Chapter 6 DAY AT THE FARM

　　Chapter 6 DAY AT THE FARM
　　The next day the children were up very early, as early as Mr. Luffy, and they all had breakfasttogether. Mr. Luffy had a map of the moorlands, and he studied it carefully after breakfast.
　　'I think I'll go off for the whole day,' he said to Julian, who was sitting beside him. 'See that littlevalley marked here - Crowleg Vale - well, I have heard that there are some of the rarest beetles² inBritain to be found there. I think I'll take my gear and go along. What are you four going to do?'
　　'Five,' said George at once. 'You've forgotten Timmy.'
　　'So I have. I beg his pardon,' said Mr. Luffy, solemnly. 'Well - what are you going to do?'
　　'We'll go over to the farm and get more food,' said Julian. 'And ask that farm-boy if he's heard thetale of the spook-trains. And perhaps look round the farm and get to know the animals there. Ialways like a farm.'
　　'Right,' said Mr. Luffy, beginning to light his pipe. 'Don't worry about me if I'm not back tilldusk. When I'm bug-hunting I lose count of the time.'
　　'You're sure you won't get lost?' said Anne, anxiously. She didn't really feel that Mr. Luffy couldtake proper care of himself.
　　'Oh yes. My right ear always warns me if I'm losing my way,' said Mr. Luffy. 'It waggles hard.'
　　He waggled it at Anne and she laughed. 'I wish you'd tell me how you do that,' she said. 'I'm sureyou know. You can't think how thrilled the girls at school would be if I learnt that trick. They'dthink it was super.'
　　Mr. Luffy grinned and got up. 'Well, so long,' he said. 'I'm off before Anne makes me give her alesson in ear-waggles.'
　　He went off down the slope to his own tent. George and Anne washed-up, while the boystightened some tent ropes that had come loose, and generally tidied up.
　　'I suppose it's quite all right leaving everything unguarded like this,' said Anne, anxiously.
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　　'Well, we did yesterday,' said Dick. 'And who's likely to come and take anything up here in thiswild and lonely spot, I'd like to know? You don't imagine a spook-train will come along andbundle everything into its luggage-van, do you, Anne?'
　　Anne giggled³. 'Don't be silly. I just wondered if we ought to leave Timmy on guard, that's all.'
　　'Leave Timmy!' said George, amazed. 'You don't really think I'd leave Timmy behind every timewe go off anywhere, Anne? Don't be an idiot.'
　　'No, I didn't really think you would,' said Anne. 'Well, I suppose nobody will come along here.
　　Throw over that tea-cloth, George, if you've finished with it.'
　　Soon the tea-cloths were hanging over the gorse bushes to dry in the sun. Everything was putaway neatly⁴ in the tents. Mr. Luffy had called a loud goodbye and gone. Now the five were readyto go off to the farm.
　　Anne took a basket, and gave one to Julian too. 'To bring back the food,' said she. 'Are you readyto go now?'
　　They set off over the heather, their knees brushing through the honeyed flowers, and sendingscores of busy bees into the air. It was a lovely day again, and the children felt free and happy.
　　They came to the trim little farm. Men were at work in the fields, but Julian did not think theywere very industrious⁵. He looked about for the farm-boy.
　　The boy came out of a shed and whistled to them. 'Hallo! You come for some more eggs? I'vecollected quite a lot for you.'
　　He stared at Anne. 'You didn't come yesterday. What's your name?'
　　'Anne,' said Anne. 'What's yours?'
　　'Jock,' said the boy, with a grin. He was rather a nice boy, Anne thought, with straw-colouredhair, blue eyes, and rather a red face which looked very good-tempered.
　　'Where's your mother?' said Julian. 'Can we get some bread and other things from her today? Weate an awful lot of our food yesterday, and we want to stock up our larder⁶ again!'
　　'She's busy just now in the dairy,' said Jock. 'Are you in a hurry? Come and see my pups.'
　　They all walked off with him to a shed. In there, right at the end, was a big box lined with straw.
　　A collie dog lay there with five lovely little puppies. She growled⁷ at Timmy fiercely, and hebacked hurriedly out of the shed. He had met fierce mother-dogs before, and he didn't like them!
　　The four children exclaimed over the fat little puppies, and Anne took one out very gently. Itcuddled into her arms and made funny little whining⁸ noises.
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　　'I wish it was mine,' said Anne. 'I should call it Cuddle.'
　　'What a frightful⁹ name for a dog,' said George scornfully. 'Just the kind of silly name you wouldthink of, Anne. Let me hold it. Are they all yours, Jock?'
　　'Yes,' said Jock, proudly. 'The mother's mine, you see. Her name's Biddy.'
　　Biddy pricked¹⁰ up her ears at her name and looked up at Jock out of bright, alert eyes. He fondledher silky head.
　　'I've had her for four years,' he said. 'When we were at Owl¹ Farm, old Farmer Burrows¹¹ gave herto me when she was eight weeks old.'
　　'Oh - were you at another farm before this one, then?' asked Anne. 'Have you always lived on afarm? Aren't you lucky?'
　　'I've only lived on two,' said Jock. 'Owl Farm and this one. Mum and I had to leave Owl Farmwhen Dad died, and we went to live in a town for a year. I hated that. I was glad when we camehere.'
　　'But I thought your father was here!' said Dick, puzzled.
　　'That's my stepfather,' said Jock. 'He's no farmer, though!' He looked round and lowered hisvoice. 'He doesn't know much about farming. It's my mother that tells the men what to do. Still,he gives her plenty of money to do everything well, and we've got fine machinery¹² and wagonsand things. Like to see the dairy? It's slap up-to-date and Mum loves working in it.'
　　Jock took the four children to the shining, spotless dairy. His mother was at work there with agirl. She nodded and smiled at the children. 'Good morning! Hungry again? I'll pack you upplenty of food when I've finished in the dairy. Would you like to stay and have dinner with myJock? He's lonely enough here in the holidays, with no other boy to keep him company.'
