XVII A SIGN OF RAIN

 There was a terrible hubbub¹ in the henhouse. The Rooster squalled so loudly that he waked up every hen in the place. And when they heard him crying that a skunk² had knocked him off his roost they were as frightened as he was, and set up a wild cackle. All but Henrietta Hen! She knew there was no skunk there.

 

"Don't be a goose—er—don't be a gander!" she hissed³ to the Rooster. "I'm the one that bumped into you."

 

The Rooster quickly came to his senses.

 

"Don't be alarmed, ladies!" he called to the flock. "There's no danger.There's been a slight mistake." He pretended that he hadn't been scared. But he had been. And now he was somewhat uneasy about Henrietta Hen. He feared he was in for a scolding from her.

 

"If you had answered me when I spoke⁴ to you I wouldn't have left my perch⁵ in the dark," she told the Rooster severely⁶. "When I moved to your perch to see what was the matter I blundered into you. And then you thought I was a skunk! You owe me an apology, sir!"

 

The Rooster was glad it was not lighter⁷ in the henhouse, for he felt himself flushing hotly.

 

"You must pardon me," he said. "I had no idea it was you, for you waked me out of a sound sleep."

 

"Sound sleep, indeed!" Henrietta Hen exclaimed with a sniff⁸. "Why, you had been crowing only a few moments before.In fact it was your crowing that roused me."

 

"No doubt!" said the Rooster. "But you see, I fell asleep again immediately."

 

"Then you must be ill," Henrietta retorted, "for I've never known you to go to sleep again, once you've begun your morning's crowing."

 

"But it's not morning now," the Rooster informed her. "It's not even late at night—certainly not an hour since sunset."

 

Henrietta Hen was astonished.

 

"I noticed that the night seemed short," she muttered.

 

The Rooster thought it a great joke.

 

"Ha! ha!" he laughed. And he said to the rest of the flock, with a chuckle⁹, "Henrietta thought it was morning! No doubt she'd have gone out into the yard if the door hadn't been shut." And the other hens all tittered. They always did, if the rooster expected them to.

 

Well, if there was one thing that Henrietta Hen couldn't endure, it was to be laughed at.

 

"Don't be silly!" she cried. "Why shouldn't I think it was morning, when he crowed almost in my ear?"

 

"Don't you know why I crowed?" the Rooster asked her. And without waiting for any reply, he said, "I crowed to let Farmer Green know it was going to rain to-morrow."

 

Of course Henrietta Hen had to have the last word. The Rooster might have known she would.

 

"Then," she observed, "I suppose you squawked to let him know there was a skunk in the henhouse."

1 hubbub   

n.嘈杂；骚乱

参考例句：

• The hubbub of voices drowned out the host's voice.嘈杂的声音淹没了主人的声音。
• He concentrated on the work in hand,and the hubbub outside the room simply flowed over him.他埋头于手头的工作，室外的吵闹声他简直象没有听见一般。

2 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

3 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

8 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

9 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。