CHAPTER 6 THE FIRST SWIMMING LESSON

 You’ll never learn to float on sand,

 

Nor swim by staying on the land.

 

                Little Joe Otter¹.

 

One morning Peter Rabbit was a little late in getting over to the home of Little Joe Otter. When he got there, there was not a sign of the two brown Otter children at the doorway² of their home between the roots of the big tree. “It must be,” thought Peter, “that they have gone off hunting. I wonder if I can find them if I look for them.”

 

Just then his ears caught the sound of splashing³ in the Laughing Brook⁴. Very, very carefully Peter crept over where he could see what was going on. Such a funny sight as it was! There in the water were Little Joe and Mrs. Joe, diving and swimming and splashing as only they can. On the bank were the two Otter children, watching with their eyes round with wonder, and a great longing⁵. At the same time it was very clear to Peter that those two youngsters⁶ were afraid of the water. Little Joe and Mrs. Joe kept calling to them to come in, but they wouldn’t.

 

No, Sir, those little Otters⁷ wouldn’t more than wet their feet. Mrs. Joe swam over to where they were and coaxed⁸ them, as only a mother can. It was of no use. All the coaxing⁹ in the world couldn’t overcome their fear of the water. Then she pretended to be very angry, and she ordered them to follow her. They whimpered and cried, but not one step into the water would they go. Then she tried making fun of them, but she was no more successful than before.

 

They were afraid. Yes, Sir, they were afraid. There was no doubt about it. Peter doesn’t like the water himself, but when he has to he can swim. He couldn’t remember ever having been as much afraid of the water as those two Otter children, not even when he was a very little fellow. And that seemed funny, too. In fact, Peter couldn’t understand it at all. Here were two babies whose father and mother were among the best swimmers in the world, and yet they couldn’t get their two youngsters into the water.

 

Finally, with a great deal of coaxing, Mrs. Otter got one of them to take a ride on her back. Then she gave the other a ride. For a long time they swam around and around, and had a beautiful time. The babies liked this. You see, they felt perfectly¹⁰ safe, and it was great fun to be carried about, here and there and everywhere. Then, without the least bit of warning, while both babies were on her back Mrs. Joe dived. Now of course when she did this, it carried the two babies right under water, and the minute they went under water they let go and came to the top.

 

My, my, my, what a frightened pair they were! They blew the water out of their noses, and both began to whimper and cry. But at the same time both began to paddle as fast as ever they could.

 

Little Joe and Mrs. Joe popped their round brown heads out of water and swam just ahead of the two babies. The two babies did their very best to get on the backs of Little Joe and Mrs. Joe. But the latter kept just out of their reach. Then one of the babies stopped crying. He had discovered something; he had discovered that he was swimming, and that swimming was really great fun. Somehow that water didn’t seem so dreadful¹¹ any more. Then the other discovered the same thing. They had had their first swimming lesson and had found that mother and father were right after all; the water wouldn’t hurt them. When at last they scrambled¹² up on the shore and shook the water from their little brown coats, their eyes were shining with pride and excitement.

1 otter   

n.水獭

参考例句：

• The economists say the competition otter to the brink of extinction.经济学家们说，竞争把海獭推到了灭绝的边缘。
• She collared my black wool coat with otter pelts.她把我的黑呢上衣镶上了水獭领。

2 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

3 splashing   

v.使（液体）溅起( splash的现在分词 )；（指液体）溅落；击水声

参考例句：

• Water was splashing down from a large hole in the roof. 雨水从房顶上的一个大洞里倾泻下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The children love splashing water over each other. 儿童喜欢互相泼水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

5 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

6 youngsters   

n.孩子( youngster的名词复数 )；少年；青年；年轻人

参考例句：

• We followed the youngsters at a more sedate pace. 我们跟在年轻人后面，步子稍慢一点。
• The camp is for youngsters aged 8 to 14. 这次夏令营是为8至14岁的少年儿童安排的。

7 otters   

n.（水）獭( otter的名词复数 )；獭皮

参考例句：

• An attempt is being made to entice otters back to the river. 人们正试图把水獭引诱回河里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Otters are believed to have been on Earth for 90 million years. 水獭被认为存活在地球上已经9千多万年。 来自互联网

8 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 coaxing   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应

参考例句：

• No amount of coaxing will make me change my mind. 任你费尽口舌也不会说服我改变主意。
• It took a lot of coaxing before he agreed. 劝说了很久他才同意。 来自辞典例句

10 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

11 dreadful   

adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的

参考例句：

• I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
• I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。

12 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》