LESSON 71

HOW WILLIE GOT OUT OF THE SHAFT

威利是怎样逃出枯井的

1．Willie's aunt sent him for a birthday^〔1〕 present a little writing book. There was a place in the book for a pencil. Willie thought a great deal of this little book, and always kept it in his pocket.

2．One day, his mother was very busy, and he called his dog, and said, "Come, Caper, let us have a play."

3．When Willie's mother missed him, she went to the door and looked out, and could not see him anywhere; but she knew that Caper was with him, and thought they would come back before long.

4．She waited an hour, and still they did not come. When she came to the gate by the road, she met Mr. Lee, and told him how long Willie had been gone. Mr. Lee thought he must have gone to sleep under the trees. So they went to all the trees under which Willie was in the habit of playing, but he was nowhere to be found.

5．By this time the sun had gone down. The news that Willie was lost soon spread over the neighborhood^〔2〕, and all the men and women^〔3〕 turned out to hunt. They hunted all night.

6．The next morning the neighbors were gathered round, and all were trying to think what to do next, when Caper came bounding into the room. There was a string tied round his neck, and a bit of paper tied to it.

7．Willie's father, Mr. Lee, took the paper, and saw that it was a letter from Willie. He read it aloud. It said, "O father! come to me. I am in the big hole in the pasture."

8．Everybody ran at once to the far corner of the pasture; and there was Willie, alive and well, in the shaft^〔4〕. Oh, how glad he was when his father caught him in his arms, and lifted him out!

9．Now I will tell you how Willie came to be in the shaft. He and Caper went to the pasture field, and came to the edge of the shaft and sat down. In bending over to see how deep it was, he lost his balance, and fell in. He tried very hard to get out, but could not.

10．When the good little dog saw that his master was in the shaft, he would not leave him, but ran round and round, reaching down and trying to pull him out. But while Caper was pulling Willie by the coat sleeves, a piece of sod gave way under his feet, and he fell in too.

11．Willie called for his father and mother as loud as he could call; but he was so far away from the house that no one could hear him.

12．He cried and called till it was dark, and then he lay down on the ground, and Caper lay down close beside him. It was not long before Willie cried himself to sleep.

13．When he awoke it was morning, and he began to think of a way to get out. The little writing book that his aunt had given him, was in his pocket. He took it out, and, after a good deal of trouble, wrote the letter to his father.

14．Then he tore the leaf out, and took a string out of his pocket, and tied it round Caper's neck, and tied the letter to the string. Then he lifted the dog up, and helped him out, and said to him, "Go home, Caper, go home!"The little dog scampered^〔5〕 away, and was soon at home.

【中文阅读】

1．威利的阿姨送了他一个笔记本作为生日礼物。本子上有个地方插着铅笔。威利非常喜欢这个小本子，总是把它放在口袋里。

2．有一天，威利的妈妈很忙。威利把他的小狗叫过来：“凯普过来，咱们玩个游戏。”

3．当威利的妈妈想起他来，她走到门口四处张望，却哪儿也没有威利的身影。妈妈知道小狗凯普和威利在一起，心想他们不久之后自然就会回来。

4．等了一个小时，他们还是没有回来。她走到路边的大门口，遇到了李先生，于是告诉他威利有多久不见踪影了。李先生猜想威利一定是在树荫下睡着了。于是他们到威利平常习惯去玩耍的地方寻找，然而所有的树底下，都没有找到小威利。

5．到了太阳下山的时候，“威利不见了”的消息已经迅速传开。邻居们男男女女都到外面帮忙寻找，足足找了一整夜。

6．第二天早晨，邻居们聚集在房间里。大家都一筹莫展，想不出下一步应该怎么做。就在这个时候，小狗凯普突然跑了进来。在凯普的脖子上系着一根绳子，绑着一张小纸条。

7．威利的爸爸李先生取下了纸条，发现那是威利写的一封信。他大声地读出来，信上是这样写的：“噢，爸爸！快来救我！我在牧场的那个大坑里。”

8．所有人马上跑到牧场那个遥远的角落，威利果然在那个枯井里，安然无恙。噢，当父亲的双臂抱起威利，把他拉到井外的那一刻，威利多么高兴啊！

9．好了，现在我来告诉你威利是怎么掉进枯井里去的。他和凯普到牧场上玩耍，来到枯井的边缘坐了下来。在弯腰看井有多深的时候，威利失去平衡掉了下去。他做了很大的努力，却怎么也爬不上来。

10．小狗看见主人掉进了井里，它始终不离不弃，绕着井口跑来跑去，还往下探身子试图把他拉上来。可是就在凯普咬着威利外套的袖子往上拉的时候，它脚下的一块草皮松了，于是凯普也滑进了井里。

11．威利用尽最大的声音使劲喊爸爸妈妈，然而他离家太远了，根本没有人听见他的呼喊。

12．他又哭又喊直到天黑，然后躺倒在地上，凯普也在他身边躺了下来。威利哭着哭着，没多久就睡着了。

13．到威利醒过来的时候已经天亮了，他开始想办法离开这个地方。他想起了口袋里阿姨送给他小本子。威利把小本子掏了出来，费了半天的劲儿，写了那封给爸爸的信。

14．写完之后，威利撕下了那一页纸，从口袋里拿出一根绳子，绑在凯普的脖子上，再把信绑紧。然后，他把小狗举起来，帮助它爬了上去，对它说：“回家，凯普，回家！”小狗马上飞奔起来，很快就到家了。

注释

〔1〕Birthday, the same day of the month in which a person was born, in each succeeding year.

〔2〕Neighborhood, the surrounding region which lies nearest, vicinity.

〔3〕Women, plural of woman.

〔4〕Shaft, a deep hole made in the earth, usually for mining purposes.

〔5〕Scampered, ran briskly.