There was once a peasant who had driven his cow to the fair, and sold her for seven thalers. On the way home he had to pass a pond, and already from afar he heard the frogs crying, “Aik, aik, aik, aik.” “Well,” said he to himself, “they are talking without rhyme or reason, it is seven that I have received, not eight.” When he got to the water, he cried to them, “Stupid animals that you are! Don’t you know better than that? It is seven thalers and not eight.” The frogs, however, stood to their, “aik aik, aik, aik.” “Come, then, if you won’t believe it, I can count it out to you.” And he took his money out of his pocket and counted out the seven thalers, always reckoning four and twenty groschen to a thaler. The frogs, however, paid no attention to his reckoning, but still cried, “aik, aik, aik, aik.” “What,” cried the peasant, quite angry, “since you are determined¹ to know better than I, count it yourselves,” and threw all the money into the water to them. He stood still and wanted to wait until they were done and had brought him his own again, but the frogs maintained their opinion and cried continually, “aik, aik, aik, aik,” and besides that, did not throw the money out again. He still waited a long while until evening came on and he was forced to go home. Then he abused the frogs and cried, “You water-splashers, you thick-heads, you goggle-eyes, you have great mouths and can screech² till you hurt one’s ears, but you cannot count seven thalers! Do you think I’m going to stand here till you get done?” And with that he went away, but the frogs still cried, “aik, aik, aik, aik,” after him till he went home quite angry.

After a while he bought another cow, which he killed, and he made the calculation that if he sold the meat well he might gain as much as the two cows were worth, and have the skin into the bargain. When therefore he got to the town with the meat, a great troop of dogs were gathered together in front of the gate, with a large greyhound at the head of them, which jumped at the meat, snuffed at it, and barked, “Wow, wow, wow.” As there was no stopping him, the peasant said to him, “Yes, yes, I know quite well that thou art saying, ‘wow, wow, wow,’ because thou wantest some of the meat; but I should fare badly if I were to give it to thee.” The dog, however, answered nothing but “wow, wow.” “Wilt³ thou promise not to

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1 determined
adj.坚定的；有决心的
参考例句：
I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。 He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 screech
n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音
参考例句：
He heard a screech of brakes and then fell down. 他听到汽车刹车发出的尖锐的声音,然后就摔倒了。 The screech of jet planes violated the peace of the afternoon. 喷射机的尖啸声侵犯了下午的平静。

3 wilt
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱
参考例句：
Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。 Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

4 devour
v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷
参考例句：
Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。 Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

5 bail
v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人
参考例句：
One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。 She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

6 slaughtered
v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》 Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 alas
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)
参考例句：
Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！ Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

8 heartily
adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很
参考例句：
He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。 The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

9 standing
n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的
参考例句：
After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。 They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 boor
n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬
参考例句：
I'm a bit of a boor,so I hope you won't mind if I speak bluntly.我是一个粗人，说话直来直去，你可别见怪。 If he fears the intellectual,he despises the boor.他对知识分子有戒心，但是更瞧不起乡下人。

11 sentry
n.哨兵，警卫
参考例句：
They often stood sentry on snowy nights.他们常常在雪夜放哨。 The sentry challenged anyone approaching the tent.哨兵查问任一接近帐篷的人。

12 strictly
adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地
参考例句：
His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。 The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

13 chamber
n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所
参考例句：
For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。 The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

14 whatsoever
adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么
参考例句：
There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。 All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

15 rogue
n.流氓；v.游手好闲
参考例句：
The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。 They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

16 offender
n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者
参考例句：
They all sued out a pardon for an offender.他们请求法院赦免一名罪犯。 The authorities often know that sex offenders will attack again when they are released.当局一般都知道性犯罪者在获释后往往会再次犯案。

17 ragged
adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的
参考例句：
A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。 Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

18 contented
adj.满意的，安心的，知足的
参考例句：
He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。 The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。

19 rascal
n.流氓；不诚实的人
参考例句：
If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。 The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

20 shrieked
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。 Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城