6. THE FLY'S EYE.

 1. I feel sure that she did not know me, for she cried out, "Oh, granny! here is a nasty¹ fly on my bread and honey. I dare say that the horrid² thing has been crawling³ all over it!

 

2. "I wish a spider would come and catch it!" went on Rose, quite crossly, "for I do not like to kill it myself!" And here she gave me a little poke⁴ with a fork. But not hard enough to hurt me.[Pg 85]

 

3. "Why, Rose, what is the matter?" said her granny. "I thought that you were fond of the little, busy, useful flies that come to dance and play in the house?"

 

4. "Well, I cannot see what good they do," said Rose, "getting into the cream and sticking on to the bread and honey." Something had put little Rose out of temper⁵. But I felt sure it would not last long.

 

5. "I wish he would not get on to my plate," said she, bending down her face to hide it, for she began to feel ashamed. "But I will not hurt him."

 

6. And she took one of her granny's knitting⁶ needles in her hand. I shook with fear when I saw this great spear coming; but Rose used it in a most gentle and kind way.

 

7. She lifted my body out after setting⁷ my legs free, and though I felt strained⁸ and tired after it, I left nothing behind me, no, not even any of the brushes and combs on my feet.

 

8. "I will put him out into the garden," said she. But, as my wings had got no honey[Pg 86] on them, I saved her the trouble, by flying away.

 

9. If Rose had only known half the trouble I had in washing my feet after the honey, she would have been ready to forgive me for tasting her lunch.

 

10. "I am glad you did not go on feeling cross with the poor little fly, Rose," said Mrs. Sutton. "We should miss them much if we had none, for they help to keep our houses sweet and clean.

 

11. "No maid with her broom could get at all the tiny cracks and corners where the flies go. The eyes of no woman in the world could see what the fly can.

 

12. "Do you know that his round ball of eye is made up of many hundreds of bits, and that each bit can see a new way?"

 

13. Rose clapped her hands. "Then can the fly see a hundred ways at once?" said she. "Oh, how I wish I could do that!"

 

14. "You can move your eyes about," said her granny, "which does just as well. The fly cannot move his. And you would not like to be born in the kitchen sink, would you?"[Pg 87]

 

15. "Is that where flies are born?" said Rose, drawing near to her granny and looking into her face.

 

16. "Yes," said Mrs. Button, "the fly is born in a sink, or in any place where dirty stuff⁹ is found. The young flies eat the dirty stuff and get rid of it. I will tell you some day how the little things come into the world."

 

Write: After being set free from the honey the fly went off. He cleaned his legs and went back to the old lady. She told Rose that flies were of great use.

 

Questions: 1. What did Rose use to lift the fly up? 2. In what way did she use the knitting-needle? 3. What did the fly feel when he saw the knitting-needle coming? 4. What can the fly do to keep a house clean? 5. What sort of eye has the fly? 6. Tell me where flies are born?

1 nasty   

adj.令人讨厌的，困难的，恶劣的，下流的

参考例句：

• She got a nasty knock on the head when she fell.她跌倒时头部受到严重碰撞。
• When this material burns，it flings off a nasty smell.这种物质燃烧时发出一股难闻的气味。

2 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

3 crawling   

n.表面涂布不均v.爬( crawl的现在分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. 你那样巴结董事，应该感到羞耻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stubborn, self-confident Guo Zhenshan has never gone crawling to anyone. 坚强、自信、有气魄的郭振山，实在说，永远也不会向人低三下四啊！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 poke   

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：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

5 temper   

n.恶劣的心情，心绪焦躁；性情，脾气

参考例句：

• The man lost his temper and struck out wildly.那人因发怒而大打出手。
• One day the man flew at me in a temper.一天,那个人冲着我大发脾气。

6 knitting   

n.编结物；接合，联合；[外科]骨愈合v.（使）愈合( knit的现在分词)；编结，编织；（使）紧密地结合；织平针

参考例句：

• Weaving and knitting are traditional cottage industries. 编织和针织是传统的家庭手工业。
• manipulative skills such as typing and knitting 诸如打字、编织这样的技能

7 setting   

n.背景

参考例句：

• The play has its setting in Vienna.该剧以维也纳为背景。
• Where and when a story takes place is called the setting.故事发生的地点和时间称为故事背景。

8 strained   

adj. 紧张的, 不自然的; 动词strain的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Her face looked strained and weary. 她的脸色显得憔悴疲惫。
• Relations between the two countries had become severely strained. 两国关系已经变得非常紧张。

9 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。