13 Bunce’s Giant Storehouse 邦斯的大仓库

13 Bunce’s Giant Storehouse
‘My dear Foxy!’ cried Badger¹. ‘What in the world has happened to your tail?’
‘Don’t talk about it, please,’ said Mr Fox. ‘It’s a painful subject.’
They were digging the new tunnel. They dug on in silence. Badger was a great digger and thetunnel went forward at a terrific pace now that he was lending a paw. Soon they were crouchingunderneath yet another wooden floor.
Mr Fox grinned slyly, showing sharp white teeth. ‘If I am not mistaken, my dear Badger,’ he said,‘we are now underneath² the farm which belongs to that nasty little pot-bellied dwarf³, Bunce. We are,in fact, directly underneath the most interesting part of that farm.’
‘Ducks and geese!’ cried the Small Foxes, licking their lips. ‘Juicy tender ducks and big fatgeese!’
‘Ex-actly!’ said Mr Fox.
‘But how in the world can you know where we are?’ asked Badger.
Mr Fox grinned again, showing even more white teeth. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I know my way aroundthese farms blindfold⁴. For me it’s just as easy below ground as it is above it.’ He reached high andpushed up one wooden floorboard, then another. He poked⁵ his head through the gap.
‘Yes!’ he shouted, jumping up into the room above. ‘I’ve done it again! I’ve hit it smack⁶ on thenose! Right in the bull’s-eye! Come and look!’
Quickly Badger and the three Small Foxes scrambled⁷ up after him. They stopped and stared. Theystood and gaped⁸. They were so overwhelmed they couldn’t speak; for what they now saw was a kindof fox’s dream, a badger’s dream, a paradise for hungry animals.
‘This, my dear old Badger,’ proclaimed Mr Fox, ‘is Bunce’s Mighty⁹ Storehouse! All his fineststuff is stored in here before he sends it off to market.’
Against all the four walls of the great room, stacked in cupboards and piled upon shelves reachingfrom floor to ceiling, were thousands and thousands of the finest and fattest ducks and geese, pluckedand ready for roasting! And up above, dangling¹⁰ from the rafters, there must have been at least ahundred smoked hams and fifty sides of bacon!
‘Just feast your eyes on that!’ cried Mr Fox, dancing up and down. ‘What d’you think of it, eh?
Pretty good grub!’
Suddenly, as though springs had been released in their legs, the three hungry Small Foxes and theravenously hungry Badger sprang forward to grab the luscious¹¹ food.
‘Stop!’ ordered Mr Fox. ‘This is my party, so I shall do the choosing.’ The others fell back, lickingtheir chops. Mr Fox began prowling around the storehouse examining the glorious display with anexpert eye. A thread of saliva¹² slid down one side of his jaw¹³ and hung suspended in mid-air, thensnapped.
‘We mustn’t overdo¹⁴ it,’ he said. ‘Mustn’t give the game away. Mustn’t let them know what we’vebeen up to. We must be neat and tidy and take just a few of the choicest morsels¹⁵. So, to start with weshall have four plump young ducks.’ He took them from the shelf. ‘Oh, how lovely and fat they are!
No wonder Bunce gets a special price for them in the market! . . . All right, Badger, lend me a handto get them down . . . You children can help as well . . . There we go . . . Goodness me, look howyour mouths are watering . . . And now . . . I think we had better have a few geese . . . Three will bequite enough . . . We’ll take the biggest . . . Oh my, oh my, you’ll never see finer geese than these in aking’s kitchen . . . Gently does it . . . that’s the way . . . And what about a couple of nice smokedhams . . . I adore smoked ham, don’t you, Badger? . . . Fetch me that step-ladder, will you please . . .’
Mr Fox climbed up the ladder and handed down three magnificent hams. ‘And do you like bacon,Badger?’
‘I’m mad about bacon!’ cried Badger, dancing with excitement. ‘Let’s have a side of bacon! Thatbig one up there!’
‘And carrots, Dad!’ said the smallest of the three Small Foxes. ‘We must take some of thosecarrots.’
‘Don’t be a twerp,’ said Mr Fox. ‘You know we never eat things like that.’
‘It’s not for us, Dad. It’s for the Rabbits. They only eat vegetables.’
‘My goodness me, you’re right!’ cried Mr Fox. ‘What a thoughtful little fellow you are! Take tenbunches of carrots!’
Soon, all this lovely loot was lying in a neat heap upon the floor. The Small Foxes crouched¹⁶ close,their noses twitching¹⁷, their eyes shining like stars.
‘And now,’ said Mr Fox, ‘we shall have to borrow from our friend Bunce two of those usefulpush-carts over in the corner.’ He and Badger fetched the push-carts, and the ducks and geese andhams and bacon were loaded on to them. Quickly the push-carts were lowered through the hole in thefloor. The animals slid down after them. Back in the tunnel, Mr Fox again pulled the floorboards verycarefully into place so that no one could see they had been moved.
‘My darlings,’ he said, pointing to two of the three Small Foxes, ‘take a cart each and run back asfast as you can to your mother. Give her my love and tell her we are having guests for dinner – theBadgers, the Moles¹⁸, the Rabbits and the Weasels. Tell her it must be a truly great feast. And tell herthe rest of us will be home as soon as we’ve done one more little job.’
‘Yes, Dad! Right away, Dad!’ they answered, and they grabbed a trolley¹⁹ each and went rushing offdown the tunnel.