　　'Oh, yes - do let's!' cried Anne, in delight. I'd like that. Can we, Ju?'
　　'Yes. Thank you very much, Mrs. - er – Mrs. . . .' said Julian.
　　'I'm Mrs. Andrews,' said Jock's mother. 'But Jock is Jock Robins¹⁴ - he's the son of my firsthusband, a farmer. Well, stay to dinner all of you, and I'll see if I can give you a meal that willkeep you going for the rest of the day!'
　　This sounded good. The four children felt thrilled, and Timmy wagged his tail hard. He likedMrs. Andrews.
　　'Come on,' said Jock, joyfully¹⁵. I'll take you all round the farm, into every corner. It's not very big,but we're going to make it the best little farm on the moorlands. My stepfather doesn't seem to29
　　take much interest in the work of the farm, but he's jolly generous when it comes to handing outmoney to Mum to buy everything she wants.'
　　It certainly seemed to the children that the machinery on the farm was absolutely up-to-date.
　　They examined the combine, they went into the little cowshed and admired the clean stone floorwith white brick walls, they climbed into the red-painted wagons¹³, and they wished they could trythe two motor-tractors that stood side by side in a barn.
　　'You've got plenty of men here to work the farm,' said Julian. 'I shouldn't have thought there wasenough for so many to do on this small place.'
　　'They're not good workers,' said Jock, his face creasing¹⁶ into frowns. 'Mum's always getting wildwith them. They just don't know what to do. Dad gives her plenty of men to work the farm, buthe always chooses the wrong ones! They don't seem to like farm-work, and they're alwaysrunning off to the nearest town whenever they can. There's only one good fellow and he's old.
　　See him over there? His name's Will.'
　　The children looked at Will. He was working in the little vegetable garden, an old fellow with ashrivelled face, a tiny nose and a pair of very blue eyes. They liked the look of him.
　　'Yes. He looks like a farm-worker,' said Julian. 'The others don't.'
　　'He won't work with them,' said Jock. 'He just says rude things to them, and calls them ninniesand idjits.'
　　'What's an idjit?' asked Anne.
　　'An idiot, silly,' said Dick. He walked up to old Will. 'Good morning,' he said. 'You're very busy.
　　There's always a lot to do on a farm, isn't there?'
　　The old fellow looked at Dick out of his very blue eyes, and went on with his work. 'Plenty to doand plenty of folk to do it, and not much done,' he said, in a croaking¹⁷ kind of voice. 'Neverthought I'd be put to work with ninnies and idjits. Not ninnies and idjits!'
　　'There! What did I tell you?' said Jock, with a grin. 'He's always calling the other men that, so wejust have to let him work right away from them. Still, I must say he's about right - most of thefellows here don't know the first thing about work on a farm. I wish my stepfather would let ushave a few proper workers instead of these fellows.'
　　'Where's your stepfather?' said Julian, thinking he must be rather peculiar¹⁸ to pour money into alittle moorland farm like this, and yet choose the wrong kind of workers.
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　　'He's away for the day,' said Jock. 'Thank goodness!' he added, with a sideways look at theothers.
　　'Why? Don't you like him?' asked Dick.
　　'He's all right,' said Jock. 'But he's not a farmer, though he makes out he's always wanted to be -and what's more he doesn't like me one bit. I try to like him for Mum's sake. But I'm always gladwhen he's out of the way.'
　　'Your mother's nice,' said George.
　　'Oh, yes - Mum's grand,' said Jock. 'You don't know what it means to her to have a little farm ofher; own again, and to be able to run it with the proper machinery and all.'
　　They came to a large barn. The door was locked. 'I told you what was in here before,' said Jock.
　　'Lorries! You can peek¹⁹ through that hole here at them. Don't know why my stepfather wanted tobuy up so many, but I suppose he got them cheap - he loves to get things cheap and sell themdear! He did say they'd be useful on the farm, to take goods to the market.'
　　'Yes - you told us that when we were here yesterday, ' said Dick. 'But you've got heaps ofwagons for that!'
　　'Yes. I reckon they weren't bought for the farm at all, but for holding here till prices went highand he could make a lot of money,' said Jock, lowering his voice. 'I don't tell Mum that. So longas she gets what she wants for the farm, I'm going to hold my tongue.'
　　The children were very interested in all this. They wished they could see Mr. Andrews. He mustbe a peculiar sort of fellow, they thought. Anne tried to imagine what he was like.
　　'Big and tall and dark and frowny,' she thought. 'Rather frightening and impatient, and hecertainly won't like children. People like that never do.'
　　They spent a very pleasant morning poking²⁰ about the little farm. They went back to see Biddythe collie and her pups. Timmy stood patiently outside the shed, with his tail down. He didn't likeGeorge to take so much interest in other dogs.
　　A bell rang loudly. 'Good! Dinner!' said Jock. 'We'd better wash. We're all filthy²¹. Hope you feelhungry, because I guess Mum's got a super dinner for us.'
　　'I feel terribly hungry,' said Anne. 'It seems ages since we had breakfast. I've almost forgotten it!'
　　They all felt the same. They went into the farmhouse²² and were surprised to find a very nice littlebathroom to wash in. Mrs. Andrews was there, putting out a clean roller towel.
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　　'Fine little bathroom, isn't it?' she said. 'My husband had it put in for me. First proper bathroomI've ever had!'
　　A glorious smell rose up from the kitchen downstairs. 'Come on!' said Jock, seizing the soap.
　　'Let's hurry. We'll be down in a minute, Mum!'
　　And they were. Nobody was going to dawdle²³ over washing when a grand meal lay waiting forthem downstairs!

