On Sunday morning Mr. and Mrs. Arable¹ and Fern were sitting at breakfast in the kitchen. Avery had finished and was upstairs looking for his slingshot.

　　"Did you know that Uncle Homer's goslings had hatched?" asked Fern.

　　"How many?" asked Mr. Arable.

　　"Seven," replied Fern. "There were eight eggs but one egg didn't hatch and the goose told Templeton she didn't want it any more, so he took it away.""The goose did what?" asked Mrs. Arable, gazing at her daughter with a queer, worried look.

　　"Told Templeton she didn't want the egg any more," repeated Fern.

　　"Who is Templeton?" asked Mrs. Arable.

　　"He's the rat," replied Fern. "None of us like him much.""Who is 'us'?" asked Mr. Arable.

　　"Oh, everybody in the barn cellar. Wilbur and the sheep and the lambs and the goose and the gander and the goslings and Charlotte and me.""Charlotte?" said Mrs. Arable. "Who's Charlotte?

　　"She's Wilbur's best friend. She's terribly clever.""What does she look like?" asked Mrs. Arable.

　　"Well-l," said Fern, thoughtfully," she has eight legs. All spiders do, I guess.""Charlotte is a spider?" asked Fern's mother.

　　Fern nodded. "A big grey one. She has a web across the top of Wilbur's doorway². She catches flies and sucks their blood. Wilbur adores her.""Does he really?" said Mrs. Arable, rather vaguely³. She was staring at Fern with a worried expression on her face.

　　"Oh, yes, Wilbur adores Charlotte," said Fern. "Do you know what Charlotte said when the goslings hatched?""I haven't the faintest idea," said Mr. Arable. "Tell us.""Well, when the first gosling stuck its little head out from under the goose, I was sitting on my stool in the corner and Charlotte was on her web. She made a speech. She said:" I am sure that every one of us here in the barn cellar will be gratified to learn that after four weeks of unremitting effort and patience on the part of the goose, she now has something to show for it.' Don't you think that was a pleasant thing for her to say?""Yes, I do," said Mrs. Arable. "And now, Fern, it's time to get ready for Sunday School And tell Avery to get ready. And this afternoon you can tell me more about what goes on in Uncle Homer's barn. Aren't you spending quite a lot of time there? You go there almost every afternoon, don't you?""I like it there," replied Fern. She wiped her mouth and ran upstairs. After she had left the room, Mrs. Arable

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 doorway
n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径
参考例句：
They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。 Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

3 vaguely
adv.含糊地，暖昧地
参考例句：
He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。 He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

4 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。

5 rambled
（无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论
参考例句：
We rambled through the woods. 我们漫步走过树林。 She rambled on at great length but she didn't get to the heart of the matter. 她夹七夹八地说了许多话也没说到点子上。

6 chuckled
轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。 She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

7 acting
n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的
参考例句：
Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。 During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 perfectly
adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地
参考例句：
The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。 Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。