X DRAWING LOTS

Buster Bumblebee's mother told her forty-nine honey-makers that Freddie

Firefly and at least forty-eight of his relations were expected at the

Bumblebees' house at dusk.

"Each of the Fireflies will furnish each of you with a light," the Queen explained, "so you'll be able to go to the clover field almost as easily as you do in the daytime. You're to work until midnight. And after that you may sleep until the trumpeter wakes you at dawn."

 

The Queen's announcement did not please the honey-makers in the least. They were an ill-tempered lot, anyhow. And when things did not go to suit them they sometimes made themselves most disagreeable.

 

Of course they didn't dare grumble¹ in the Queen's hearing. But behind her back they spoke² their minds quite freely.

 

"It's all the fault of that boy Buster," they told one another. "If he hadn't suggested his horrid³ plan to his mother we wouldn't have to work half the night and lose half our sleep."

 

"I wish he was here now!" one of the honey-makers exclaimed fiercely.

"I'd make it hot for him!"

Usually the honey-makers began to grow very drowsy⁴ at that time of day (it was then late in the afternoon). But now they were so angry that they were not the least bit sleepy. Their own buzzing⁵ kept them awake. And the Queen was glad that it was so, because she herself never could have stopped so many of them from going to sleep. And even then, if the truth must be known, the Queen wished that she might go to bed. Never in all her life had she been up so late before.

 

"I wish the Fireflies would hurry!" she exclaimed as she stood at the front-door of her house and looked across the fast darkening field.

 

As she watched anxiously, the Queen soon spied a light, which kept growing brighter and brighter, until at last Freddie Firefly dropped down before her. He took off his cap and made a low bow.

 

"Here I am, Queen!" he said.

 

"Where's the rest of your family?" Buster Bumblebee's mother asked him.

 

"They all had to go to a dance down by the swamp⁶," Freddie Firefly explained. "They wanted me to go with them; but I had promised your son that I'd be here at dusk. And of course I wouldn't think of breaking my promise."

 

Well, the Queen was terribly disappointed.

 

"You never can furnish enough light for my forty-nine workers!" she cried.

 

"Perhaps not!" Freddie admitted. "But I'd be glad to take one of them to the clover-patch to-night, just as a trial, you know."

 

The Queen said that that was a good idea. And the honey-makers, who had come outside the house, all agreed that it was a fine suggestion. But not one of them wanted to go with Freddie.

 

"Then you'll have to draw lots," the Queen told them severely⁷.

 

When the honey-makers heard that, one of them tried to slip away. But the Queen saw her and called her back.

 

Then they drew lots. And strange to say, the worker who had tried to escape proved to be the unlucky one who was doomed⁸ to go to the clover field with Freddie Firefly and gather clover nectar until midnight.

 

Unluckily for Freddie, she was the worst-tempered person in the whole Bumblebee household. And when she saw that she alone of the whole family was going to lose half her night's sleep you may be sure she felt very surly.

 

Freddie noticed a wicked gleam⁹ in her eyes. And he began to wish he had gone to the dance over near the swamp.

1 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

2 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。

3 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

4 drowsy   

adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的

参考例句：

• Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。
• I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

5 buzzing   

adj.嗡嗡响的v.发出嗡嗡声( buzz的现在分词 )；（发出）充满兴奋的谈话声[闲话，谣言]；忙乱，急行；用蜂鸣器（发信号）

参考例句：

• The computer made a buzzing noise that she found off-putting. 计算机发出的嗡嗡声让她心烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Bees are humming [buzzing] around from flower to flower. 蜜蜂在花丛中嗡嗡地飞来飞去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 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。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

9 gleam   

n./vi.微光，闪光，短暂而微弱的闪现

参考例句：

• We saw the gleam of headlights through the rain.我们在雨中看见汽车前灯的微光。
• A gleam of interest came into his eyes.他的眼里流露出一丝关切的目光。