“Someone,” he murmured sleepily, “ought to clear up that mess. You’re nearest to it, Rod.”
“Lazy duffer!” murmured Rod, depositing with an effort a crumpled5 wad of napkin and a banana peel in one of the cracker6 boxes and then subsiding7 again.
“Don’t overtax your strength,” warned Tad. The twins giggled8. Kitty, alone of the five, seemed unaffected by the general lassitude. He[200] sat erect9 and blinked solemnly at the autumn world as though planning new feats10 of pedestrianism. Rodney, watching him lazily, expected any moment to see him jump up and stride off toward the horizon. Presently Tad, who had apparently11 gone to sleep, broke the silence.
“There was a young fellow named Tad,
He went off with a bunch
And ate too much lunch,
And the fate of that Tad lad was sad.”
Matty sat up and clapped her hands. “Let’s all do it! Let’s all make limericks. You make the next one, Rod.”
“Too full for utterance,” muttered Rodney.
“Please try. Then Phineas will and——”
There was a choking gurgle from Tad. Matty observed him inquiringly. “Nothing,” he murmured. “I—I was just laughing at something funny.”
“Now,” continued Matty, wrinkling her forehead, “we’ll be very quiet while everyone composes.”
[201]
“Here’s mine,” announced Rodney. “There was——”
“Oh, wait a minute,” exclaimed May. “Let’s give a prize for the best one! Shall we?”
“What’s the prize?” asked Tad. May looked about in search of it.
“Banana skin,” suggested Rodney.
“No, a beautiful silver cup,” replied May, “engraved with the winner’s name.”
“Where do we get the cup?”
“Right here.” May picked up one of the tin cups and flourished it.
“How beautiful!” murmured Tad, seeking a more comfortable position for his head. “I’ll take it now, please.”
“Indeed you won’t!” said Matty. “You wait until we’ve said our verses. Now go ahead, Rod, please.”
“I guess I’ve forgotten it now,” replied Rodney, wrinkling his brow. “No, I haven’t. Here it is:
“There was a young fellow named Mudge
He fell on his back
With a horrible crack,
And was heard to exclaim, ‘Oh fudge!’”
[202]
“Better than yours, though,” laughed Rodney.
“Nothing of the sort! Mine was an exceptionally fine example of the art of—ah—composition. Mine had—had poetic16 qualities. Hand over the prize, if you please!”
“I’ve got one,” announced Kitty somberly. “It isn’t very good, though.” He blinked about the circle, and Matty murmured that she was sure it would be a very nice one indeed.
“There was a boy named Merrill
Who climbed up a rock like a squirrel——”
Kitty paused there, whether to receive applause for the ingenuity17 of the rhyme or to grope for the rest of the verse they didn’t know. The twins, however, encouraged him with expressions of delight, and after a moment he continued:
“And when he was on top
Of the very big rock
[203]
Kitty finished with a flourish and beamed self-approval. The applause was deafening19. Tad said it was magnificent.
“Now it’s up to you girls,” said Rodney.
“I’m ready,” replied May. “Are you, Matty?”
“Yes, but you go ahead, May.”
“There was a young lady named Matty
Who left home looking very natty——”
“May Binner!” interrupted the subject of her poetic effusion, “if you use ‘fatty’ I—I’ll——”
“Not going to,” replied May triumphantly21.
“But when she got back
She had torn her new sack,
And her mother said, ‘My, you look ratty!’”
“Clever but inelegant,” remarked Tad.
“I don’t think ‘ratty’ is a very nice word to use,” objected Matty. “Besides, I don’t wear a sack!”
“That’s just a metaphor,” returned May serenely22. “I couldn’t very well make ‘dress’ rhyme with ‘back,’ could I?”
[204]
“It’s a perfectly good limerick,” laughed Rodney. “And I think it’s the best yet.”
“Wait!” cried Matty. “I’ve got a new one. Listen:
“There was a young lady named May,
Who didn’t know just what to say,
So the words of her verse
From bad grew to worse,
And her friends from her side turned away.”
“Too pathetic,” decided23 Tad. “A limerick should be cheerful, I think. That last line brought tears to my eyes, Matty.” But for some reason Kitty approved enthusiastically of the latest attempt and clapped loudly.
“We’ll have to vote to see who gets the prize, I guess,” said Rodney. “Who do you say, Tad?”
“But you’ve had your turn,” protested Matty.
“No, that was before the contest started. Shove the prize this way and lend me your ears. All set? Go!”
[205]
“There were two twins named Binner,
You couldn’t tell which was the thinner,
With one accord
They said, ‘We feel bored,
We had apple dumplings for dinner!’”
“Here you are!” laughed Rodney as he tossed the tin cup across. “Catch! You win!”
Tad caught the prize deftly25 and bowed, hand on heart. “I thank you all,” he said. “Words fail me with which to express my—my appreciation26 of this honor you have done me. Perhaps the intrinsic value of this beautiful prize is not great, but as a—a recognition of poetic genius, as you might say——”
“Wouldn’t think of saying it,” interrupted Rodney.
