夏洛的网英文版.doc

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1、夏洛的网.英文版Charlottes WebByE. B. WhiteCopyright 1952CHAPTER 1 Before BreakfastWheres Papa going with that ax? said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.Out to the hog house, replied Mrs. Arable. Some pigs were born last night.I dont see why he needs an ax, continued Fern, who

2、 was only eight.Well, said her mother, one of the pigs is a runt. Its very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.Do away with it? shrieked Fern. You mean kill it? Just because its smaller than the others?Mrs. Arable put a pitcher of cream

3、 on the table. Dont yell, Fern!she said. Your father is right. The pig would probably die anyway.Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors. The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime. Ferns sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father.Please dont kill it! she

4、sobbed. Its unfair.Mr. Arable stopped walking.Fern, he said gently, you will have to learn to control yourself.Control myself? yelled Fern. This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself. Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her

5、 fathers hand.Fern, said Mr. Arable, I know more about raising a litter of pigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble. Now run along!But its unfair, cried Fern. The pig couldnt help being born small,could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?Mr. Arable smiled. Certainly no

6、t, he said, looking down at his daughter with love. But this is different. A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another.I see no difference, replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of.A queer look came over John Arables face. He

7、 seemed almost ready to cry himself.All right, he said. You go back to the house and I will bring the runt when I come in. Ill let you start it on a bottle, like a baby. Then youll see what trouble a pig can be.When Mr. Arable returned to the house half an hour later, he carried a carton under his a

8、rm. Fern was upstairs changing her sneakers. The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee, bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove.Put it on her chair! said Mrs. Arable. Mr. Arable set the carton down at Ferns place. Then he walked to the sink and washed his han

9、ds and dried them on the roller towel.Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As she approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching noise. Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton. There, inside, looking up at her, was the newbor

10、n pig. It was a white one. The morning light shone through its ears, turning them pink.Hes yours, said Mr. Arable. Saved from an untimely death. And may the good Lord forgive me for this foolishness.Fern couldnt take her eyes off the tiny pig. Oh, she whispered. Oh, look at him! Hes absolutely perfe

11、ct.She closed the carton carefully. First she kissed her father, then she kissed her mother. Then she opened the lid again, lifted the pig out, and held it against her cheek. At this moment her brother Avery came into the room. Avery was ten.He was heavily armed - an air rifle in one hand, a wooden

12、dagger in the other.Whats that? he demanded. Whats Fern got?Shes got a guest for breakfast, said Mrs. Arable. Wash your hands and face, Avery!Lets see it! said Avery, setting his gun down. You call that miserable thing a pig? Thats a fine specimen of a pig, its no bigger than a white rat.Wash up and

13、 eat your breakfast, Avery! said his mother. The school bus will be along in half an hour.Can I have a pig, too, Pop? asked Avery.No, I only distribute pigs to early risers, said Mr. Arable. Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small one, t

14、o be sure, but nevertheless a pig. It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly. Lets eat!But Fern couldnt eat until her pig had had a drink of milk.Mrs. Arable found a babys nursing bottle and a rubber nipple. Shepoured warm milk into the bottle, fitted the nipple over the top

15、, andhanded it to Fern. Give him his breakfast! she said.A minute later, Fern was seated on the floor in the corner of the kitchen with her infant between her knees, teaching it to suck from the bottle. The pig, although tiny, had a good appetite and caught on quickly.The school bus honked from the

16、road.Run! commanded Mrs. Arable, taking the pig from Fern and slipping a doughnut into her hand. Avery grabbed his gun and another doughnut.The children ran out to the road and climbed into the bus. Fern took no notice of the others in the bus. She just sat and stared out of the window, thinking wha

17、t a blissful world it was and how lucky she was to have entire charge of a pig. By the time the bus reached school, Fern had named her pet, selecting the most beautiful name she could think of.Its name is Wilbur, she whispered to herself.She was still thinking about the pig when the teacher said: Fe

