Online Class Notes (Mike)

Vocabulary

take place = happen
It took place in SH.

put up with = stand (v) 忍受

fence (n) 围栏，栅栏

approach (v) 接近，靠近

direct (adj.)

trick (v/n) 恶搞，恶作剧

treat (v) 招待，款待

village (n) 村庄
town (n) 镇

scold (v) 责备，责怪，责骂
My mom never scolded me.

crest (n)（动物头顶的）冠

shine (v) – shiny (adj.) 闪光的

crown (n) 王冠

rapid (adj.) 迅疾的，飞快的，
rapids (n) 湍流，急流

cotton fiber 棉花纤维

be attached to 依附于，附属于

twig (n) 细的枝桠

knit (v) 编织

dart (n) 飞镖
(v) 猛地冲向，猛冲

beak (n) 鸟嘴，喙

defend (v) 防卫，防守，辩护
I need to defend myself when there is danger.

instinct (n) 本能

“What can it be?” asked one person. “How strange,” said another. “It cannot be a comet because comets have tails,” said a third. “Perhaps it’s a big firefly,” said another. At last some of the men decided to find out what this strange light was—whether it was a hobgoblin dancing in the air, or something dropping from the sky.

So off they started to get as close to it as they could. While this was taking place, Ray, who had gotten tired of standing and was sitting on a fence behind a tree. He could see the men as they approached, but they did not see him. When they were directly under the light, and saw what it was, they looked at each other and said while laughing, “This is some boy’s trick, and it has fooled us nicely.

Let us keep the secret and have our share of the joke.” Then they laughed again and went back to the village. Some of the people there had not yet found out what that strange light was.

When the men had gone, Ray thought it was time for him to go, so he wound up his string, picked up his kite and lantern, and went home. His mother had been wondering where he was. When she heard what he had been doing, she hardly knew whether to laugh or scold, but I think she laughed and told him that it was time for him to go to bed.

Humming Birds

The most beautiful humming birds are found in the West Indies and South America. The crest of the tiny head of one of these birds shines like a sparkling crown of colored light. The shades of color that adorn its breast are equally brilliant. As the bird flies from one flower to another, it looks more like a bright flash of sunlight than it does a living being.

You ask, why are they called humming birds? It is because they make a soft, humming noise by the rapid motion of their wings—a motion so rapid, that as they fly, you can hardly see that they have wings.

One day when walking in the woods, I found the nest of one of the smallest humming birds. It was about half the size of a very small hen’s egg, and it was attached to a twig no thicker than a steel knitting needle. It seemed to have been made of cotton fibers and was covered with the softest bits of leaf and bark. It had two eggs in it, and each was about as large as a small sugarplum.

When you approach the spot where one of these birds has built its nest, you need to be careful. The mother bird will dart at you and try to peck you. Its sharp beak may hurt you. The poor little thing knows no other way of defending its young, and instinct teaches it that you might carry off its nest if you find it.

Grammar

hard
(adj.) 坚硬，The bread is too hard to eat.
(adv.) 艰难地，努力地
He works hard.
She studies hard.
hardly (adv.) 几乎不
He hardly works. 他几乎不工作