THE SPIDER 7

 That day was very quiet in the hedge and the next was no livelier.

 

The spider attended to her web and caught and ate more flies than ever. She did not speak a word and looked so fierce that no one dared speak a word to her. The gentleman-spiders took good care not to come near her. They met every evening and talked about it.

 

“Yes, but he got her all the same!” said the most romantic of them.

 

Then the others fell upon him and asked him if he thought that that was happiness, to be eaten by one’s wife on the morning after the wedding. And he didn’t know what to answer, for his romance wasn’t so very real, after all.

 

The mouse stole away dejectedly and went to her hole. She took the thing to heart as though it had happened in her own family. The goat’s-foot and the parsley hung their screens and felt sheepish and ashamed in the face of the twigs¹ on the stubs. And so great was their overthrow² that even the twigs thought it would be a shame to scoff³ at them.

 

But, one day, when there was a blazing sun and the spider had crawled as far as she could into the shade of the leaf, the parsley bent⁴ down to the mouse’s hole and whispered:

 

“Psst!... Mousie!...”

 

“What is it?” asked the mouse and came out.

 

“It’s only the goat’s-foot and I who have something to ask you,” said the parsley. “Tell me—you’re so clever—don’t you believe that it’s possible that the spider may become a different person when she begins to lay her eggs?”

 

“I believe nothing now,” said the mouse. “I shall never believe that that woman will ever lay eggs.”

 

But she did, for all that.

 

One fine morning, she began and behaved in such a way that no one in the hedge ever forgot the story:

 

“Ugh!” she said. “That one should be bothered with this nonsense with children now!”

 

She laid a heap of ten eggs and stood looking at them, angrily.

 

“Build a nest for your eggs,” said the parsley. “All that we have and possess is at your disposal.”

 

“Sit on them and hatch them,” said the goat’s-foot. “We will weave a roof over you, so the sun won’t inconvenience you in the least.”

 

“Lay up some small flies for the children, for when they come out,” said the mouse. “You have no idea what those young ones can eat.”

 

“Practise singing to them a bit,” said the twigs on the stubs.

 

“Stuff!” said the spider.

 

She laid four more heaps. Then she began to spin a fine, close covering of white threads to wrap each heap in separately.

 

“She’s not quite heartless,” said the mouse.

 

The spider took a heap, went down the hedge and buried it in the ground. Then up again for the next heap and so on until all the five heaps were buried.

 

“There!” she said. “Now that’s done with! And they won’t catch me at it again. Now at least I am a free and independent woman once more.”

 

“A nice woman!” said the mouse. “A shame and a disgrace to her sex, that’s what she is!”

 

“Such a dear little bird!” said the twigs on the stubs, sarcastically⁵.

 

But the parsley and the goat’s-foot said nothing.

 

The next morning the spider was gone.

 

“The starling caught her,” said the mouse. “She was gone in a twinkling. I saw it myself.”

 

“If only she doesn’t make him ill,” said the twigs. “She must have been a bad mouthful.”

 

Then autumn came and winter.

 

The mouse sat snug⁶ in her hole and the spider’s eggs lay snug in the ground. The goat’s-foot and the parsley withered⁷ and died. The twigs on the stubs lost their leaves, but rustled⁸ on through storm and frost and snow until next spring.

1 twigs   

细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
• Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。

2 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

3 scoff   

n.嘲笑，笑柄，愚弄；v.嘲笑，嘲弄，愚弄，狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• You are not supposed to scoff at religion.你不该嘲弄宗教。
• He was the scoff of the town.他成为全城的笑柄。

4 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

5 sarcastically   

adv.挖苦地，讽刺地

参考例句：

• 'What a surprise!' Caroline murmured sarcastically.“太神奇了!”卡罗琳轻声挖苦道。
• Pierce mocked her and bowed sarcastically. 皮尔斯嘲笑她，讽刺地鞠了一躬。

6 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

7 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。

8 rustled   

v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He rustled his papers. 他把试卷弄得沙沙地响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Leaves rustled gently in the breeze. 树叶迎着微风沙沙作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》