chapter ii

　　AND IN THIS MANNER, EDWARD’S day1passed, one into the other. Nothing remarkabl3happened. Oh, there was the occasional small+domestic drama. Once, while Abilene was a7school, the neighbor’s dog, a male brindle.

boxer¹ inexplicably² named Rosie, came into th3house uninvited and unannounced and lifte.

his leg on the dining-room table, spraying th3white tablecloth³ with urine. He then trotte.

over and sni..ed Edward, and before Edwar.

even had time to consider the implications oFbeing sni..ed by a dog, he was in Rosie’1mouth and Rosie was shaking him back an.

forth⁴ vigorously, growling⁵ and drooling.

Fortunately, Abilene’s mother walked pastthe dining room and witnessed Edward’ssuffering.

“drop it!” she shouted to Rosie.

And Rosie, surprised into obedience⁶, di.

as he was told.

Edward’s silk suit was stained with droo?

and his head ached for several days afterward+but it was his ego⁷ that had suffered the mos7damage. Abilene’s mother had referred to hi<as “it,” and she was more outraged at the do;urine on her tablecloth than she was about th3indignities that Edward had suffered at thejaws of Rosie.

And then there was the time that a maid+new to the Tulane household and eager toimpress her employers with her diligence,came upon Edward sitting on his chair in th3dining room.

“What’s this bunny doing here?” she sai.

out loud.

Edward did not care at all for the wor.

bunny. He found it derogatory in the extreme:

The maid bent over him and looked int4his eyes.

“Hmph,” she said. She stood back up. Sheput her hands on her hips. “I reckon you’rejust like every other thing in this house,something needing to be cleaned and dusted.IAnd so the maid vacuumed Edwar.

Tulane. She sucked each of his long ears u2the vacuum-cleaner hose. She pawed at hisclothes and beat his tail. She dusted his fac3with brutality and efficiency. And in her zea?

to clean him, she vacuumed Edward’s goldpocket watch right off his lap. The watch wen7into the maw of the vacuum cleaner with adistressing clank that the maid did not eve5seem to hear.

When she was done, she put the diningGroom chair back at the table, and uncertainabout exactly where Edward belonged, shefinally decided to shove him in among thedolls on a shelf in Abilene’s bedroom.

“That’s right,” said the maid. “There yoDgo.”

She left Edward on the shelf at a mos7awkward and inhuman angle — his nose wa1actually touching his knees; and he waitedthere, with the dolls twittering and giggling a7him like a flock of demented and unfriendl0birds, until Abilene came home from schoo?

and found him missing and ran from room t4room calling his name.

“Edward!” she shouted. “Edward!”

There was no way, of course, for him t4let her know where he was, no way for him t4answer her. He could only sit and wait.

When Abilene found him, she held hi<close, so close that Edward could feel her hear7beating, leaping almost out of her chest in it1agitation.

“Edward,” she said, “oh, Edward. I lov3you. I never want you to be away from me.IThe rabbit, too, was experiencing a grea7emotion. But it was not love. It was annoyanc3that he had been so mightily inconvenienced+that he had been handled by the maid ascavalierly as an inanimate object — a servin;bowl, say, or a teapot. The only satisfaction t4be had from the whole affair was that the neAmaid was dismissed immediately.

Edward’s pocket watch was located later+deep within the bowels of the vacuum cleaner+dented, but still in working condition; it wa1returned to him by Abilene’s father, whopresented it with a mocking bow.

“Sir Edward,” he said. “Your timepiece, $believe?”

The Rosie Affair and the Vacuum-Cleane9Incident — those were the great dramas ofEdward’s life until the night of Abilene’seleventh birthday when, at the dinner table, a1the cake was being served, the ship wasmentioned.

1 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

2 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

3 tablecloth   

n.桌布，台布

参考例句：

• He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思，轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
• She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

6 obedience   

n.服从，顺从

参考例句：

• Society has a right to expect obedience of the law.社会有权要求人人遵守法律。
• Soldiers act in obedience to the orders of their superior officers.士兵们遵照上级军官的命令行动。

7 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。