(共16张PPT)
名著选萃
Wilbur Went Out
Excerpt from Charlotte's Web
在朱克曼家的谷仓里,小猪威尔伯和蜘蛛夏洛建立了
真挚的友谊。柔弱的夏洛付出了生命的代价拯救了威尔伯,
而威尔伯带着感恩的心抚养了夏洛的孩子。
The barn① was very large. It was very old.
It smelled of hay② and it smelled of manure③. It smelled of the perspiration④ 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 grain⑤ and of harness dressing (马具敷料) and of axle (车轴) grease⑥ and of rubber boots and of new rope. And whenever⑦ 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 (阁楼) up overhead. And there was always hay being pitched⑧ down to the cows and the horses and the sheep.
The barn was pleasantly⑨ warm 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 breeze⑩. The barn had stalls (马厩) on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows (牛棚), a sheepfold (羊圈) down below for the sheep, a pigpen (猪圈) down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns. It was the kind of barn that 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 Fern's uncle, Mr. Homer L. Zuckerman.
Wilbur's 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 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 (凳子) that had been discarded , and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur's pen . Here she sat quietly 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 to 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.
One afternoon in June, when Wilbur was almost two months old, he wandered 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 . “There's never anything to do around here,” he thought. He walked slowly to his food trough (食槽) and sniffed to see if anything had been overlooked at lunch. He found a small strip (条) of potato skin and ate it. His back itched (发痒), so he leaned against the
fence and rubbed against the boards. When he was tired of this, he walked indoors, climbed to the top of the manured pile, and sat down. He didn't feel like going to sleep, he didn't feel like digging, he was tired of standing still, tired of lying down. “I'm less than two months old and I'm tired of living,” he said. He walked out to the yard again.
“When I'm out here,” he said, “there's no place to go but in. When I'm indoors, there's no place to go but out in the yard.”
“That's where you're wrong, my friend, my friend,” said a voice. Wilbur looked through the fence and saw the goose standing there.
“You don't 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 it, and come on out!”
“What?” said Wilbur. “Say it slower!”
“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—one 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 .
①barn n.谷仓
②hay n.干草
③manure n.粪肥
④perspiration n.汗水
⑤grain n.谷物
⑥grease n.润滑油
⑦此处为whenever引导时间状语从句。
⑧pitch v.投掷
⑨pleasantly [熟词生义] adv.
舒适地
⑩breeze n.微风
all sorts of各种各样的
swallow [熟词生义] n.燕子
directly [熟词生义] adv. 恰好,正好
underneath prep.在……下面
cellar n.地窖
discard v.丢弃
pen [熟词生义] n.圈
此处为并列的v. -ing形式作状语。
goose n.(pl. geese) 鹅
此处为部分倒装句。
此处为who引导定语从句。
此处为it作形式主语,动词不定式作真正的主语。
此处为when引导时间状语从句。
wander v.闲逛
bored adj.无聊的
sniff v.嗅
overlook v.忽视;忽略
lean against 靠着
rub v.摩擦
feel like doing想要做
此处为动词的联动。
give way [熟词生义] 倒塌
squeeze through挤过
chuckle v.咯咯笑