Charlotte

E. B. White

作者：埃尔文·布鲁克斯·怀特（1899—1985），美国当代著名散文家、評论家，以散文名世。他生于纽约蒙特弗农，毕业于康奈尔大学。怀特是一位颇有造诣的散文家、幽默作家、诗人和讽刺作家。对于人们来说，他之所以出名，是因为写出了一流的读物《精灵鼠小弟》和《夏洛的网》。

作品：《夏洛的网》是一部关于友情的童话。在朱克曼家的谷仓里，小猪威尔伯和蜘蛛夏洛建立了最真挚的友谊。威尔伯的生命有危险时，看似渺小的夏洛用自己的力量救了威尔伯，但这时，蜘蛛夏洛的生命却走到了尽头……作者用童话的叙事风格表现出对生命本身的赞美与眷恋，引发我们对生命的思索。

Fern loved Wilbur more than anything.She loved to stroke him， to feed himand to put him to bed. Every morning， assoon as she got up， she warmed his milk，tied his bib on， and held the bottle for him.Every afternoon， when the school busstopped in front of her house， she jumped out and ran to the kitchen to fix anotherbottle for him. She fed him again at suppertime，and again just before going to bed.Mrs Arable gave him feeding aroundnoontime each day， when Fern was awayin school. Wilbur loved his milk， and hewas never happier than when Fern waswarming up a bottle for him. He wouldstand and gaze at her with adoring eyes.

For the first few days of his life，Wilbur was allowed to live in a box nearthe stove in the kitchen. Then when MrsArable complained， he was moved to abigger box in the woodshed. At two weeksof age， he was moved outdoors. It wasappleblossomtime， and the days weregetting warmer. Mr Arable fixed a small yard specially for Wilbur under an appletree， and gave him a large wooden box fullof straw， with a doorway cut in it so hecould walk in and out as he pleased.

“Won't he be cold at night？” askedFern. “No，” said her father. “You watchand see what he does.” Carrying a bottle ofmilk， Fern sat down under the apple treeinside the yard. Wilbur ran to her and sheheld the bottle for him while he sucked.When he had finished the last drop， hegrunted （发出呼噜声） and walked sleepilyinto the box. Fern peered through the door.Wilbur was poking the straw with hissnout （鼻子）. In a short time， he had duga tunnel in the straw. He crawled intothe tunnel and disappeared from sight，completely covered with straw. Fern wasenchanted. It relieved her mind to knowthat her baby would sleep covered up， andwould stay warm.

Every morning after breakfast，Wilbur walked out to the road with Fernand waited with her till the bus came. Shewould wave goodbye to him， and he wouldstand and watch the bus until it vanishedaround a turn. While Fern was in school，Wilbur was shut up inside his yard. But assoon as she got home in the afternoon， shewould take him out and he would followher around the place. If she went into the house， Wilbur went， too. If she wentupstairs， Wilbur would wait at the bottomstep until she came down again. If she tookher doll for a walk in the doll carriage，Wilbur followed along. Sometimes， onthese journeys， Wilbur would get tired，and Fern would pick him up and put himin the carriage alongside the doll. He likedthis. And if he was very tired， he wouldclose his eyes and go to sleep under thedoll's blanket. He looked cute when hiseyes were closed， because his lashes wereso long. The doll would close her eyes， too，and Fern would wheel the carriage veryslowly and smoothly so as not to wake herinfants.

One warm afternoon， Fern and Averyput on bathing suits and went down to thebrook （小溪） for a swim. Wilbur taggedalong at Ferns heels. When she wadedinto the brook， Wilbur waded in with her.He found the water quite cold—too coldfor his liking. So while the children swam，played and splashed water at each other，Wilbur amused himself in the mud alongthe edge of the brook.

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What did Wilbur do when he got tired during walks with Fern？

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