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III THE ANT’S AUNT GIVES A PICNIC
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The ant’s aunt had to give a picnic, because she had been invited to so many places by all her relatives, she thought it was time to pay back some of the invitations.
 
“But it will be such a bother,” said the ant’s uncle, when he heard about it.
 
“Don’t be foolish, now,” replied the ant’s aunt. “We cannot go in society without going to some trouble.”
 
So the ant’s uncle said that it would be all right, for he always said something of that kind when his wife talked about giving a party.
 
He was sleeping early the next morning, when his wife woke him and said: “Benjamin, Benjamin, did you remember to get the lemons and the sugar?”
 
“No,” replied the ant’s uncle, as he rolled over again in bed. “The grocery store was closed.”
 
“Then you will have to go into the kitchen of the man’s house and get as much as you can carry before the cook gets up.”
 
“The last time I was there,” muttered Benjamin, “I nearly got blown up with the kerosene1 can.”
 
By the time the ant’s uncle got back to his house he found more than a hundred ants of all kinds walking up and down and carrying all kinds of provisions.
 
“You are very late,” said the ant’s aunt. “What did you do about the swing, Benjamin? Did you stop and see the spider about it?”
 
Benjamin had forgotten all about the swing, so he had to go back to where the spider kept a shop, and he came back after a while with a wheelbarrow loaded down with rope. The ant’s aunt was lame2, and she had to walk with a cane3. She was at the head of the picnic party and Benjamin, the ant’s uncle, came last of all with his wheelbarrow filled with rope and baskets and sugar and lemons and tubs and glasses and everything which might be used on a picnic. The ants went to Deacon Jones’ woods, and as they got nearer, they heard all kinds of strange noises. All the animals and all the birds came out to see the picnic go by. The ants walked on until they came to a bare spot in the middle of the woods, and there they stopped and put down their bundles and baskets.
 
“This will be a nice place to set the table,” said the ant’s aunt. “Now, Benjamin, while I am doing all the work, suppose you go and put up the swing for the children.”
 
The ant’s uncle said something underneath4 his breath and then he took the rope and the boards and things and put up 153 swings. He hurt his knee and sprained5 his back and cut his fingers. He also stubbed his toes.
 
“You needn’t feel so badly about hurting your toes,” said a centipede, who stopped to look, “suppose you had toes on 100 feet to stub, then you could afford to talk.”
 
The ant’s uncle returned to the place where the table was being set. He threw his hat over on the grass and sat down, saying, “I am very tired and a little rest would do me a great deal of good.”
 
“Benjamin, Benjamin,” cried the ant’s aunt, “how could you do such a thing?”
 
“Why, just you see what Uncle Benjamin did,” cried all the small ants at once.
 
“You ought not to be so careless,” replied Benjamin, “how was I to know that it was a custard pie? I thought it was a nice cushion you put there for me.”
 
The ant’s uncle started to get his hat and walk away. He had not gone very far before he became red in the face with anger.
 
“Get off my hat,” all the ants heard him say, “how dare you sit on a poor ant’s hat like that. Haven’t you any manners?”
 
“What is the matter, Benjamin?” asked the ant’s aunt, picking up her cane and hobbling toward her husband.
 
“This miserable6 man,” yelled the ant’s uncle, “has the impudence7 to sit down on my hat and he won’t get up.”
 
The man looked in the direction of Benjamin and then yawned and got up and walked away.
 
“Benjamin, Benjamin,” cried the ant’s aunt, a few minutes later, “little Betsy Ann has come back and she says that nearly a dozen of the children started to climb a mountain and the mountain got up and walked away. Won’t you please go and try and find them?”
 
The ant’s uncle jammed his crushed silk hat down over his eyes, picked up a big switch and went to find the children. He walked and walked until he came to a place where a whole lot of men and women were sitting in a circle while the mosquitos ate them. The men and women were eating pickles8 and dry sandwiches and trying to look happy. Uncle Benjamin hurried down the middle of the tablecloth9, calling, “Children, children,” at the top of his voice. Everywhere he went he met some of those miserable little children who had run away from their own picnic. He found them sitting on the edge of a sponge cake dangling10 their feet and kicking holes in the icing. They were perched on loaves of bread and up on top of a plate of sliced ham, they were playing hide and seek. Some of them had climbed up into a great big tin reservoir. There were all their clothes on the edge and they were having a swim.
 
“Didn’t I tell you not to go near the water?” asked Uncle Benjamin, shaking his switch. “Now, where do I find you?”
 
“It isn’t water,” said all the children ants; “it’s lemonade.”
 
[40]
 
It took the ant’s uncle more than an hour to get all the children together.
 
“Why don’t you come away from here?” he said. “Don’t you hear all the men and women talking and saying that it would be such a delightful11 place here if it were not for those miserable ants?”
 
“They didn’t say a word,” replied the children, “until you came.”
 
This made Uncle Benjamin so angry that he swung his switch and chased all the children before him back to the place where the table of the ants’ picnic had been spread. Way over to one side was the ant’s aunt all alone. She had her handkerchief to her eyes, and was crying as though her heart would break.
 
“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Uncle Benjamin. “What in the world has happened?”
 
“Why, can’t you see?” replied the ant’s aunt. “A miserable man came this way and stepped right on the table, and when he lifted up his foot everything was ruined.”
 
“Come on, children,” said Uncle Benjamin, “Let us all go back to the men’s picnic. After he has treated us this way, he deserves that we should tease him and all his family.”
 
That is the reason that, when men and women give picnics all the ants in the neighborhood go and plague them.

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1 kerosene G3uxW     
n.(kerosine)煤油,火油
参考例句:
  • It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
  • Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电,有煤油灯。
2 lame r9gzj     
adj.跛的,(辩解、论据等)无说服力的
参考例句:
  • The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
  • I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。
3 cane RsNzT     
n.手杖,细长的茎,藤条;v.以杖击,以藤编制的
参考例句:
  • This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
  • English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。
4 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
5 sprained f314e68885bee024fbaac62a560ab7d4     
v.&n. 扭伤
参考例句:
  • I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤,把脚脖子扭了。
  • When Mary sprained her ankles, John carried her piggyback to the doctors. 玛丽扭伤了足踝,约翰驮她去看医生。
6 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
7 impudence K9Mxe     
n.厚颜无耻;冒失;无礼
参考例句:
  • His impudence provoked her into slapping his face.他的粗暴让她气愤地给了他一耳光。
  • What knocks me is his impudence.他的厚颜无耻使我感到吃惊。
8 pickles fd03204cfdc557b0f0d134773ae6fff5     
n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 );处于困境;遇到麻烦;菜酱
参考例句:
  • Most people eat pickles at breakfast. 大多数人早餐吃腌菜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I want their pickles and wines, and that.' 我要他们的泡菜、美酒和所有其他东西。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
9 tablecloth lqSwh     
n.桌布,台布
参考例句:
  • He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思,轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
  • She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。
10 dangling 4930128e58930768b1c1c75026ebc649     
悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 ); 摆动不定; 用某事物诱惑…; 吊胃口
参考例句:
  • The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果,那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
  • The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上,摇晃着他们的双腿。
11 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。


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