13　邦斯的大仓库
“我亲爱的狐兄！”獾大声说，“你的尾巴到底是怎么了？”
“拜托你，可别提它了。”狐狸先生说，“这可是件痛苦的事。”
他们正在挖一条新地道，大家都默默无言地挖着。獾是挖洞高手，由他出手相助，地道以极为惊人的速度向前延伸着。他们很快便蹲到了另外一处木地板的下面。
狐狸先生诡谲地咧嘴一笑，露出了他那尖利的白色牙齿，说：“要是我没搞错的话，我亲爱的獾兄，咱们现在是在那个小矮个、大肚子的肮脏鬼邦斯的饲养场下面。实际上，咱们正好位于这个饲养场最有趣的那部分的下面。”
“鸭子和鹅！”小狐狸们一边舔着嘴唇一边说道，“鲜嫩的鸭子和大肥鹅啊！”
“一点儿不错！”狐狸先生说。
“可是你怎么竟然知道我们在什么地方呢？”獾问道。
狐狸先生又咧嘴笑笑，露出了更多的白色牙齿。他说：“哎，在这些饲养场周围，我就是蒙着眼也迷不了路。对我来说，在地底下和在地上都是一样熟门熟路的。”他来到高处，向上推起一块木地板，然后又推起一块。他从缝隙间把头探了出去。
“正是啊！”他一边大叫着，一边蹿上去进入了上边的房子里。“我又成功了！正打在点子上！正中靶心！快来看啊！”
獾和三个小狐狸迅速跟着他爬了上去。他们停下来，站在那儿张着大嘴，呆呆地打量着。他们已完全不知所措，话都说不出来了，因为他们现在看到的正是狐狸所梦寐以求的，也是獾所梦寐以求的，是饥饿中的动物的天堂。
“我亲爱的獾兄，”狐狸先生断言道，“这是邦斯的大仓库啊！他最好的东西在送往市场之前都是存在这里的。”
这个大房间的四面墙上排放着一些橱子和从地板直达天花板的货架，橱子里和货架上堆着成千上万只最好最肥、脱了毛待烤的鸭子和鹅！并且上面的房梁上还悬挂着至少有上百只熏火腿和五十挂熏肉！
“先饱饱眼福吧！”狐狸先生一边大声说，一边跳来跳去。“你觉得怎么样，嗯？相当好吃的东西！”
突然间，就好像他们腿中的弹簧松开了似的，三个小狐狸和饿极了的獾跳上前去就抢起那些美味的食物来。
“住手！”狐狸先生命令道，“这是我要举行的宴会，所以拿什么要由我来挑选。”于是他们一边舔着到手的排骨，一边退了回来。狐狸先生开始在仓库里悄悄地来回踱着步，以一种专家的眼神审视着这些绚丽的陈列品。一条长丝似的口水从他下巴的一侧流了出来，悬垂在空中，然后断落在地下。
“我们一定不要干得太过分，”他说道，“决不能露出马脚。一定不要让他们知道我们来过这儿。咱们必须干得干净利索，只拿走一点经过精心挑选出来的东西就行了。所以，咱们开头就拿四只小肥鸭吧。”他从架子上把东西拿了下来。“噢，它们多肥多美呀！难怪邦斯在市场上都能卖个好价钱呢……好吧，獾兄，帮我一把，把它们拿下来……你们这些孩子也来帮帮忙……咱们到那边去……我的老天，看看你们嘴里的口水……现在……我想咱们拿点鹅吧……三只就足够了……咱们拿最大的……哎呀！哎呀！你在国王的厨房里也不会看到比这些还好的鹅呀……轻着点……就这样……来几条上好的熏火腿怎么样……我喜欢熏火腿，你呢，獾兄？请你把那个梯子给我拿过来……”
狐狸先生爬上梯子，递下来三条巨大的火腿。“獾兄，你喜欢熏猪肉吗？”
“我太喜欢熏猪肉了！”獾一边大声说着，一边兴奋得手舞足蹈起来。“咱们拿一片熏猪肉吧！上边那个大的！”
“还有胡萝卜，爸爸！”三个小狐狸中最小的那个说道，“那些胡萝卜我们得拿一点儿。”
“别傻了，”狐狸先生说，“你知道咱们从来都不吃那种东西。”
“不是给咱们吃的，爸爸，是给兔子吃的。他们只吃蔬菜呀。”
“我的天啊，你说得对！”狐狸先生大声说，“真是个爱动脑筋的小家伙！拿十束胡萝卜！”
所有的这些可爱的战利品很快便在地板上整整齐齐地堆成了一堆。小狐狸们凑在一起蹲在那儿，鼻子不停地翕动着，眼睛像星星一样闪闪发亮。
狐狸先生说：“现在，咱们还得向咱们的朋友邦斯借一下那些有用的推车，就是放在墙角那儿的那些。”他和獾把推车弄了过来，于是鸭子、鹅、火腿和熏猪肉都被装到了推车上。推车很快被从地板上的那个洞口里放了下去。动物们也尾随着推车滑进了洞里。狐狸先生回到洞里之后，又非常仔细地把那几块地板拉下来放回原处，以便不让人看出来它们曾被移动过。
狐狸先生指着三个小狐狸中的两个说道：“亲爱的孩子们，你们各推一辆车，尽快跑回到你母亲那儿。替我向她问好，告诉她我们有客人要来吃饭，客人有獾、鼹鼠、兔子和鼬鼠。
给她说我们剩下的这几个一干完另外一件小事马上就回家。”“是，爸爸！马上就去，爸爸！”他们答应道，然后各自抓过一辆手推车，沿着地道飞奔而去。

