酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Three Men in a Boat-Part21_Jerome K.Jerome(1859-1927)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
He said he had never heard of water-rats in Irish stew, and he would



rather be on the safe side, and not try experiments.

Harris said:



"If you never try a new thing, how can you tell what it's like? It's men

such as you that hamper the world's progress. Think of the man who first



tried German sausage!"

It was a great success, that Irish stew. I don't think I ever enjoyed a



meal more. There was something so fresh and piquant about it. One's

palate gets so tired of the old hackneyed things: here was a dish with a



new flavour, with a taste like nothing else on earth.

And it was nourishing, too. As George said, there was good stuff in it.



The peas and potatoes might have been a bit softer, but we all had good

teeth, so that did not matter much: and as for the gravy, it was a poem -



a little too rich, perhaps, for a weak stomach, but nutritious.

We finished up with tea and cherry tart. Montmorency had a fight with



the kettle during tea-time, and came off a poor second.

Throughout the trip, he had manifested great curiosityconcerning the



kettle. He would sit and watch it, as it boiled, with a puzzled

expression, and would try and rouse it every now and then by growling at



it. When it began to splutter and steam, he regarded it as a challenge,

and would want to fight it, only, at that precise moment, some one would



always dash up and bear off his prey before he could get at it.

To-day he determined he would be beforehand. At the first sound the



kettle made, he rose, growling, and advanced towards it in a threatening

attitude. It was only a little kettle, but it was full of pluck, and it



up and spit at him.

"Ah! would ye!" growled Montmorency, showing his teeth; "I'll teach ye to



cheek a hard-working, respectable dog; ye miserable, long-nosed, dirty-

looking scoundrel, ye. Come on!"



And he rushed at that poor little kettle, and seized it by the spout.

Then, across the evening stillness, broke a blood-curdling yelp, and



Montmorency left the boat, and did a constitutional three times round the

island at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour, stopping every now and



then to bury his nose in a bit of cool mud.

From that day Montmorency regarded the kettle with a mixture of awe,



suspicion, and hate. Whenever he saw it he would growl and back at a

rapid rate, with his tail shut down, and the moment it was put upon the



stove he would promptly climb out of the boat, and sit on the bank, till

the whole tea business was over.



George got out his banjo after supper, and wanted to play it, but Harris

objected: he said he had got a headache, and did not feel strong enough



to stand it. George thought the music might do him good - said music

often soothed the nerves and took away a headache; and he twanged two or



three notes, just to show Harris what it was like.

Harris said he would rather have the headache.



George has never learned to play the banjo to this day. He has had too

much all-round discouragement to meet. He tried on two or three



evenings, while we were up the river, to get a little practice, but it

was never a success. Harris's language used to be enough to unnerve any



man; added to which, Montmorency would sit and howl steadily, right

through the performance. It was not giving the man a fair chance.



"What's he want to howl like that for when I'm playing?" George would

exclaim indignantly, while taking aim at him with a boot.



"What do you want to play like that for when he is howling?" Harris would

retort, catching the boot. "You let him alone. He can't help howling.



He's got a musical ear, and your playing MAKES him howl."

So George determined to postpone study of the banjo until he reached



home. But he did not get much opportunity even there. Mrs. P. used to

come up and say she was very sorry - for herself, she liked to hear him -



but the lady upstairs was in a very delicate state, and the doctor was

afraid it might injure the child.



Then George tried taking it out with him late at night, and practising

round the square. But the inhabitants complained to the police about it,



and a watch was set for him one night, and he was captured. The evidence

against him was very clear, and he was bound over to keep the peace for



six months.

He seemed to lose heart in the business after that. He did make one or



two feeble efforts to take up the work again when the six months had

elapsed, but there was always the same coldness - the same want of



sympathy on the part of the world to fight against; and, after awhile, he

despaired altogether, and advertised the instrument for sale at a great






文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号