"Where's Papa going with the ax?" said Fern to her mother asthey were setting the table for breakfast.

　　"Out to the hoghouse," replied Mrs. Arable¹. "Some pigs were bornlast night.""I don't see why he needs an ax," continued Fern, who was onlyeight.

　　"Well," said her mother, "one of the pigs is a runt. It's verysmall and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your fatherhas decided² to do away with it.""Do away with it?" shrieked³ Fern. "You mean kill it? Justbecause it's smaller than the others?"Mrs. Arable put a pitcher⁴ of cream on the table. "Don't yell,Fern!" she said. "Your father is right. The pig would probably dieanyway."Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors. The grasswas wet and the earth smelled of springtime. Fern's sneakers weresopping by the time she caught up with her father.

　　"Please don't kill it!" she sobbed⁵. "It's unfair."Mr. Arable stopped walking.

　　"Fern," he said gently, "you will have to learn to controlyourself.""Control myself?" yelled Fern. "This is a matter of life anddeath, and you talk about controlling myself." Tears ran down hercheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of herfather's hand.

　　"Fern," said Mr. Arable, "I know more about raising a litter ofpigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble. Now run along!""But it's unfair," cried Fern. "The pig couldn't help being bornsmall, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you havekilled me?"Mr. Arable smiled. "Certainly not," he said, looking down at hisdaughter with love. "But this is different. A little girl is onething, a little runty pig is another.""I see no difference," replied Fern, still hanging on to theax. "This is the most terrible case of injustice⁶ I ever heard of."A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almostready to cry himself.

　　"All right," he said." You go back to the house and I will bringthe runt when I come in. I'll let you start it on a bottle, like ababy. Then you'll see what trouble a pig can be."When Mr. Arable returned to the house half an hour later, hecarried a carton under his arm. Fern was upstairs changing hersneakers. The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the roomsmelled of coffee, bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from thestove.

点击收听单词发音  

1 arable
adj.可耕的，适合种植的
参考例句：
The terrain changed quickly from arable land to desert.那个地带很快就从耕地变成了沙漠。 Do you know how much arable land has been desolated?你知道什么每年有多少土地荒漠化吗？

2 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。

3 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

4 pitcher
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手
参考例句：
He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。 Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

5 sobbed
哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说
参考例句：
She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。 She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

6 injustice
n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利
参考例句：
They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。 All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

7 dagger
n.匕首，短剑，剑号
参考例句：
The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。 The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

8 specimen
n.样本，标本
参考例句：
You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。 This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

9 promptly
adv.及时地，敏捷地
参考例句：
He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。 She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

10 honked
v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
I drove up in front of the house and honked. 我将车开到屋子前面然后按喇叭。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》 He honked his horn as he went past. 他经过时按响了汽车喇叭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 giggled
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。 The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》