1 badger   

v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠

参考例句：

• Now that our debts are squared.Don't badger me with them any more.我们的债务两清了。从此以后不要再纠缠我了。
• If you badger him long enough,I'm sure he'll agree.只要你天天纠缠他，我相信他会同意。

2 underneath   

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。

3 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

4 blindfold   

vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物

参考例句：

• They put a blindfold on a horse.他们给马蒙上遮眼布。
• I can do it blindfold.我闭着眼睛都能做。

5 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。

7 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》

8 gaped   

v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• A huge chasm gaped before them. 他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front door was missing. A hole gaped in the roof. 前门不翼而飞，屋顶豁开了一个洞。 来自辞典例句

9 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

10 dangling   

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 luscious   

adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的

参考例句：

• The watermelon was very luscious.Everyone wanted another slice.西瓜很可口，每个人都想再来一片。
• What I like most about Gabby is her luscious lips!我最喜欢的是盖比那性感饱满的双唇！

12 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

13 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

14 overdo   

vt.把...做得过头，演得过火

参考例句：

• Do not overdo your privilege of reproving me.不要过分使用责备我的特权。
• The taxi drivers' association is urging its members,who can work as many hours as they want,not to overdo it.出租车司机协会劝告那些工作时长不受限制的会员不要疲劳驾驶。

15 morsels   

n.一口( morsel的名词复数 )；（尤指食物）小块，碎屑

参考例句：

• They are the most delicate morsels. 这些确是最好吃的部分。 来自辞典例句
• Foxes will scratch up grass to find tasty bug and beetle morsels. 狐狸会挖草地，寻找美味的虫子和甲壳虫。 来自互联网

16 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

17 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 moles   

防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• Two moles of epoxy react with one mole of A-1100. 两个克分子环氧与一个克分子A－1100反应。

19 trolley   

n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车

参考例句：

• The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
• In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆，书籍是放在台车上搬动的。