Chapter 1 Before Breakfast（2）
Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her father's hand.
"Fern," said Mr. Arable, "I know more about raising a litter of pigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble. Now run along!"
"But it's unfair," cried Fern. "The pig couldn't help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?"
Mr. Arable smiled. "Certainly not," he said, looking down at his daughter with love. "But this is different. A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another."
"I see no difference," replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. "This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of."
A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself.
"All right," he said. "You go back to the house and I will bring the runt when I come in. I'll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby. Then you'll see what trouble a pig can be."
when Mr.Arable returned to the house half an hour later, he carried a carton under his arm. Fern was upstairs changing her sneakers. The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee, bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove.
"Put it on her chair!" said Mrs. Arable. Mr.Arable set the carton down at Fern's place. Then he walked to the sink and washed his hands and dried them on the roller towel.
Question:
Why Mr. Arable gave in at last?
本部分原文节选共 259 个单词。
动词及词组：
1. take hold of： 握住
2. pull out of ：把某物从...拉出来
3. make trouble：制造麻烦
4. hang on to：to keep something
抓住 , 也可以说 hang onto something
5. start on：这个词组很有意思，也很容易被忽视，目前还找不到合适的中文对应翻译，英文解释如下：start somebody on something: to make someone start doing something regularly, especially because it will be good for them
朗文字典例句：Try starting your baby on solid foods at four months old.
6. dry：一般习惯把它用作形容词，但也可以用作动词, 可以使得句子非常简洁。
如，把手擦干，就可以说：dry your hands
名词：
1. weakling: someone who is not physically strong
身体虚弱的人
2. a litter of pigs: 一窝小猪
类似的还有：a litter of puppies 一窝小狗； a litter of kittens 一窝猫仔
原文中的句子欣赏：
The pig couldn't help being born small, could it?
小猪出生时弱小，它自己也没办法，难道不是吗？
生活中有些事是我们没有选择的，而有些又是可以努力改变的。我们需要做的事就是将这两类事情区分开。不要抱怨或固执于不能改变的，不要放弃本可以改变的。
People couldn't help being born in which family, could they?
People may choose the way they want to go，or what kind of person they want to be.