Tad cast a reproachful glance at him. “You have caused me to lose the thread of my discourse27. I think I’ll climb the Rock now.” He pulled himself to his feet with a sigh and looked contemplatively at the crag which towered above him.
“Don’t be a chump,” advised Rodney. “You’re too full of food to climb anything. Besides,[206] we’d hate to have to carry you all the way home. It’s a longish way, Tad.”
“Please don’t try it,” begged Matty. “We’d so much rather you didn’t, Tad.”
“My ability as a mountain climber has been assailed,” responded Tad firmly. “Old Leather Lungs over there thinks he’s the only one who can pull off a little stunt28 like this. Now you fellows just watch your Uncle Theodore!”
Tad took a pull at his belt, groaning29 over the operation, and stepped jauntily30 toward the place where an ill-defined track crept away over the face of the Rock. Kitty watched him blinkingly.
“Think you can do it?” he asked.
“One more insult from you, Kitty, and I’ll hurl31 you into yon bottomless depths! If I couldn’t climb to the top of this twopenny old Rock, I’d resign my presidency32 of the Alpine33 Club. You fellows are evidently not aware that I am the original monkey when it comes to climbing!”
“We didn’t know just what kind you were,” murmured Rodney, “but we knew you were.”
“Please don’t try it, Tad,” said Matty. “We’ll be just worried to death, won’t we, May?”
[207]
“Worried to death,” echoed May.
“Shucks! Don’t be silly. This isn’t any kind of a trick. Anyone else coming along? You, Kitty?”
Kitty shook his head. “Guess not. I’ve done it twice. Don’t believe in exercise too soon after eating. Be careful near the top, Tad. It’s hard going. If you want help, sing out.”
“What’ll you do? Come up and boost me?” Tad laughed as he laid aside his coat. “Here goes, then!”
He swung off from the ledge34, found a footing on the narrow trail that led steeply away around the corner of the Rock, and in a moment was out of sight.
Kitty looked surprised. “Me? Didn’t tell him to do it, did I?”
“No, but you could have stopped him. If he falls and hurts himself——”
“I just know he will!” sighed May. “I—I feel it.”
“If he does, he will feel it,” muttered Rodney, trying from the edge of the jutting36 ledge to[208] catch a glimpse of the climber. But Tad was out of sight, and Rodney sat down again to wait his return. “We ought to be starting back pretty soon, too,” he grumbled, studying his watch. “It’s almost twenty to one.”
“Won’t take him long—if he does it,” said Kitty. “Don’t believe he will, though. He’s eaten too much lunch. It follows.”
“If we went down on the ground we could see him,” suggested Rodney. But Matty, who was clearing up the débris of the feast, demurred37.
“I couldn’t watch him, Rodney. I—I’d scream!”
“I do wish he’d come back,” sighed May.
“Ten minutes,” prophesied38 Kitty calmly.
“Well, we’ll get ready to start along,” said Rodney, “so we won’t waste time when he does get down. It would be a funny note though if he got up there and couldn’t climb down again!”
“I don’t think it would be funny at all,” responded Matty severely39. “It would be perfectly horrible.”
“Anyway, it would sort of delay the game,”[209] agreed Rodney. “Listen! Did you hear anything?”
The twins shook their heads.
“Did you, Kitty?”
“Not sure. Maybe he called to let us know he’s on top.” Kitty filled his lungs and let out a bellow40 that might have been heard half way to Greenridge. “O Tad! Tad Mudge!” Then they listened. A faint hail came back to them around the elbow of the Rock.
“Are you on top?” shouted Rodney.
“No-o-o!” was the faint response.
There was no reply for a moment, and then,
“No-o-o!” came the reply.
The four on the ledge looked at each other apprehensively42.
“Maybe—maybe,” whispered May, “he’s fallen! Maybe he’s lying down there on the ground all broken to pieces.”
“May!” said her sister sharply. “Don’t be silly! Ask him again, Phineas.”
“Tad, are you all right?” shouted Kitty.
[210]
“No-o-o! Stuck!”
Kitty pulled his cap on firmly, threw off his coat and kicked his feet out of the heavy shoes he wore. “You go down and see where he is,” he said to Rodney. “I’ll climb up.”
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
repletion
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| n.充满，吃饱 | |
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2
apathetically
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| adv.不露感情地；无动于衷地；不感兴趣地；冷淡地 | |
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3
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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4
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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5
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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6
cracker
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| n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干 | |
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7
subsiding
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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8
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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10
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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11
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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12
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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13
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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14
trudge
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| v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行 | |
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15
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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16
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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17
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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18
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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19
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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20
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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21
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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22
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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23
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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24
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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25
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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26
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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27
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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28
stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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29
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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30
jauntily
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| adv.心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地 | |
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31
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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32
presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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33
alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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34
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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35
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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36
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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37
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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40
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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41
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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42
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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43
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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