18、rn, what is the capital of Pennsylvania?Wilbur, replied Fern, dreamily. The pupils giggled. Fern blushed.CHAPTER 2WilburFern loved Wilbur more than anything. She loved to stroke him, to feed him, to put him to bed. Every morning, as soon as she got up, she warmed his milk, tied his bib on, and held

19、the bottle for him. Every afternoon, when the school bus stopped in front of her house, she jumped out and ran to the kitchen to fix another bottle for him. She fed him again at suppertime, and again just before going to bed. Mrs. Arable gave him a feeding around noontime each day, when Fern was awa

20、y in school. Wilbur loved his milk, and he was never happier than when Fern was warming up a bottle for him. He would stand and gaze up at her with adoring eyes.For the first few days of his life, Wilbur was allowed to live in a boxnear the stove in the kitchen. Then, when Mrs. Arable complained, he

21、 was moved to a bigger box in the woodshed. At two weeks of age, he was moved outdoors. It was apple-blossom time, and the days were getting warmer. Mr. Arable fixed a small yard specially for Wilbur under an apple tree, and gave him a large wooden box full of straw, with a doorway cut in it so he c

22、ould walk in and out as he pleased.Wont he be cold at night? asked Fern.No, said her father. You watch and see what he does.Carrying a bottle of milk, Fern sat down under the apple tree inside the yard. Wilbur ran to her and she held the bottle for him while hesucked. When he had finished the last d

23、rop, he grunted and walked sleepily into the box. Fern peered through the door. Wilbur was poking the straw with his snout. In a short time he had dug a tunnel in the straw. He crawled into the tunnel and disappeared from sight, completely covered with straw.Fern was enchanted. It relieved her mind

24、to know that her baby would sleep covered up, and would stay warm.Every morning after breakfast, Wilbur walked out to the road with Fern and waited with her till the bus came. She would wave good-bye to him, and he would stand and watch the bus until it vanished around a turn. While Fern was in scho

25、ol, Wilbur was shut up inside his yard. But as soon as she got home in the afternoon, she would take him out and he would follow her around the place. If she went into the house, Wilbur went, too. If she went upstairs, Wilbur would wait at the bottom step until she came down again. If she took her d

26、oll for a walk in the doll carriage, Wilbur followed along. Sometimes, on these journeys, Wilbur would get tired, and Fern would pick him up and put him in the carriage alongside the doll. He liked this. And if he was very tired, he would close his eyes and go to sleep under the dolls blanket. He lo

27、oked cute when his eyes were closed, because his lashes were so long. The doll would close her eyes, too, and Fern would wheel the carriage very slowly and smoothly so as not to wake her infants.One warm afternoon, Fern and Avery put on bathing suits and went down to the brook for a swim. Wilbur tag

28、ged along at Ferns heels. When she waded into the brook, Wilbur waded in with her. He found the water quite cold - too cold for his liking. So while the children swam and played and splashed water at each other, Wilbur amused himself in the mud along the edge of the brook, where it was warm and mois

29、t and delightfully sticky and oozy.Every day was a happy day, and every night was peaceful.Wilbur was what farmers call a spring pig, which simply means that he was born in springtime. When he was five weeks old, Mr. Arable said he was now big enough to sell, and would have to be sold. Fern broke do

30、wn and wept. But her father was firm about it. Wilburs appetite had increased; he was beginning to eat scraps of food in addition to milk. Mr. Arable was not willing to provide 瞻养 for him any longer. He had already sold Wilburs ten brothers and sisters.Hes got to go, Fern, he said. You have had your

31、 fun raising a baby pig, but Wilbur is not a baby any longer and he has got to be sold.Call up the Zuckermans, suggested Mrs. Arable to Fern. Your Uncle Homer sometimes raises a pig. And if Wilbur goes there to live, you can walk down the road and visit him as often as you like.How much money should

32、 I ask for him? Fern wanted to know.Well, said her father, hes a runt. Tell your Uncle Homer youve got a pig youll sell for six dollars, and see what he says.It was soon arranged. Fern phoned and got her Aunt Edith, and her Aunt Edith hollered for Uncle Homer, and Uncle Homer came in from the barn a

