Mr Fox examined the wall carefully. He saw that the cement between the bricks was old andcrumbly, so he loosened a brick without much trouble and pulled it away. Suddenly, out from thehole where the brick had been, there popped a small sharp face with whiskers, ‘Go away!’ it snapped.
‘You can’t come in here! It’s private!’
‘Good Lord!’ said Badger1. ‘It’s Rat!’
‘You saucy2 beast!’ said Mr Fox. ‘I should have guessed we’d find you down here somewhere.’
‘Go away!’ shrieked3 Rat. ‘Go on, beat it! This is my private pitch!’
‘Shut up,’ said Mr Fox.
‘I will not shut up!’ shrieked Rat. ‘This is my place! I got here first!’
Mr Fox gave a brilliant smile, flashing his white teeth. ‘My dear Rat,’ he said softly, ‘I am ahungry fellow and if you don’t hop4 it quickly I shall eat-you-up-in-one-gulp5!’
That did it. Rat popped back fast out of sight. Mr Fox laughed and began pulling more bricks outof the wall. When he had made a biggish hole, he crept through it. Badger and the Smallest Foxfollowed him in.
They found themselves in a vast, damp, gloomy cellar. ‘This is it!’ cried Mr Fox.
‘This is what?’ said Badger. ‘The place is empty.’
‘Where are the turkeys?’ asked the Smallest Fox, staring into the gloom. ‘I thought Bean was aturkey man.’
‘He is a turkey man,’ said Mr Fox. ‘But we’re not after turkeys now. We’ve got plenty of food.’
‘Then what do we need, Dad?’
‘Take a good look round,’ said Mr Fox. ‘Don’t you see anything that interests you?’
Badger and the Smallest Fox peered into the half-darkness. As their eyes became accustomed tothe gloom, they began to see what looked like a whole lot of big glass jars standing6 upon shelvesaround the walls. They went closer. They were jars. There were hundreds of them, and upon each onewas written the word CIDER.
The Smallest Fox leaped high in the air. ‘Oh, Dad!’ he cried out. ‘Look what we’ve found! It’scider!’
‘Ex-actly,’ said Mr Fox.
‘Tremendous!’ shouted Badger.
‘Bean’s Secret Cider Cellar,’ said Mr Fox. ‘But go carefully, my dears. Don’t make a noise. Thiscellar is right underneath7 the farmhouse8 itself.’
‘Cider,’ said Badger, ‘is especially good for Badgers9. We take it as medicine – one large glassthree times a day with meals and another at bedtime.’
‘It will make the feast into a banquet,’ said Mr Fox.
While they were talking, the Smallest Fox had sneaked10 a jar off the shelf and had taken a gulp.
‘Wow!’ he gasped11. ‘Wow-ee!’
You must understand this was not the ordinary weak fizzy cider one buys in a store. It was the realstuff, a home-brewed fiery12 liquor that burned in your throat and boiled in your stomach.
‘Ah-h-h-h-h-h!’ gasped the Smallest Fox. ‘This is some cider!’
‘That’s quite enough of that,’ said Mr Fox, grabbing the jar and putting it to his own lips. He tooka tremendous gulp. ‘It’s miraculous13!’ he whispered, fighting for breath. ‘It’s fabulous14! It’s beautiful!’
‘It’s my turn,’ said Badger, taking the jar and tilting15 his head well back. The cider gurgled andbubbled down his throat. ‘It’s . . . it’s like melted gold!’ he gasped. ‘Oh, Foxy, it’s . . . like drinkingsunbeams and rainbows!’
‘You’re poaching!’ shrieked Rat. ‘Put that down at once! There’ll be none left for me!’ Rat wasperched upon the highest shelf in the cellar, peering out from behind a huge jar. There was a smallrubber tube inserted in the neck of the jar, and Rat was using this tube to suck out the cider.
‘You’re drunk!’ said Mr Fox.
‘Mind your own business!’ shrieked Rat. ‘And if you great clumsy brutes16 come messing about inhere we’ll all be caught! Get out and leave me to sip17 my cider in peace.’
At that moment they heard a woman’s voice calling out in the house above them. ‘Hurry up andget that cider, Mabel!’ the voice called. ‘You know Mr Bean doesn’t like to be kept waiting!
Especially when he’s been out all night in a tent!’
The animals froze. They stayed absolutely still, their ears pricked18, their bodies tense. Then theyheard the sound of a door being opened. The door was at the top of a flight of stone steps leadingdown from the house to the cellar.
And now someone was starting to come down those steps.
