XI A STROKE OF LUCK

 Jasper's fun would have been spoiled if he hadn't had a stroke of good fortune. Since he was no longer leading the nutting party he wanted to prevent his friends from following Noisy Jake to the place where the oak trees grew, to have an acorn¹ hunt.

 

It was no more than anybody could expect that Jasper should feel sulky. It had been his party in the first place. So, of course, he didn't enjoy seeing somebody else take the lead away from him. Most unhappy he was, as he hurried along the mountain-side, when he happened, all at once, to catch sight of a huge, grayish-brown figure, half hidden among some hemlock² boughs³. Jasper Jay knew right away that it was Mr. Solomon Owl⁴.

 

"Stop! stop!" Jasper cried to his friends. "Wait a bit! Here's some fun!"

 

So the nutting party checked their flight and returned, while Jasper pointed⁵ out Solomon Owl's motionless form to them.

 

They forgot all about the acorn hunt, for the time being, because there was nothing they liked better than teasing Solomon Owl—when there were enough of them. In case any of the blue-coated rascals⁶ met Mr. Owl alone, he was most polite to him, for Solomon was not only big and strong but he had sharp talons⁷ and a hooked beak⁸.

 

Those thirteen blue jays, however, knew that they had little to fear from the solemn old chap, so long as they kept out of reach of his claws.

 

 

They began jeering⁹ at Solomon Owl. And some of them even tried to mock his queer cry, "Whoo-whoo-too-whoo-too-o-o!" The woods echoed with their hoots¹⁰. And Noisy Jake shouted:

 

"This is luck! Aren't you all glad I found him?"

 

Now, of course, Jake had not found Solomon Owl. If it hadn't been for Jasper Jay no one would have known he was there. And Jasper was just about to remind Jake of his mistake when he happened to think of something that made him change his mind. It occurred to Jasper that if Noisy Jake wanted to think he was still the leader of the party perhaps it was just as well to let him. Jake always talked so much, in such a loud tone, that Solomon Owl would be sure to know him.

 

And Jasper thought he could have plenty of fun himself, teasing Solomon and not saying a word. Then—so Jasper believed—then Solomon Owl wouldn't know that Jasper was in the party at all.

 

You see, Johnnie Green was not the only person who held that Solomon Owl couldn't see in the daytime. Everybody knew that his big, round eyes were keen enough in the dark. But in the daylight he usually sat quite still in a tree and stared as if he saw nothing at all.

 

Well, that was just what Solomon Owl was doing then. He said never a word. And he scarcely moved, except to turn his head helplessly now and then, and blink, while his tormentors flew as close to him as they dared and hooted¹¹ loudly at him.

 

Jasper and his friends made enough noise to scare even a bigger bird than Solomon Owl. And they said a good many rude things to him, too.

 

"How are Farmer Green's chickensp. 61 this fall?" Noisy Jake asked him in a loud voice, while Jasper Jay quietly amused himself by dropping hemlock seeds upon Solomon's head.

 

Still Solomon Owl made no remarks at all. But he was thinking deeply. And though some people claimed that he was not nearly so wise as he looked, there were some things that he knew just as well as anyone else.

 

But Jasper Jay was not aware of that.

1 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

2 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

3 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

4 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 rascals   

流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人

参考例句：

• "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔，不过我喜欢流氓。
• "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物，是流氓，是恶棍。

7 talons   

n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部

参考例句：

• The fingers were curved like talons, but they closed on empty air. 他的指头弯得像鹰爪一样，可是抓了个空。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
• The tiger has a pair of talons. 老虎有一对利爪。 来自辞典例句

8 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

9 jeering   

adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Hecklers interrupted her speech with jeering. 捣乱分子以嘲笑打断了她的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He interrupted my speech with jeering. 他以嘲笑打断了我的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 hoots   

咄，啐

参考例句：

• His suggestion was greeted with hoots of laughter. 他的建议引起了阵阵嗤笑。
• The hoots came from the distance. 远处传来呜呜声。

11 hooted   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• An owl hooted nearby. 一只猫头鹰在附近啼叫。
• The crowd hooted and jeered at the speaker. 群众向那演讲人发出轻蔑的叫嚣和嘲笑。