1 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。

2 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

5 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

6 larder   

n.食物贮藏室，食品橱

参考例句：

• Please put the food into the larder.请将您地食物放进食物柜内。
• They promised never to raid the larder again.他们答应不再随便开食橱拿东西吃了。

7 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

9 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

10 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

11 burrows   

n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The intertidal beach unit contains some organism burrows. 潮间海滩单元含有一些生物潜穴。 来自辞典例句
• A mole burrows its way through the ground. 鼹鼠会在地下钻洞前进。 来自辞典例句

12 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

13 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

14 robins   

n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书）

参考例句：

• The robins occupied their former nest. 那些知更鸟占了它们的老窝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Benjamin Robins then entered the fray with articles and a book. 而后，Benjamin Robins以他的几篇专论和一本书参加争论。 来自辞典例句

15 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

16 creasing   

（使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的现在分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 挑檐

参考例句：

• "No, we mustn't use that money, Chiu," Feng Yun-ching gasped in horror, creasing his brow. “元丰庄上那一笔存款是不能动的。 来自子夜部分
• In severe creasing the frictional resistance plays only a minor role in determining the crease resistance. 在严重的折皱作用下，摩擦阻力在织物抗折皱能力中仅居次要地位。

17 croaking   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• the croaking of frogs 蛙鸣
• I could hear croaking of the frogs. 我能听到青蛙呱呱的叫声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

19 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

20 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

21 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

22 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

23 dawdle   

vi.浪费时间；闲荡

参考例句：

• Don't dawdle over your clothing.You're so beautiful already.不要再在衣着上花费时间了，你已经够漂亮的了。
• The teacher told the students not to dawdle away their time.老师告诉学生们别混日子。