X A Strange Ride and How It Ended

DANNY MEADOW¹ MOUSE often had sat watching Skimmer the Swallow sailing around up in the blue, blue sky. He had watched Ol' Mistah Buzzard go up, up, up, until he was nothing but a tiny speck², and Danny had wondered how it would seem to be way up above the Green Meadows³ and the Green Forest and look down. It had seemed to him that it must be very wonderful and beautiful. Sometimes he had wished that he had wings and could go up in the air and look down. And now here he was, he, Danny Meadow Mouse, actually doing that very thing!

 

But Danny could see nothing wonderful or beautiful now. No, indeed! Everything was terrible, for you see, Danny Meadow Mouse wasn't flying himself. He was being carried. Yes, Sir, Danny Meadow Mouse was being carried through the air in the cruel claws of Hooty the Owl⁴! And all because Danny had forgotten—forgotten to watch up in the sky for danger.

 

Poor, poor Danny Meadow Mouse! Hooty's great cruel claws hurt him dreadfully! But it wasn't the pain that was the worst. No, indeed! It wasn't the pain! It was the thought of what would happen when Hooty reached his home in the Green Forest, for he knew that there Hooty would gobble him up, bones and all. As he flew, Hooty kept chuckling⁵, and Danny Meadow Mouse knew just what those chuckles⁶ meant. They meant that Hooty was thinking of the good meal he was going to have.

 

Hanging there in Hooty's great cruel claws, Danny looked down on the snow-covered Green Meadows he loved so well. They seemed a frightfully long way below him, though really they were not far at all, for Hooty was flying very low. But Danny Meadow Mouse had never in all his life been so high up before, and so it seemed to him that he was way, way up in the sky, and he shut his eyes so as not to see. But he couldn't keep them shut. No, Sir, he couldn't keep them shut! He just had to keep opening them. There was the dear old Green Forest drawing nearer and nearer. It always had looked very beautiful to Danny Meadow Mouse, but now it looked terrible, very terrible indeed, because over in it, hidden away there in some dark place, was the home of Hooty the Owl.

 

Just ahead of him was the Old Briar-patch where Peter Rabbit lives so safely. Every old bramble in it was covered with snow and it was very, very beautiful. Really everything was just as beautiful as ever—the moonlight, the Green Forest, the snow-covered Green Meadows, the Old Briar-patch. The only change was in Danny Meadow Mouse himself, and it was all because he had forgotten.

 

Suddenly Danny began to wriggle⁷ and struggle. “Keep still!” snapped⁸ Hooty the Owl.

 

But Danny only struggled harder than ever. It seemed to him that Hooty wasn't holding him as tightly⁹ as at first. He felt one of Hooty's claws slip. It tore his coat and hurt dreadfully, but it slipped! The fact is, Hooty had only grabbed¹⁰ Danny Meadow Mouse by the loose part of his coat, and up in the air he couldn't get hold of Danny any better. Danny kicked, squirmed, and twisted, and twisted, squirmed, and kicked. He felt his coat tear and of course the skin with it, but he kept right on, for now he was hanging almost free. Hooty had started down now, so as to get a better hold. Danny gave one more kick and then—he felt himself falling!

 

Danny Meadow Mouse shut his eyes and held his breath. Down, down, down he fell. It seemed to him that he never would strike the snow-covered meadows! Really he fell only a very little distance. But it seemed a terrible distance to Danny. He hit something that scratched him, and then—plump!—he landed in the soft snow right in the very middle of the Old Briar-patch, and the last thing he remembered was hearing the scream of disappointment and rage¹¹ of Hooty the Owl.

1 meadow   

n.草地，牧草地

参考例句：

• The children ran free across the meadow.孩子们在草地里自由地奔跑。
• The meadow is peopled with wild flowers.草地长满了野花。

2 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

3 meadows   

草地，牧场， （河边的）低洼地( meadow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The trail wends its way through leafy woodland and sunny meadows. 这条小径穿过葱郁的林区和洒满阳光的草地。
• They have railed the meadows off from the new railway cutting. 他们已用栏杆把草地和新铁道的路堑隔离开来。

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 chuckling   

轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him chuckling to himself as he read his book. 他看书时，我能听见他的轻声发笑。
• He couldn't help chuckling aloud. 他忍不住的笑了出来。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

6 chuckles   

轻声地笑( chuckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Father always chuckles when he reads the funny papers. 父亲在读幽默报纸时总是低声发笑。
• [Chuckles] You thought he was being poisoned by hemlock? 你觉得他中的会是芹叶钩吻毒吗？

7 wriggle   

v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒

参考例句：

• I've got an appointment I can't wriggle out of.我有个推脱不掉的约会。
• Children wriggle themselves when they are bored.小孩子感到厌烦时就会扭动他们的身体。

8 snapped   

v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 )；（使某物）发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开，关闭]；厉声地说；拍照

参考例句：

• The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

10 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

11 rage   

vi.(烈火)熊熊燃烧；发怒；怒斥；季风

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• Haines got into a rage.海恩斯勃然大怒。