CHAPTER 3

 Summer was past and the farmer had carted his corn home from the field.

 

The wood was still green, but darker; and, in many places, yellow and red leaves appeared among the green ones. The sun was tired after his hot work during the summer and went to bed early.

 

At night, winter stole through the trees to see if his time would soon come. When he found a flower, he kissed her politely and said:

 

"Well, well, are you there still? I am glad to see you. Stay where you are. I am a harmless old man and wouldn't hurt a fly."

 

But the flower shuddered¹ at his kiss and the bright dew-drops hanging from her petals² froze to ice at the same moment.

 

Winter went oftener and oftener through the wood. He breathed upon the leaves, till they turned yellow, or upon the ground, till even the anemones⁴, who lay below in the earth, waiting for Dame⁵ Spring to come again as she had promised, could feel his breath and shuddered right down to their roots:

 

"Oh dear, how cold it is!" they said to one another. "How ever shall we last through the winter? We are sure to die before it is over."

 

"Now my time has come," said winter. "Now I need no longer steal round like a thief in the night. From to-morrow, I shall look every one straight in the face and bite his nose and make his eyes run with tears."

 

At night, the storm broke loose.

 

"Let me see you make a clean sweep of things," said winter.

 

And the storm obeyed his orders. He tore howling through the wood and shook the branches till they creaked and broke. Any that were at all decayed fell down and those that held on had to twist and turn to every side.

 

"Away with all that finery!" howled the storm and tore off the leaves. "This is no time to dress yourselves up. Soon there will be snow on the branches: that's another story."

 

All the leaves fell terrified to the ground, but the storm did not let them lie in peace. He took them round the waist and waltzed with them over the field, high up in the air and into the wood again, swept them together into great heaps and scattered⁶ them once more to every side, just as the fit seized him.

 

Not until the morning did the storm grow weary and go down.

 

"Now you can have peace for this time," he said. "I am going down till we have our spring-cleaning. Then we can have another dance, if there are any of you left by then."

 

And the leaves went to rest and lay like a thick carpet over the whole earth.

 

The anemones felt that it had grown delightfully⁷ warm:

 

"I wonder if Dame Spring can have come yet?" they asked one another.

 

"I haven't my buds ready!" cried one of them.

 

"No more have I! No more have I!" exclaimed the others in chorus.

 

But one of them took courage and just peeped out above the ground.

 

"Good-morning!" cried the withered⁸ beech⁹-leaves. "It's rather too early, young lady: if only you don't come to any harm!"

 

"Isn't that Dame Spring?" asked the anemone³.

 

"Not just yet," replied the beech-leaves. "It's we, the green leaves you were so angry with in the summer. Now we have lost our brightness and have not much left to make a show of. We have enjoyed our youth and had our fling, you know. And now we are lying here and protecting all the little flowers in the ground against the winter."

 

"And meanwhile I am standing¹⁰ and freezing in my bare branches," said the beech, crossly.

 

The anemones talked about it down in the earth and thought it very nice:

 

"Those dear beech-leaves!" they said.

 

"Mind you remember it next summer, when I come into leaf," said the beech.

 

"We will, we will!" whispered the anemones.

 

For that sort of thing is promised, but the promise is never kept.

1 shuddered   

v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• He slammed on the brakes and the car shuddered to a halt. 他猛踩刹车，车颤抖着停住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I shuddered at the sight of the dead body. 我一看见那尸体就战栗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 anemone   

n.海葵

参考例句：

• Do you want this anemone to sting you?你想让这个海葵刺疼你吗？
• The bodies of the hydra and sea anemone can produce buds.水螅和海葵的身体能产生芽。

4 anemones   

n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 )；海葵

参考例句：

• With its powerful tentacles, it tries to prise the anemones off. 它想用强壮的触角截获海葵。 来自互联网
• Density, scale, thickness are still influencing the anemones shape. 密度、大小、厚度是受最原始的那股海葵的影响。 来自互联网

5 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

6 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

7 delightfully   

大喜，欣然

参考例句：

• The room is delightfully appointed. 这房子的设备令人舒适愉快。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The evening is delightfully cool. 晚间凉爽宜人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

9 beech   

n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的

参考例句：

• Autumn is the time to see the beech woods in all their glory.秋天是观赏山毛榉林的最佳时期。
• Exasperated,he leaped the stream,and strode towards beech clump.他满腔恼怒，跳过小河，大踏步向毛榉林子走去。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。