33、nd talked to Fern. When he heard that the price was only six dollars, he said he would buy the pig. Next day Wilbur was taken from his home under the apple tree and went to live in a manure pile in the cellar of Zuckermans barn.CHAPTER 3EscapeThe barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of h

34、ay and itsmelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell - as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world. It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease and of rubber

35、boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat was given a fish-head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostly it smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up overhead. And there was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the horses and the sheep.The barn was pleasantly w

36、arm in winter when the animals spent most of their time indoors, and it was pleasantly cool in summer when the big doors stood wide open to the breeze. The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups美sl.拴系牲畜的地方 on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold 羊栏 down below for the shee

37、p, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindstones, pitch forks, monkey wrenches, scythes 长柄的大镰刀, lawn mowers, snow shovels, ax handles, milk pails, water buckets, empty grain sacks, and rusty rat traps. It was the kind of barn that

38、 swallows like to build their nests in. It was the kind of barn that children like to play in. And the whole thing was owned by Ferns uncle, Mr. Homer L. Zuckerman.Wilburs new home was in the lower part of the barn, directly underneath the cows. Mr. Zuckerman knew that a manure pile is a good place

39、to keep a young pig. Pigs need warmth, and it was warm and comfortable down there in the barn cellar on the south side.Fern came almost every day to visit him. She found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilburs pen. Here she sat quietly

40、during the long afternoons, thinking and listening and watching Wilbur. The sheep soon got to know her and trust her. So did the geese, who lived with the sheep. All the animals trusted her, She was so quiet and friendly. Mr. Zuckerman did not allow her to take Wilbur out, and he did not allow her t

41、o get into the pigpen. But he told Fern that she could sit on the stool and watch Wilbur as long as she wanted to. It made her happy just to be near the pig, and it made Wilbur happy to know that she was sitting there, right outside his pen. But he never had any fun, no walks, no rides, no swims. On

42、e afternoon in June, when Wilbur was almost two months old, hewandered out into his small yard outside the barn. Fern had not arrived for her usual visit. Wilbur stood in the sun feeling lonely and bored.Theres never anything to do around here, he thought. He walked slowly to his food trough and sni

43、ffed to see if anything had been overlooked at lunch. He found a small strip of potato skin and ate it. His back itched, so he leaned against the fence and rubbed against the boards. When he tired of this, he walked indoors, climbed to the top of the manure pile, and sat down. He didnt feel like goi

44、ng to sleep, he didnt feel like digging, he was tired of standing still, tired of lying down. Im less than two months old and Im tired of living, he said. He walked out to the yard again.When Im out here, he said, theres no place to go but in. When Im indoors, theres no place to go but out in the ya

45、rd.Thats where youre wrong, my friend, my friend, said a voice.Wilbur looked through the fence and saw the goose standing there.You dont have to stay in that dirty-little dirty-little dirty-little yard, said the goose, who talked rather fast. One of the boards is loose. Push on it, push-push-push on

46、 it, and come on out!What? said Wilbur. Say it slower!At-at-at, at the risk of repeating myself, said the goose, I suggestthat you come on out. Its wonderful out here.Did you say a board was loose?That I did, that I did, said the goose.Wilbur walked up to the fence and saw that the goose was right o

47、ne board was loose. He put his head down, shut his eyes, and pushed. The board gave way. In a minute he had squeezed through the fence and was standing in the long grass outside his yard. The goose chuckled.How does it feel to be free? she asked.I like it, said Wilbur. That is, I guess I like it.Act

48、ually, Wilbur felt queer to be outside his fence, with nothing between him and the big world.Where do you think Id better go?Anywhere you like, anywhere you like, said the goose. Go downthrough the orchard, root up the sod! Go down through the garden, dig up the radishes! Root up everything! Eat grass! Look for corn! Look for oats! Run all over! Skip an