Chapter 3 A PLEASANT MORNING

Chapter 3 A PLEASANT MORNING
　　'IS there going to be a fair near here then?' asked George, starting on her strawberry ice. 'What sort ofa fair? A circus or something?'
　　'No. Just a mixed-up show,' said the shop-woman. 'There's to be a fire-eater, and that'll bring thevillagers to the show faster than anything. A fire-eater! Did you ever hear of such a thing? I wonderthat anyone cares to make a living at that!'
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　　'What else is there to be?' asked Anne. She didn't somehow fancy watching anyone eating fire!
　　'Well, there's a man who can get himself free in under two minutes, no matter how tightly he's tied upwith rope,' said the woman. 'Fair miracle he must be! And there's a man called Mr. India-rubber,because he can bend himself anywhere, and wriggle¹ through drain-pipes and get in at a window if it'sleft open just a crack!'
　　'Gracious! He'd make a good burglar!' said George. 'I wish I was like India-rubber! Can this manbounce when he falls down?'
　　Everyone laughed. 'What else?' said Anne. 'This sounds very exciting.'
　　'There's a man with snakes,' said the plump little lady with a shudder². 'Snakes! Just fancy! I'd beafraid they would bite me. I'd run a mile if I saw a snake coming at me.'
　　'Are they poisonous snakes that he has, I wonder?' said Dick. 'I don't somehow fancy having acaravan next to ours with lashings of poisonous snakes crawling round.'
　　'Don't!' said Anne. 'I should go home at once.'
　　Another customer came in and the shop-woman had to leave the children and go to serve her.
　　The four felt rather thrilled. What a bit of luck to have such exciting people in the same field as theywere!
　　'A fire-eater!' said Dick. 'I've always wanted to see one. I bet he doesn't really eat fire! He'd burn thewhole of his mouth and throat.'
　　'Has everyone finished?' asked Julian, getting some money out of his pocket. 'If so, we'll take Georgeup to the field and show her our gay caravans⁴. They aren't a bit like the ones we once wentcaravanning in, George - they are old- fashioned gypsy ones. You'll like them. Gay and verypicturesque.'
　　'Who lent you them?' asked George, as they left the shop. 'Some school friend, wasn't it?'
　　'Yes. He and his family always go and camp in their caravans in the Easter and summer hols,'
　　said Julian. 'But this Easter they're going to France - and rather than leave them empty, they thoughtthey'd lend them out - and we're the lucky ones!'
　　They walked up the lane and came to the stile. George looked up at the towering castle, gleaming inthe sun on the hill opposite.
　　'Faynights Castle,' she said. 'Hundreds of years old! How I'd love to know all the things thathappened there through the centuries. I do love old things. I vote we go and explore it.'
　　'We will. It only costs five pence,' said Dick. 'We'll all have a good five pence worth of castle. I 11wonder if there are any dungeons⁵. Dark, damp, drear and dreadful!'
　　They went up the grassy⁶ hillside to the field where their caravans were. George exclaimed in delight.
　　'Oh! Are those our caravans? Aren't they gay? They're just like the caravans the gypsies use - onlythese look cleaner and gayer.'
　　'The red caravan³, picked out with black and yellow, is ours,' said Dick. 'The blue one, picked out inblack and yellow, is yours and Anne's.'
　　'Woof,' said Timmy at once.
　　'Oh, sorry - yours too, Timmy,' said Dick at once, and everyone chuckled⁷. It was queer the wayTimmy suddenly made a woofish remark, just as if he really understood every word that was said.
　　George was quite certain he did, of course.
　　The caravans stood on high wheels. There was a window each side. The door was at the front, and sowere the steps, of course. Gay curtains hung at the windows, and a line of bold carving⁸ ran round theedges of the out-jutting roof.
　　'They are old gypsy caravans painted and made really up to date,' said Julian. 'They're jollycomfortable inside too - bunks¹⁰ that fold down against the walls in the daytime - a little sink forwashing-up, though we usually use the stream, because it's such a fag to fetch water - a small larder,cupboards and shelves - cork¹¹ carpet on the floor with warm rugs so that no draught¹² comes through....'
　　'You sound as if you are trying to sell them to me!' said George, with a laugh. 'You needn't! I lovethem both, and I think they're miles nicer than the modern caravans down there. Somehow theseseem real!'
　　'Oh, the others are real enough,' said Julian. 'And they've got more space - but space doesn't matter tous because we shall live outside most of the time.'
　　'Do we have a camp-fire?' asked George, eagerly. 'Oh, yes - I see we do. There's the ashy patch whereyou had your fire. Oh, Julian, do let's have a fire there at night and sit round it in the darkness!'
　　'With midges biting us and bats flapping all round,' said Dick. 'Yes, certainly we will! Come inside,George.'
　　'She's to come into my caravan first,' said Anne, and pushed George up the steps. George was reallydelighted.
　　She was very happy to think she was going to have a peaceful two weeks here with her three 12cousins and Timmy. She pulled her bunk⁹ up and down to see how it worked. She opened the larderand cupboard doors. Then she went to see the boys' caravan.
　　'How tidy!' she said, in surprise. 'I expected Anne's to be tidy - but yours is just as spick and span. Ohdear - I hope you haven't all turned over a new leaf and become models of neatness. I haven't!'
　　'Don't worry,' said Dick, with a grin. 'Anne has been at work - you know how she loves to puteverything in its place. We don't need to worry about anything when she's about. Good old Anne!'
　　'All the same, George will have to help me,' said Anne, firmly. 'I don't expect boys to tidy up andcook and do things like that - but George ought to because she's a girl.'
　　'If only I'd been born a boy!' groaned¹³ George. 'All right Anne, I'll do my share - sometimes. I say- there won't be much room for Timmy on my bunk at nights, will there?'
　　'Well, he's not coming on mine,' said Anne. 'He can sleep on the floor on a rug. Can't you, Timmy?'
　　'Woof,' said Timmy, without wagging his tail at all. He looked very disapproving¹⁴.
　　'There you are - he says he wouldn't dream of doing such a thing!' said George. 'He always sleeps onmy feet.'
　　They went outside again. It really was a lovely day. The primroses¹⁵ opened more and more of theirlittle yellow flowers, and a blackbird suddenly burst into a fluting¹⁶ song on the bough¹⁷ of a hawthorntree in the hedge nearby.
　　'Did anyone get a paper in the village?' asked Dick. 'Oh, you did, Julian. Good. Let's have a look atthe weather forecast. If it's good we might go for a long walk this afternoon. The sea is not reallyvery far off.'
　　Julian took the folded paper from his pocket and threw it over to Dick. He sat down on the steps ofhis caravan and opened it.
　　He was looking for the paragraph giving the weather forecast when headlines caught his eye. He gavean exclamation¹⁸.
　　'Hallo! Here's a bit more about those two vanished scientists, Julian!'
　　'Oh!' said George, remembering Julian's telephone call of the night before. 'Julian, whatever in theworld made you think my father could be one of the vanished scientists? As if he would ever bedisloyal to his country and take his secrets anywhere else!'
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　　'Oh, I didn't think that,' said Julian, at once. 'Of course I didn't! I'd never think Uncle Quentin woulddo a thing like that. No - in yesterday's paper it just said that two of our most famous scientists haddisappeared - and I thought perhaps they had been kidnapped. And as Uncle Quentin is really veryfamous, I just thought I'd ring up to make sure.'
　　'Oh,' said George. 'Well, as Mother hadn't heard a thing about them she was awfully¹⁹ astonished whenyou asked her if Father had disappeared. Especially as he was banging about just then in the study,looking for something he had lost."
　　'Which he was sitting on as usual, I suppose,' said Dick with a grin. 'But listen to this - it doesn't lookas if the two men have been kidnapped - it looks as if they just walked out and took important paperswith them! Beasts! There's too much of that sort of thing nowadays, it seems to me!'
　　He read out a paragraph or two.
　　'Derek Terry-Kane and Jeffrey Pottersham have been missing for two days. They met at a friend'shouse to discuss a certain aspect of their work, and then left together to walk to the underground.
　　Since then they have not been seen.
　　'It has, however, been established that Terry-Kane had brought his passport up to date and hadpurchased tickets for flying to Paris. No news of his arrival there has been reported."'There! Just what I said to Mother!' exclaimed George. 'They've gone off to sell their secrets toanother country. Why do we let them?'
　　'Uncle Quentin won't be pleased about that,' said Julian. 'Didn't he work with Terry-Kane at onetime?'
　　'Yes. I believe he did,' said George. 'I'm jolly glad I'm not at home today - Father will be rampaginground like anything, telling Mother hundreds of times what he thinks about scientists who aretraitors!'
　　'He certainly will,' said Julian. 'I don't blame him either. That's a thing I don't understand - to be atraitor to one's own country. It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth to think of it. Come on - let's thinkabout dinner, Anne. What are we going to have?'
　　'Fried sausages and onions, potatoes, a tin of sliced peaches and I'll make a custard,' said Anne, atonce.
　　'I'll fry the sausages,' said Dick. 'I'll light the fire out here and get the frying-pan. Anyone like theirsausages split in the cooking?'
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　　Everyone did. 'I like mine nice and burnt,' said George. 'How many do we have each? I've only hadthose ice creams since breakfast.'
　　'There are twelve,' said Anne, giving Dick the bag. 'Three each. None for Timmy! But I've got alarge, juicy bone for him. Julian, will you get me some water, please? There's the pail, over there.
　　I want to peel the potatoes. George, can you possibly open the peaches without cutting yourself likeyou did last time?'
　　'Yes, Captain!' said George, with a grin. 'Ah - this is like old times. Good food, good company and agood time. Three cheers for Us!'

