Chapter 7

Their artwork was hung

By the blackboards with pride: Snowmen, and mooses,

And a joyful¹ sleigh ride.

They ate homemade cookies, (Red and green ones, of course.)

When Kathy declared,

"I don't believe in Santa Claus!"

She just opened her mouth,

And said what she said. "Santa Claus isn't real,

And besides that, he's dead!

"So you bet² I will pout³,

And you bet I will cry. "You bet I will shout,

I'm telling you why. . . ."

Stephen covered his ears. "No, you're wrong!" he shouted. "It's not true. There is a Santa Claus. I know there is!"

"Ho, ho, ho," laughed Kathy.

"Kathy is just saying that because she never gets any presents," said Jason.

"All she ever gets is a lump⁴ of coal!" said Rondi.

"Wrong!" said Kathy. "I get lots of presents. My parents buy them for me. They have lots of money. They buy me anything I want."

She bit off the head of a reindeer⁵ cookie. "The
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only thing that matters is how rich your parents are. If they have lots of money, then you'll get lots of good presents. If they're poor, then you'll just get a few crummy presents."

Everyone tried to argue with her, but Kathy just asked them all the old questions, like "How does a fat man fit down a skinny chimney⁶?" or "How could he visit everyone's house in the whole world in one night?"

And of course nobody knew the answers. Nobody ever has.

"Only Santa knows the answers to those questions," said Rondi.

"Don't you even like Christmas?" asked Stephen.

"Sure," said Kathy.

"I get lots of presents, And I don't have to work."

Then she stuck out her tongue and called Stephen a jerk⁷.

Poor Stephen sputtered⁸ As his face turned quite blue,

"If you don't believe in Santa, He won't believe in you!"

But Kathy just yelped⁹.

"You know that it's true! Do you still believe in the Easter bunny.

The tooth fairy, and Miss Zarves too?"

"Let's ask Mrs. Jewls!" said Maurecia.

"She's a teacher who's wise. Let's ask Mrs. Jewls.

She never lies!"

The children crowded round Their wise teacher's desk

And asked her the question Never found on a test.

"Is there a Santa?

You're a teacher with smarts! Is Santa Claus real?"

They asked with pure hearts.

And oh, Mrs. Jewls, That teacher so wise,

Looked at their faces And bright, eager eyes.
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She had to say something.

It was her job to reply. "Tell them!" yelped Kathy.

"That reindeer can't fly!"

1 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。

2 bet   

v.打赌，以(与)...打赌；n.赌注，赌金；打赌

参考例句：

• I bet you can't do this puzzle.我敢说，你解决不了这个难题。
• I offered to bet with him.我提出与他打赌。

3 pout   

v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴

参考例句：

• She looked at her lover with a pretentious pout.她看着恋人，故作不悦地撅着嘴。
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted.他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。

4 lump   

n.块状，瘤，很多；v.使...成块状，混在一起，忍耐

参考例句：

• I thanked him with a lump in my throat.我哽咽着向他道谢。
• If you don't like it,you may lump it.你不喜欢，也得容忍一下。

5 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

6 chimney   

n.烟囱，烟筒；玻璃罩

参考例句：

• The chimney blew out a cloud of black smoke.烟囱里喷出一团黑烟。
• His father is a chimney sweeper.他的父亲是一位扫烟囱的工人。

7 jerk   

n.（口语）笨蛋，性情古怪的人，急拉，肌肉抽搐；v.痉挛，急拉，急推，急动

参考例句：

• Just keep that jerk off me.让那个笨蛋离开我。
• The knife was stuck but she pulled it out with a jerk.那把刀子被卡住了，她猛地一拔，把它拔了出来。

8 sputtered   

v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• The candle sputtered out. 蜡烛噼啪爆响着熄灭了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The balky engine sputtered and stopped. 不听使唤的发动机劈啪作响地停了下来。 来自辞典例句

9 yelped   

v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelped in pain when the horse stepped on his foot. 马踩了他的脚痛得他喊叫起来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• A hound yelped briefly as a whip cracked. 鞭子一响，猎狗发出一阵嗥叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》