shut her eyes and thought very hard of her Father and Mother, and didn’t eat any of it. And when the box was full, it was Friday night, and to-morrow was the day.

 

She said good-bye to Rabbit that night. They all wanted to come, but Rabbit most. Rabbit had a special pink ribbon⁹ round his neck to come by, and he had never been to India before, so he was terribly excited. But Jane Ann said, No, he couldn’t, because India was full of fierce¹⁰ tigers, and tigers ate rabbits. Rabbit saw that it wouldn’t do to be eaten by a tiger, but he thought he could{63} dodge¹¹ them. He was very disappointed¹² when Jane Ann told him that even dodgy rabbits got eaten by tigers in India. “Even very dodgy rabbits?” he asked wistfully. “Yes,” said Jane Ann, “even very dodgy rabbits.” But she felt so sorry for him when she said this that she took off his pink ribbon and hid it away in a drawer, in case she felt she couldn’t leave him behind in the morning.

 

They were all to see her off. She arranged¹³ them in the window—Horse and Cart, Horse, Ball and Rabbit—so that she would be able to wave to them for quite a long way. Of course, after you had gone a long way you had to turn to the right, and then you wouldn’t see them any more. That was when she would first open her box, because she would be feeling so lonely. It was wonderful how unlonely chocolate made you.{64}

 

Looking out of the window next morning, Rabbit saw that it was raining.

 

“Perhaps she won’t go now,” he said, and he was very excited.

 

After breakfast Jane Ann looked out of the window, too.

 

“It will stop soon,” she said cheerfully¹⁴.

 

And she stood there waiting for it to stop....

1 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

2 cart   

n.（二轮或四轮）运货马车，手推车；vt.用马车装载，用手提（笨重物品），强行带走

参考例句：

• We use this to cart the goods.我们用这个来拉运货物。
• Let's go over and help them pull the cart.咱们过去帮他们拉车。

3 god   

n.上帝，神；被极度崇拜的人或物

参考例句：

• God knows how the cat got up on the roof.只有天知道那只猫是怎样爬上房顶的。
• God wills that man should be happy.上帝愿人类幸福。

4 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

5 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

6 bottom   

n.底部;屁股，臀部；adj.底部的

参考例句：

• The bottom of the cup is broken.这杯子的底破了。
• The channel must have a flat bottom.沟道的底要平。

7 nourishing   

adj.富于营养的

参考例句：

• He's been nourishing the hope of a trip abroad. 他一直怀着出国旅行的愿望。
• Fruit is very nourishing. 水果富有营养。

8 buns   

n.圆形的小面包或点心( bun的名词复数 )；（女子的）圆发髻

参考例句：

• The steamed buns fresh from the steamer were nice and warm. 刚出锅的馒头真热火。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The steamed buns are cold; let's heat them up. 馒头凉了，縢一縢吧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 ribbon   

n.缎带，色带，带状物；vt.用丝带装饰，撕成条状；vi.形成带状

参考例句：

• Her hair was tied up with a ribbon.她用一条丝带系着头发。
• We decorated our car with ribbon.我们在汽车上挂满了缎带。

10 fierce   

adj.凶猛的，残忍的；狂热的，强烈的

参考例句：

• The soldiers got ready for a fierce battle.战士们准备进行一场恶战。
• What he said met with fierce opposition.他的话语遭到激烈反对。

11 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。

12 disappointed   

adj.失望的，不满意的，不如意的

参考例句：

• He seemed disappointed when the man refused his request.当那个人拒绝了他的要求时他看起来很失望。
• He was disappointed so often that he became hopeless.他屡次失望，以致变为了绝望。

13 arranged   

adj.安排的v.安排，准备( arrange的过去式和过去分词 )；把…（系统地）分类；整理；改编（剧本等）

参考例句：

• The party was arranged quickly. 聚会很快就安排好了。
• Chairs in rows are not as conducive to discussion as chairs arranged in a circle. 椅子成排摆放不如成圈摆放便于讨论。

14 cheerfully   

adv.高兴地，愉快地

参考例句：

• The train rolled cheerfully into the station.火车欢呼着驶进车站。
• He takes our advice quite cheerfully.他欣然接受我们的劝告。