1 wriggle   

v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒

参考例句：

• I've got an appointment I can't wriggle out of.我有个推脱不掉的约会。
• Children wriggle themselves when they are bored.小孩子感到厌烦时就会扭动他们的身体。

2 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

3 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

4 caravans   

（可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队）

参考例句：

• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles that are pulled by horses. 旧式的吉卜赛大篷车是由马拉的涂了颜色的木质车辆。
• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles. 旧时的吉普赛大篷车是涂了颜色的木质车辆。

5 dungeons   

n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The captured rebels were consigned to the dungeons. 抓到的叛乱分子被送进了地牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He saw a boy in fetters in the dungeons. 他在地牢里看见一个戴着脚镣的男孩。 来自辞典例句

6 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

7 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

8 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

9 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

10 bunks   

n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话

参考例句：

• These bunks can tip up and fold back into the wall. 这些铺位可以翻起来并折叠收入墙内。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last they turned into their little bunks in the cart. 最后他们都钻进车内的小卧铺里。 来自辞典例句

11 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

12 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

13 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 disapproving   

adj.不满的，反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mother gave me a disapproving look. 母亲的眼神告诉我她是不赞成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her father threw a disapproving glance at her. 她父亲不满地瞥了她一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 primroses   

n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果）

参考例句：

• Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The primroses were bollming; spring was in evidence. 迎春花开了，春天显然已经到了。 来自互联网

16 fluting   

有沟槽的衣料； 吹笛子； 笛声； 刻凹槽

参考例句：

• Fluting andsing ing are heard all night. 笙歌不夜。
• The slaves were fluting the pillars of the temples. 奴隶们正在庙宇的柱子上刻凹槽。

17 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

18 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

19 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。