15 比恩的秘密苹果酒窖
狐狸先生仔细地审视了一下这堵墙。他看到砖缝里的水泥已经陈旧并且碎裂了，于是他没费多大的劲便松动了一块砖，并把它抽了出来。突然，从抽掉的那块砖所形成的小洞里忽地一下露出一张长着胡须的尖瘦的小脸，并传来怒气冲冲的说话声：“走开！你们不能到这儿来！这是我的地盘！”
“天哪！”獾说道，“是老鼠！”
“你这粗鲁的畜生！”狐狸说道，“我该猜到会在这下面的什么地方发现你的。”
“走开！”老鼠尖叫道，“快点，滚开！这是我的私人地盘！”
“住口。”狐狸先生说。
“我偏不住口！”老鼠尖叫道，“这是我的地方！是我先到这儿来的！”
狐狸先生满面笑容，他那白色的牙齿闪闪发亮。“我亲爱的老鼠，”他温和地说，“我可是个饿坏的家伙，你要是不赶快走开，我会一口把你吞下去的！”
这话起了作用，老鼠“嗖”的一声飞快地向后跑去，不见了踪影。狐狸先生大笑起来，并开始从墙上抽出更多的砖。当他从墙上掏出一个比较大的洞时，他从洞里爬了过去。獾和那只最小的狐狸也跟在他后面钻了进去。他们发现自己来到了一个宽敞、潮湿而又阴暗的地窖里。“正是它！”狐狸先生大声说。
“这是什么？”獾说道，“这地方什么也没有啊。”
“火鸡在哪里？”最小的狐狸盯着黑暗处说，“我想比恩是个养火鸡的人啊。”
“他是个养火鸡的人，”狐狸先生说，“但是我们现在不是来找火鸡的，我们已经有了很多吃的东西了。”
“那我们还需要什么，爸爸？”
“好好地在四处瞧瞧，”狐狸先生说，“你就没看到有什么东西让你感兴趣吗？”
獾和最小的狐狸向半明半暗处窥视着。当他们的眼睛对黑暗习惯了的时候，他们开始看到，沿墙的架子上放着一大批样子像是大玻璃罐子的东西。他们走近几步，果然是罐子，有好几百个呢，每个罐子上都写着“苹果酒”。
最小的狐狸一跳老高。“噢，爸爸！”他大声说，“看哪，我们找到了什么！是苹果酒！”
“一点儿不错。”狐狸先生说。
“真是妙不可言！”獾也大喊道。
“比恩的秘密苹果酒窖。”狐狸先生说，“但是要小心行事，亲爱的，别弄出声音。这个酒窖就在饲养场场房的下面。”
獾说道：“苹果酒对獾特别好，我们把它当药用，一日三餐一次一大杯，另外睡觉的时候再来一杯。”
“它将使我们的筵席成为盛大的宴会。”狐狸先生说。
他们说着话的时候，最小的狐狸已悄悄地从架子上搬下一罐，喝了一大口。“啊！”他喘息着叹道，“啊！”
你一定知道，这可不是从商店里买的那种普通的低度苹果汽酒。这可是真家伙，是家酿的烈性饮品，会让你的嗓子冒火，肚子里开锅。
“啊哈哈！”最小的狐狸气喘吁吁道，“这苹果酒真好！”
“喝得够多的了。”狐狸先生说着，一把夺过罐子，把它放在自己的嘴唇上，喝了一大口。“真是妙极了！”他一边吃力地喘息着，一边悄声说道，“不可思议！太美了！”
“该轮到我了。”獾说着，接过罐子，把他的头向后仰着。苹果酒咕嘟咕嘟地流进了他的嗓子眼里。“就像……就像熔化的金子！”他喘息着说，“噢，狐兄，这就像……就像是饮用阳光和彩虹啊！”
“你们在偷酒喝！”老鼠尖叫道，“马上把它放下！你们都快给我喝光了！”老鼠躲在酒窖里最高的那个架子上，从一个大罐子后面向外窥视着。有一根小橡皮管插在罐口里，老鼠正用这根管子吸酒喝呢。
“你喝醉了！”狐狸先生说道。
“少管闲事！”老鼠尖叫道，“你们这些笨手笨脚的大笨蛋要是到这儿来弄得一团糟，我们都得被抓住！滚开，让我自己安安静静地在这儿喝点儿苹果酒吧。”
就在这时，他们听见上面房子里的一个女人的喊声。“梅布尔，快去拿苹果酒来！”那声音喊道，“你知道比恩先生是不喜欢等个没完的，尤其是他在帐篷里过了整整一夜的时候！”动物们都吓呆了，他们一丝不动地站着，耳朵竖起，身子紧绷绷的。随后，他们听到了一扇门被打开的声音。那扇门位于那段从房子通往地下室的石头台阶的顶端。
现在，有人正开始走下那些台阶。
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
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saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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badgers
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| n.獾( badger的名词复数 )；獾皮；（大写）獾州人（美国威斯康星州人的别称）；毛鼻袋熊 | |
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10
sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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11
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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12
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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15
tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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