CHAPTER III

The next day, when Bunny Cotton-Tail woke up, he heard the rain pattering against the window panes¹. He cried so loud, and his tears fell so fast, that his little brother thought the roof was leaking!

 

Mother Cotton-Tail said it would do no good to cry about the rain, and she went to the closet and brought out a beautiful new silk umbrella. She had bought it for a birthday present for Bunny, but she hated to see Bunny unhappy, so she said he might go out in the rain so as to use it.

 

[19]Now, Bunny was not a very careful little rabbit, so he did not wait to learn how to open it, but ran out of the house and down the road with the umbrella in his paw. That is the reason you see him so in the picture. He ran fast, because he wanted to show Susan his new present.

 

Now, wasn’t it odd that on that very same morning Susan Cotton-Tail cried when she saw the rain, and that her mother gave her a beautiful new umbrella? But Susan was a careful rabbit, and learned how to open and use the umbrella before she went out.

 

Susan had left her basket at Bunny’s house the night before, so[20] her mother said she might go after it. That is the way the two rabbits happened to meet.

 

Bunny was delighted when Susan showed him how to open his umbrella, and they stood there some time, talking in the rain. Of course it was too wet to go for berries, but they wanted to have some fun, so they decided² to go to Bunny’s house and blow soap-bubbles.

 

On the way home they passed a nice garden. Farmer Jones was out working in it that morning. Bunny wished very much for a bite of cabbage, so he begged Susan to come and hide behind the raspberry bushes, so that they could nibble³ something while Farmer[21] Jones was not looking. Now Susan was a good little rabbit, and she knew that to steal is very wrong, so she said, “No.”

 

Then Susan and Bunny went on to Bunny’s house, and here they blew soap-bubbles all the morning.

1 panes   

窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sun caught the panes and flashed back at him. 阳光照到窗玻璃上，又反射到他身上。
• The window-panes are dim with steam. 玻璃窗上蒙上了一层蒸汽。

2 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。

3 nibble   

n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵

参考例句：

• Inflation began to nibble away at their savings.通货膨胀开始蚕食他们的存款。
• The birds cling to the wall and nibble at the brickwork.鸟儿们紧贴在墙上，啄着砖缝。