CHAPTER I

If little Bunny Cotton-Tail had not read by candle-light, this story might never have been written.

 

One evening Bunny Cotton-Tail read very late, and he was so excited over the story he was reading that he waved one paw¹ too near the candle, and burned it sadly. Poor Bunny cried so loud that all the neighbors heard him, and came running in to see what was the matter. Have you ever[6] cried so loud that you could be heard next door?

 

Mother Cotton-Tail tied up the burned paw in a cabbage leaf and sent Bunny to bed. And what do you suppose that comical Bunny did? He liked the smell of the cabbage so well, that he ate the leaf all up, and his poor paw began to hurt worse than ever.

 

This time he did not cry, for he was afraid he would be scolded² for eating the cabbage leaf. He crept³ out of bed and ran out of the house.

 

Mother Cotton-Tail never allowed little Bunny to go out late at night, so now everything seemed very strange to him. He looked at the[7] big moon, and he was afraid. He ran on for some time and he came to a beautiful garden.

 

Here he saw more cabbages than he had ever dreamed of! There were big cabbages, little cabbages, and middle-sized cabbages. He was just going to have a nice meal when he looked up and saw a very tall creature waving its arms at him.

 

Poor little Bunny was sadly frightened. He did not know that this big thing was only a scare-crow. He had never seen a scare-crow before, in all his life. But he had seen men, and his mother had told him that men did not like rabbits. Bunny thought the[8] scare-crow was a man, and he quickly crept close to a big cabbage, to hide, and lay quite still for a while.

 

Every now and then Bunny peeped⁵ out from among the cabbage leaves, and there that awful creature and the moon were, always staring at him!

 

By and by, he decided⁶ to run home, and he started off as fast as his little legs would carry him. But the moonlight made him dizzy⁷, and he took the wrong road.

 

When daylight came, poor little Bunny Cotton-Tail was far from home, and soon a hunter came that way, and caught him. The hunter put Bunny in his bag and took him[9] home for his little boy to play with. The little boy’s name was Harold. When his papa came in with Bunny, Harold clapped his hands for joy. Then the whole family gathered around and made remarks about poor Bunny.

 

“Why are his ears so long?” Harold asked.

 

“To keep the flies off,” answered Uncle Jack⁸.

 

“He must have left his tail at home,” said big brother.

 

“He looks scared. We must build him a house,” said papa.

 

So they all went to work and made a nice house for Bunny, and big brother brought him a large leaf of cabbage to eat.

 

[10]Two big tears rolled down poor Bunny’s face, for the cabbage made him think of his fright⁴ in the garden, and his sore paw, and how he had left home.

 

Then Harold took Bunny in his arms and hugged him, and that made the poor little rabbit feel better, and he fell asleep.

 

When Harold put Bunny back in his box, he forgot to shut the door. He never thought that in the morning his new pet might be gone.

1 paw   

n.手掌，手爪；v.以蹄扒地，笨拙地使用，费力地前进

参考例句：

• He served as a cat's paw.他充当爪牙。
• Don't paw at everything you see.别见什么摸什么。

2 scolded   

v.责骂，斥责( scold的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scolded them for arriving late. 他嫌他们迟到，训了他们一通。
• The boy was scolded by his mother for breaking the looking glass. 那小孩因打破了镜子而被他妈妈责骂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 crept   

v.蹑手蹑足地走( creep的过去式和过去分词 )；缓慢地行进；爬行；匍匐

参考例句：

• I crept up the stairs, trying not to wake my parents. 为了尽量不吵醒父母，我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• He had crept up on his unsuspecting victim from behind. 他从背后悄悄逼近了那毫无戒备的受害者。

4 fright   

n.惊骇；吃惊

参考例句：

• A tree fell on the house and gave him a fright.一棵树倒在房子上，吓了他一大跳。
• She turned pale with fright.她吓得面色刷白。

5 peeped   

窥视( peep的过去式和过去分词 )； 偷看； 隐现； 慢慢露出

参考例句：

• The moon finally peeped out from behind the clouds. 月亮终于从云层后面露了出来。
• At the examination he peeped at his neighbour's paper. 他考试时偷看了他邻座的卷子。

6 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。

7 dizzy   

adj.晕眩的，眼花缭乱的；vt.使晕眩

参考例句：

• I feel a dizzy spell.我感到一阵头晕。
• Lean on me if you feel dizzy.如果你觉得头晕，就靠在我身上好了。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。