V LAUGHING FOR MR. CROW

 Sure enough! old Mr. Crow was in the cornfield. And though he was feeling somewhat peevish¹ that morning, because a coon had disturbed his rest the night before, he listened to what Jolly Robin² had to say.

 

“I’ve come to ask you a question,” Jolly told him. “I’ve decided³ to go into business—the laughing business. And I want to inquire if you wouldn’t like to engage me to do your laughing for you.”

 

Well, that struck old Mr. Crow as being very funny. He forgot all about his loss of sleep. And his eye twinkled quite merrily. He tried to laugh, too; but it was a pitiful attempt—no more than a hoarse⁴ cackle, which was, as Jimmy Rabbit had said, positively⁵ painful. Old Mr. Crow seemed to realize that he was making a very queer sound. He hastily turned his laugh into a cough and pretended that he had a kernel⁶ of corn stuck in his throat.

 

“What are your prices?” he asked Jolly Robin. “Are you going to charge by the day or by the laugh?”

 

“Just as you prefer!” Jolly answered.

 

“Well, I’ll have to think about it,” old Mr. Crow told him. “It’s a question that I wouldn’t care to decide in a hurry. If I paid you by the day you might not laugh at all. And if I paid you by the laugh you might laugh all the time.... It would be pretty expensive, either way. And I don’t believe I’d like that.”

 

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” said Jolly Robin then. “I’ll stay with you one day for nothing. And we’ll see how the arrangement suits us.”

 

That suggestion pleased Mr. Crow.

 

“Agreed!” he said quickly. “And now,” he added, “you may laugh for me, because I am quite delighted.”

 

So Jolly Robin laughed happily. And old Mr. Crow remarked that it was a fair laugh, though not so loud as he would have liked.

 

“I’ll do better next time,” Jolly assured him.

 

“Good!” said Mr. Crow. “And now, since I’ve finished my breakfast, we’ll go over to the woods and see what’s going on there this morning.”

 

The first person they saw in the woods was Peter Mink⁷. He was fishing for trout⁸ in Broad Brook⁹. And old Mr. Crow, as soon as he spied him, sang out:

 

“How many of Farmer Green’s fish have you eaten this morning?”

 

Peter Mink was just crawling out of the water, with a fish in his mouth. When he heard Mr. Crow calling to him, he dropped his trout upon a rock and looked up quickly.

 

“How much of Farmer Green’s corn have you stolen for your breakfast?” he cried.

 

At that Jolly Robin began to laugh. But Mr. Crow stopped him quickly.

 

“Don’t laugh!” the old gentleman squawked. “There’s nothing to laugh at, so far as I can see.”

 

So Jolly managed to smother¹⁰ his laughter, for he noticed that Mr. Crow was angry.

 

“You’ll have to be careful,” Mr. Crow 25warned him. “You mustn’t laugh at the wrong time, you know.”

 

“I’ll do my best,” Jolly Robin promised. And he could see already that old Mr. Crow was going to be hard to please.

1 peevish   

adj.易怒的，坏脾气的

参考例句：

• A peevish child is unhappy and makes others unhappy.一个脾气暴躁的孩子自己不高兴也使别人不高兴。
• She glared down at me with a peevish expression on her face.她低头瞪着我，一脸怒气。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

5 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

6 kernel   

n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心

参考例句：

• The kernel of his problem is lack of money.他的问题的核心是缺钱。
• The nutshell includes the kernel.果壳裹住果仁。

7 mink   

n.貂，貂皮

参考例句：

• She was wearing a blue dress and a mink coat.她穿着一身蓝色的套装和一件貂皮大衣。
• He started a mink ranch and made a fortune in five years. 他开了个水貂养殖场，五年之内就赚了不少钱。

8 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

9 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。

10 smother   

vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息

参考例句：

• They tried to smother the flames with a damp blanket.他们试图用一条湿毯子去灭火。
• We tried to smother our laughter.我们强忍住笑。