儿童故事集：好邻居-Good Neighbours

After school one winter day, Jack¹’s mother told him to go out and play in the snow.

“But it’s so cold outside, Mother!” Jack said.

 

“Put on your coat and your hat and your mittens²,” his mother said. “You can build a snowman before your father comes home.”

 

“I’m going to need a carrot for the nose,” Jack said. “And I’ll need some things for the snowman’s hat and face.”

 

Jack got a bucket³ and collected everything he needed to decorate his snowman. His mother promised she would watch him build the snowman from the window.

 

Outside, in his front yard, Jack started with a very small ball of snow. He got on his knees and rolled the snow into a big ball. At another window, someone else was watching Jack play. It was his new neighbour Naoko. Naoko asked her mother if she could go outside and help Jack build his snowman.

 

“It’s very cold outside. Are you sure you want to go out and play?” her mother asked.

 

“Yes, Mother!” Naoko said. “I will wear my coat and my hat and my mittens.”

 

Naoko’s mother helped her put on her winter clothes and promised to watch her from the window.

 

“You can play until your father comes home,” her mother said.

 

Naoko ran outside to Jack’s yard and asked if she could help him finish his snowman.

 

“Yes, please help me,” Jack said. “My father will be home from work very soon.”

 

“Okay. What can I do?” Naoko asked.

 

“I built my snowman’s body with two snowballs. I need to roll one more for my snowman’s head.”

 

“But snowmen only have two snowballs. One is for the body and one is for the head, ” Naoko said.

 

“No, snowmen always have three snowballs,” Jack said. “I don’t think I need you to help me after all.”

 

Jack picked up some snow and made it into a small snowball. He got on his knees and rolled the snow away from Naoko to make the snowman’s head.

 

Naoko walked into her own yard and began to build her own snowman.

 

“I don’t want to build a snowman with Jack anyway,” she thought to herself. “I’m going to make my own.”

 

Naoko rolled two big balls of snow and put them on top of each other. When she finished that she took off her hat and scarf and decorated the snowman. Lastly, she found some sticks and pine cones⁵ and made her snowman’s eyes and mouth and arms. Her mother clapped from the window.

 

Jack made a hat for his snowman with his bucket. He used his mother’s sewing buttons for the eyes and mouth. Lastly, he added⁶ a carrot for the snowman’s nose. After he finished, Jack’s mother smiled and pointed⁷. His father was driving up the street.

 

Suddenly a terrible thing happened. The head fell off Jack’s snowman and crashed to the ground!

 

“Oh no! My snowman fell apart,” Jack said, “and my father is almost home!”

 

Naoko heard Jack’s cry and ran over to his yard to see what the problem was.

 

“I’ll help you roll another snowball,” Naoko said. “If we do it together we can finish it before your father gets home.”

 

Together, Jack and Naoko rolled a new snowball. They shaped it with their mittens until it was round. Then they lifted it up onto the snowman’s body and decorated it with the carrot and bucket and buttons.

 

“We finished it just in time,” Jack said. “Thank you for your help.”

 

“You’re welcome. I like your snowman better,” Naoko said. “Mine doesn’t have a nose.”

 

Jack walked over to look at Naoko’s snowman. He loved the pine cone⁴ eyes and mouth and the sticks for arms, but he knew it wasn’t finished. Jack ran back to his snowman and pulled the carrot out. He broke it into two pieces and gave half to Naoko.

 

“Hurry,” Jack said. “Your snowman needs a nose and your father is driving up the street too.”

 

“Thank you,” Naoko said.

 

“You’re welcome,” Jack said. “I think our snowmen make good neighbours.”

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 mittens   

不分指手套

参考例句：

• Cotton mittens will prevent the baby from scratching his own face. 棉的连指手套使婴儿不会抓伤自己的脸。
• I'd fisted my hands inside their mittens to keep the fingers warm. 我在手套中握拳头来保暖手指。

3 bucket   

n.水桶，一桶之量，吊桶

参考例句：

• The bottom of the bucket has worn through after all this time.经过这么长时间，这只桶的底部终于磨穿了。
• Can you fill me a bucket of water,please?请给我打一桶水好吗？

4 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

5 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

6 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。