VII SWIMMING

 Old dog Spot liked boys. Somehow they always managed to have a lively time; and usually they seemed glad to have him join them in their sports.

 

He never could understand why Johnnie Green and the neighbors' boys didn't want him to play baseball with them. Spot loved to chase a ball. And sometimes when he was watching a game and somebody hit a slow grounder he would rush out and grab the ball and run with it.

 

Then all the boys would run after him and try to catch him. That always pleased Spot mightily¹. And the longer the chase lasted the happier he was. But it was different with the boys. The harder they had to run after Spot before they got the ball away from him the more out of patience they became.

 

Whenever Spot took part in a ball game like that Johnnie Green usually put an end to his fun, for the time being, by tying him to something or other—perhaps a fence or a tree. But even that was better—so Spot thought—than being sent home in disgrace.

 

Luckily there were other sports in which Spot could romp² with the boys as much as he pleased, without anybody's objecting. Nutting in the woods in the fall; skating on the mill pond or coasting down the long hill past Farmer Green's house in the winter; berrying in the summer—and swimming! Those were only a few of the jolly times that Spot and the boys enjoyed together.

 

Perhaps, of them all, both Spot and the boys liked swimming the most. As for Spot, he didn't care where he swam, so long as the water was wet. Broad Brook³, Swift River, Black Creek⁴, or the mill pond—any one of those places suited him as well as another. The boys, however, preferred the mill pond. It was deep enough, by the dam, to suit the best swimmers; and it was shallow enough at the upper end for those that were just learning.

 

All the boys thought it great fun when a wagon⁵ clattered⁶ over the bridge, which crossed right above the dam. Then they ducked into the water, with only their heads out, and shouted more or less politely at whoever was passing.

 

At such times Spot barked, because that seemed to him the gentlemanly thing to do. But he never could see any sense in jumping into the water if he happened to be out on the bank when a wagon came along.

 

The boys threw sticks about the pond for Spot to fetch back to them. They raced with him. They upset him when he was sunning himself on the big rock near the dam, and they laughed to see the splash he made when he struck the water.

 

No matter what tricks the boys played on him, Spot never lost his temper. He took everything good-naturedly. And one day, when Johnnie Green and his friends were swimming in the mill pond he even took a bundle of clothes from beneath a big hickory on the bank. Yes! Spot caught up somebody's clothes in his mouth and started along the road with them.

 

He was surprised to hear a terrible outcry from the water.

 

1 mightily   

ad.强烈地；非常地

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet. 他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• This seemed mightily to relieve him. 干完这件事后，他似乎轻松了许多。

2 romp   

n.欢闹；v.嬉闹玩笑

参考例句：

• The child went for a romp in the forest.那个孩子去森林快活一把。
• Dogs and little children romped happily in the garden.狗和小孩子们在花园里嬉戏。

3 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

4 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

5 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

6 clattered   

发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He dropped the knife and it clattered on the stone floor. 他一失手，刀子当啷一声掉到石头地面上。
• His hand went limp and the knife clattered to the ground. 他的手一软，刀子当啷一声掉到地上。