THE DROP OF WATER

OF course you know what is meant by a magnifying glass----one of those round spectacle-glasses that make everything look a hundred times bigger than it is? When any one takes one of these and holds it to his eye, and looks at a drop of water from the pond yonder, he sees above a thousand wonderful creatures that are otherwise never discerned in the water. But they are there, and it is no delusion¹. It almost looks like a great plate-full of prawns² jumping about in a crowd. And how fierce they are! They tear off each other's legs and arms and bodies, before and behind; and yet they are merry and joyful³ in their way.

Now, there was once an old man whom all the people called Cribble-Crabble, for that was his name. He always wanted the best of everything, and when he could not manage it otherwise, he did it by magic.

There he sat one day, and held his magnifying glass to his eye, and looked at a drop of water that had been taken out of a puddle⁴ in the ditch. But what a cribbling and crabbling was there ! All the thousands of little creatures hopped⁵ and sprang and tugged⁶ at one another, and ate each other up.

“That is horrible!”said old Cribble - Crabble. “Can one not persuade them to live in peace and quietness, so that each one may mind his own business?”

And he thought it over and over, but it would not do, and so he had recourse to magic .

“I must give them colour, that they may be seen more plainly,”said he; and he poured something like a little drop of red wine into the drop of water, but it was witches' blood, the finest kind, at a half penny a drop. And now the wonderful little creatures were pink all over: it looked like a little town of naked wild men.

“What have you there?”asked another old magician, who had no name----and that was the best thing about him.

“Ah! if you can guess what it is,” said Cribble-Crabble. “I'll make you a present of it.”

But it is not so easy to find out if one does not know.

And the magician who had no name looked through the magnifying glass. It looked really like a great town reflected there, in which all the people were running about without clothes. It was terrible ! But it was still more terrible to see how one beat and pushed the other, and bit and hacked⁷, and tugged and mauled him. Those at the top were being pulled down, and those at the bottom were struggling upwards⁸.

“Look ! look ! his leg is longer than mine ! Bah ! Away with it! There is one who has a little lump behind his ear. It hurts him, but it shall hurt him still more.”

And they hacked away at him, and they pulled at him, and ate him up, because of the little lump. And there was one sitting as still as any little maiden⁹, and wishing only for peace and quietness. But now she had to come out, and they tugged at her, and pulled her about, and ate her up.

“That's remarkably¹⁰ funny!” said the magician.

“Yes, but what do you think it is?”said Cribble-Crabble. “Can you find that out?”

“Why, one can see that easily enough,”said the other. “That's Copenhagen, or some other great city, for they're all alike. It's a great city !”

“It's a drop of puddle water！” said CribbleCrabble.

1 delusion   

n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑

参考例句：

• He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症，认为自己是拿破仑。
• I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。

2 prawns   

n.对虾，明虾( prawn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mine was a picture of four translucent prawns, with two small fish swimming above them. 给我画的是四只虾，半透明的，上画有两条小鱼。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• Shall we get some shrimp and prawns? 我们要不要买些小虾和对虾？ 来自无师自通 校园英语会话

3 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

4 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

5 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

6 tugged   

v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
• A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

8 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

9 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

10 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。