13-A Mouse Trap 鼠夹

A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain?

　　He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap!

　　Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, “There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house.“

　　The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be

bothered by it.“

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.“

“I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse,“ sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers.“

　　The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, “Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?“

　　So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.

　　That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching¹ its prey². The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught.

　　In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

　　The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever.

　　Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet³ to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

　　His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

　　The farmer’s wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered⁴ to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are

all at risk. And traps are usually well disguised.

1 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

2 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

3 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。

4 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》