Oh, but it was hot in animal land! It was hot and dry and dusty, for there had been no rain in a long time, and the sun shone brightly, making the leaves on the trees curl up in the heat, and wilting¹ the pretty flowers.

 

“Well, if we don’t get some rain pretty soon,” spoke² Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat³ lady, “the garden will be spoiled, and we can have no strawberry shortcake.”

 

“No strawberry shortcake!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman for whom Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy kept house. “That will be too bad! But, pray tell me, what has rain to do with strawberry shortcake, if you please, Nurse Jane?”

 

“Rain has everything to do with it, Uncle Wiggily,” said she. “For if it does not rain, the strawberries will not grow, and if we do not have strawberries we can have no shortcake.[Pg 157] That is, unless I put in lemons instead of strawberries.”

 

“Oh, no! That would never do at all!” exclaimed Mr. Longears. “We must have strawberries. I will see what I can do about making it rain.”

 

“How can you?” asked Nurse Jane.

 

“I will go up near the clouds, in my airship,” spoke the old gentleman rabbit, “and I will see if there is in them any rain that is ready to fall down, and wet the thirsty ground. And, maybe, if there is rain in the clouds I can squeeze a little out, as you squeeze water from the sponge in the bath tub.”

 

“I hope you can,” said Nurse Jane, as she went out into the garden to pull up some weeds.

 

Off the old gentleman rabbit started in his clothes basket airship, on and on, up to the clouds. But when he got there he saw no rain in them. The clouds were as dry as a piece of cheese.

 

“No, there is no rain here,” said Uncle Wiggily, sadly. “I wonder what I can do? I would not like Nurse Jane’s garden to dry up, for I am very fond of strawberry shortcake. I wonder what I can do?”

 

Uncle Wiggily in his airship rode on a little farther, and pretty soon, looking down toward[Pg 158] the earth, over the edge of the clothes basket, he saw, far below him, some water spurting

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1 wilting
萎蔫
参考例句：
The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。 The petunias were already wilting in the hot sun. 在烈日下矮牵牛花已经开始枯萎了。

2 spoke
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。 The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 muskrat
n.麝香鼠
参考例句：
Muskrat fur almost equals beaver fur in quality.麝鼠皮在质量上几乎和海獭皮不相上下。 I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice.我看到一只麝鼠从冰里面钻出来。

4 spurting
（液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的现在分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺； 溅射
参考例句：
Blood was spurting from her nose. 血从她鼻子里汩汩流出来。 The volcano was spurting out rivers of molten lava. 火山喷涌着熔岩。

5 faucet
n.水龙头
参考例句：
The faucet has developed a drip.那个水龙头已经开始滴水了。 She turned off the faucet and dried her hands.她关掉水龙头，把手擦干。

6 kindly
adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地
参考例句：
Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。 A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 stump
n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走
参考例句：
He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。 He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

8 bungalow
n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句：
A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。 The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。

9 whitewash
v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰
参考例句：
They tried hard to whitewash themselves.他们力图粉饰自己。 What he said was a load of whitewash.他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。

10 popcorn
n.爆米花
参考例句：
I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。 He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。