Lesson 27 A GAME WITH PUSS

“Come and play a game with puss,”said Willie to his sister Mary.As he spoke he tied a piece of string to a tassel which he held in his hand.

Then they went together to look for puss.They found her lying half asleep on a footstool in the parlour.

Willie quietly placed the tassel just beyond the spot where puss lay.Then he began to draw it slowly past her.

As soon as it began to move ,puss opened her eyes,and fixed them upon it.Then she half arose to watch it ,

At last Willie gave the string a sudden jerk.Then puss,to Mary’s delight,sprang at the tassel as she would at a mouse.

Willie was too quick for her,and giving it another jerk,he kept it out of her paws.

Then the chase began,and the children ran round and round the room,with puss after them.

At last puss made a sudden dash forward,and ,pouncing upon the tassel,she snatched it out of Willie’s hand,and made off with it.

Oh,what a race they had after her!She ran under the sofa,then under the table ,but at last she jumped up on a chair with it ,and Willie caught it again.

WORDS STUDY:

Tassel /’tæsl/ (n) 流苏；缨；穗

Footstool/’fʊtstu:l/ (n)（坐时搁脚的） 脚凳

Parlour /’pɑːlə/ (n) 客厅

Jerk /dʒɜːk/ (n/v) 急拉；猛推；猝然一动

Pounce /paʊns/ (vi) 突袭；猛扑

Snatch /snætʃ/ (n/v) 抢夺；一把抓起

Make off 匆匆离开；逃走

Translation 译文：

“过来和猫做个游戏吧。”威利 对他的姐姐玛丽说。在他说话的时候，他把一根绳子系在他手里捏着的流苏上。

然后他们一起去找猫。他们发现猫半睡半醒地趴在客厅的踏脚凳上。

威利轻轻地将手里的流苏放在猫咪趴的位置前方一点点。然后，威利开始慢慢拉动流苏。

流苏刚一开始移动，猫就睁开眼睛，盯着流苏。然后她半起身观看着。

最后，威利猛地一拉绳子，猫就像抓老鼠一样扑到流苏上面。看到这，玛丽很高兴。

威利拉绳子拉得太快了，又猛一拉，把流苏从猫爪下面拉了过来。

之后追逐开始了。两个孩子在房间里一圈圈地跑，猫在后面紧追不舍。

最后，猫猛冲上前来，扑在流苏上面，把流苏从威利手里夺过来，带着流苏跑开了。

哦，两个孩子有开始追猫。猫带着流苏跑到了沙发底下，又躲到桌子下面，但当她最后跳上椅子上时，还是被威利逮住了。