IX THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

 When Ferdinand Frog first came to the Beaver¹ pond to live no one knew anything about him.

 

He appeared suddenly—no one knew whence—and at once made himself very much at home. It was no time at all before he could call every one of the big Beaver family by name. And he acted exactly as if the pond belonged to him, instead of to the Beavers², whose great-grandfathers had dammed the stream many years before.

 

But the newcomer was so polite that nobody cared to send him away. At the same time, people couldn't help wondering who the stranger was and where he had come from and what his plans for the future were. Whenever two or three Beavers stopped working long enough to enjoy a pleasant chat, they were sure to talk of the mysterious Mr. Frog and tell one another what they thought of him. Many were the tales told about the nimble fellow.

 

Some said that he had moved all the way from Farmer Green's duck pond, because Johnnie Green had tried to catch him; while others declared that Ferdinand Frog was a famous singer, who had come to that quiet spot in order to rest his voice, which had become harsh³ from too much use. Indeed, there were so many stories about the stranger that it was hard to know which to believe—especially after old Mr. Crow informed Brownie Beaver that in his opinion Ferdinand Frog was a slippery⁴ fellow. "I shouldn't be surprised——" Mr. Crow had said with a wise wag⁵ of his head——"I shouldn't be surprised if his real name was Ferdinand Fraud⁶."

 

Anyhow, there was one thing that almost all the Beaver colony⁷ agreed upon. They were of one opinion as to Mr. Frog's clothes, which they thought must be very fashionable, because they were like no others that had ever been seen before in those parts.

 

There was one young gentleman, however—the beau of the village—who disputed⁸ everybody, saying that he believed that Ferdinand Frog must be wearing old clothes that were many years behind the times.

 

Now, there was one lazy Beaver known as Tired Tim who had nothing better to do than to go straight to Mr. Frog and repeat what he heard.

 

To Tired Tim's surprise—for he had expected Mr. Frog to lose his temper—to his surprise that gentleman appeared much amused by the bit of gossip⁹. He shook with silent laughter for a time, quite as if he were saving¹⁰ his voice to use that evening. And then he said:

 

"So your young friend thinks I'm not in style, eh? . . . Well, I'll tell you something: he's right, in a way. And in another way he isn't. The reason why I'm not in style is because I always aim to keep five years ahead of everybody else.

 

"Five years from now and your neighbors will all be wearing clothes like mine."

 

"Can't we ever catch up with you?" Tired Tim asked him.

"There's only one way you can do that," was Mr. Frog's mysterious answer.

 

And he would say no more.

1 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

2 beavers   

海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人

参考例句：

• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
• Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的，蜜蜂是这样做的，人也是这样做的。

3 harsh   

adj.严厉（酷）的，刺耳的，刺目的，毛糙的

参考例句：

• The sunlight is very harsh.太阳光很刺眼。
• Although his words are harsh,there is positiveness in them.虽然他的话很苛刻，但有建设性。

4 slippery   

adj.滑的；油滑的，狡猾的，不可靠的

参考例句：

• We found it very slippery under foot.我们感到地上很滑。
• Mind out,the steps are slippery!注意，台阶很滑！

5 wag   

v.摇动，摆动

参考例句：

• Dogs wag their tails when they are pleased.狗一高兴就摇尾巴。
• I'll not wag an ace further.我一步也不再动啦。

6 fraud   

n.骗子，欺骗，欺诈，诡计

参考例句：

• We will introduce legal safeguards against fraud.我们将推行防止欺诈的法律条款。
• The prosecutor accused the defendant of fraud.原告控告被告犯有欺诈罪。

7 colony   

n.殖民地；(同类人的)聚居地

参考例句：

• There lived a colony of bees on the tree.树上生活着一群蜜蜂。
• They live in an artists'colony.他们住在艺术家聚居区。

8 disputed   

v.辩论，争论( dispute的过去式和过去分词 )；争夺；阻止；就…进行辩论adj.有争议的

参考例句：

• They disputed over how to get the best results. 他们争论着如何能得到最好的结果。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers disputed every inch of ground when the enemy attacked. 敌人进犯，战士们寸土必争。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 gossip   

n.流言蜚语，爱说长道短的人；vi.传播流言

参考例句：

• She broadcast the gossip all over the town.她将这个流言传遍全镇。
• They spread a lot of tacky gossip about his love life.关于他的爱情生活，他们散播了许多不堪的闲言闲语。

10 saving   

n.节省，节约；[pl.]储蓄金，存款

参考例句：

• Energy saving is term strategic policy of our country.节约能源是我国长期的战略国策。
• Old-fashioned housewives were usually very saving.旧时的家庭主妇通常都很节俭。