All in all, the Zuckermans’ pigpen was the center of attraction. Fern was happy, for she felt that Charlotte’s trick (把戏) was working and that Wilbur’s life would be saved.
But she found that the barn was not nearly (几乎) as pleasant—too many people.
She liked it better when she could be all alone with her friends the animals.
One evening, a few days after the writing had appeared in Charlotte's web, the spider called a meeting of all the animals in the barn cellar.
"I shall begin by calling the roll. Wilbur?"
"Here!" said the pig.
"Gander?"
"Here, here, here!" said the gander.
"You sound like three ganders," muttered Charlotte. "Why can't you just say 'here'? Why do you have to repeat everything?"
"It's my idio-idio-idiosyncrasy (特性)," replied the gander.
"Goose?" said Charlotte.
"Here, here, here!" said the goose. Charlotte glared at her.
"Goslings, one through seven?"
"Bee-bee-bee!" "Bee-bee-bee!" "Bee-bee-bee!" "Bee-bee-bee!" "Bee-bee-bee!" "Bee-bee-bee!" "Bee-bee-bee!" said the goslings.
"This is getting to be quite a meeting," said Charlotte. "Anybody would think we had three ganders, three geese, and twenty-one goslings. Sheep?"
"He-aa-aa!" answered the sheep all together.
"Lambs?"
"He-aa-aa!" answered the lambs all together.
"Templeton?" No answer. "Templeton?"
No answer.
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"Well, we are all here except the rat," said Charlotte. "I guess we can proceed (继续) without him.
Now, all of you must have noticed what's been going on around here the last few days. The message I wrote in my web, praising Wilbur, has been received.
The Zuckermans have fallen for it, and so has everybody else. Zuckerman thinks Wilbur is an unusual pig, and therefore he won't want to kill him and eat him.
I dare (敢，敢于) say my trick will work and Wilbur's life can be saved.
"Hurray!" cried everybody.
"Thank you very much," said Charlotte. "Now I called this meeting in order to get suggestions.
I need new ideas for the web. People are already getting sick of reading the words 'Some Pig!' If anybody can think of another message, or remark, I'll be glad to weave it into my web.
Any suggestions for a new slogan?"
"How about 'Pig Supreme (最好的)'?" asked one of the lambs.
"No good," said Charlotte. "It sounds like a rich dessert (甜点)."
"How about 'Terrific (极好的), terrific, terrific'?" asked the goose.
"Cut that down to one 'terrific' and it will do very nicely," said Charlotte. "I think 'terrific' might impress Zuckerman."
"But Charlotte," said Wilbur, "I'm not terrific."
"That doesn't make a particle of difference," replied Charlotte. "Not a particle. People believe almost anything they see in print. Does anybody here know how to spell 'terrific'?"
"I think," said the gander," it's tee double ee double rr double rr double eye double ff double eye double see see see see see."
"What kind of an acrobat (杂技演员) do you think I am?" said Charlotte in disgust. "I would have to have St. Vitus's Dance to weave a word like that into my web."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," said the gander.
Then the oldest sheep spoke up. "I agree that there should be something new written in the web if Wilbur's life is to be saved.
And if Charlotte needs help in finding words, I think she can get it from our friend Templeton.
The rat visits the dump regularly (规律地) and has access to old magazines.
He can tear out bits of advertisements and bring them up here to the barn cellar, so that Charlotte can have something to copy."
"Good idea," said Charlotte. "But I'm not sure Templeton will be willing to help. You know how he is--always looking out for himself, never thinking of the other fellow."
"I bet I can get him to help," said the old sheep. "I'll appeal to his baser instincts, of which he has plenty. Here he comes now. Everybody keep quiet while I put the matter up to him!"
The rat entered the barn the way he always did—creeping (匍匐) along close to the wall.
"What's up?" he asked, seeing the animals assembled (聚集).
"We're holding a directors' meeting," replied the old sheep.
"Well, break it up!" said Templeton. "Meetings bore (烦扰) me." And the rat began to climb a rope that hung against the wall.
"Look," said the old sheep, "next time you go to the dump (垃圾堆), Templeton, bring back a clipping (剪报) from a magazine. Charlotte needs new ideas so she can write messages in her web and save Wilbur's life."
"Let him die," said the rat. "I should worry."
"You'll worry all right when next winter comes," said the sheep. "You'll worry all right on a zero morning next January when Wilbur is dead and nobody comes down here with a nice pail (桶) of warm slops to pour into the trough.
Wilbur's leftover food is your chief source of supply, Templeton. You know that. Wilbur's food is your food; therefore (因此), Wilbur's destiny and your destiny are closely linked.
If Wilbur is killed and his trough stands empty day after day, you'll grow so thin we can look right through your stomach and see objects on the other side."
Templeton's whiskers quivered.
"Maybe you're right," he said gruffly (沙哑地). "I'm making a trip to the dump tomorrow afternoon. I'll bring back a magazine clipping if I can find one."
"Thanks," said Charlotte. "The meeting is now adjourned (休会). I have a busy evening ahead of me. I've got to tear my web apart and write 'Terrific.'"
Wilbur blushed. "But I'm not terrific, Charlotte. I'm just about average for a pig."
"You're terrific as far as I'm concerned," replied Charlotte, sweetly, "and that's what counts. You're my best friend, and I think you're sensational. Now stop arguing and go get some sleep!"
Far into the night, while the other creatures slept, Charlotte worked on her web. First she ripped out a few of the orb (本意指球状物，文中可以理解为圆环状) lines near the center.
She left the radial lines alone, as they were needed for support. As she worked, her eight legs were a great help to her.
So were her teeth. She loved to weave and she was an expert at it. When she was finished ripping things out, her web looked something like this:
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A spider can produce several kinds of thread (丝线). She uses a dry, tough thread for foundation lines, and she uses a sticky (粘的) thread for snare lines--the ones that catch and hold insects. Charlotte decided to use her dry thread for writing the new message.
"If I write the word 'Terrific' with sticky thread," she thought, "every bug that comes along will get stuck in it and spoil (破坏，弄糟) the effect."
"Now let's see, the first letter is T."
Charlotte climbed to a point at the top of the left-hand side of the web. Swinging her spinnerets into position, she attached her thread and then dropped down.
As she dropped, her spinning tubes went into action and she let out thread. At the bottom, she attached the thread.
This formed the upright part of the letter T. Charlotte was not satisfied, however. She climbed up and made another attachment, right next to the first. Then she carried the line down, so that she had a double line instead of a single line.
"It will show up better if I make the whole thing with double lines."
She climbed back up, moved over about an inch (英寸) to the left, touched her spinnerets to the web, and then carried a line across to the right, forming the top of the T.
She repeated this, making it double. Her eight legs were very busy helping.
"Now for the E!"
Charlotte got so interested in her work, she began to talk to herself, as though (仿佛) to cheer herself on.
If you had been sitting quietly in the barn cellar that evening, you would have heard something like this:
"Now for the R! Up we go! Attach! Descend! Pay out line! Whoa! Attach! Good! Up you go! Repeat! Attach! Descend! Pay out line. Whoa, girl!
Steady now! Attach! Climb! Attach! Over to the right! Pay out line! Attach! Climb! Attach! