8. SAVED AGAIN.

 1. I heard a little girl say, "Oh, Rose, there is a fly in your glass of wine."

 

"Poor thing!" said the little girl next her, "take it out!"

 

"No, no!" said her brother; "let it alone. Let us see how he swims."

 

2. All this time I felt very bad. I was drowning, yet this boy could look on and talk like that.

 

3. Something seemed to take away all my breath¹ and strength. I heard the boy say, "If I fell into a pond I could not swim so well."

 

4. "Why, no," said Rose, "the fly has not a coat and trousers, as you have. But[Pg 91] I do not think it is fun to see him drowning, so I will take him out." And she pushed the handle of a spoon with care under me.

 

5. I could hardly crawl² when I got on to the table-cloth. She saw it and placed me on a green laurel leaf outside. I sat there half dead, and yet I heard what they were all saying inside the summer-house.

 

6. "Lucy," said Rose to the little girl, "you would have been glad if you could[Pg 92] have been lifted out like that poor fly, when you fell into the pond at home, would you not?

 

7. "You went to the bottom before any person came to help you. Were you in a great fright³? How did you feel?"

 

8. "Why," said Lucy, "I was in a great fright when I first fell in, but after that I think that I must have been asleep, for I forgot it all. I knew nothing after my tumble⁴ down the bank, till I heard my mother near me.

 

9. "She was saying, 'God bless you, darling,' and then I found myself lying in bed."

 

"Ah," said her brother Tom, "Neptune⁵, our dog, had a famous supper that night."

 

10. "Why?" asked a little boy, from the other end of the table.

 

"Oh, did you not know that it was Neptune who pulled my sister out of the water?" said Tom.

 

11. "He saw her go in, and without being told, he got her out. She would have been drowned without him. She had been told not to go near the pond, but[Pg 93] she ran down to it, without leave, when no one was looking."

 

12. The other little girl here grew very red. "You need not have said that, Tom," said she. But Tom was a bit of a tease⁶. He only laughed and said that his sister was always doing what she was told not.

 

Write: Rose took the fly out of her glass. She put him on a leaf to get dry. Tom told them about his big dog. It saved the life of Lucy.

 

Questions: 1. What did Rose do for the fly in her glass? 2. What did the dog do for Lucy? 3. What did Tom say that his dog could do? 4. What else would he bring out from the bottom? 5. What did Neptune have on the night when he saved Lucy's life?

1 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。

2 crawl   

vi.／n.爬行，匍匐行进；缓慢(费力)地行进

参考例句：

• We learn to crawl before we learn to walk.我们学会走路之前先要学会爬。
• She slowed the car to a crawl.她把车开得很慢。

3 fright   

n.惊骇；吃惊

参考例句：

• A tree fell on the house and gave him a fright.一棵树倒在房子上，吓了他一大跳。
• She turned pale with fright.她吓得面色刷白。

4 tumble   

vi.跌倒，摔下，翻滚，暴跌；n.跌(摔)倒

参考例句：

• Children tumble over each other in play.孩子们玩耍时相互连身翻滚。
• He took a tumble down the stairs.他摔下了楼梯。

5 Neptune   

n.海王星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun.海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Neptune turned out to be a dynamic,stormy world.海王星原来是个有生气、多风暴的世界。

6 tease   

vt.戏弄，取笑，挑逗，撩拨；n.戏弄人者

参考例句：

• The other boys tease him because he is fat.因为他很胖，所以其他男生都取笑他。
• His friends used to tease him about his tatty clothes.他的朋友过去常常笑话他破旧的衣服。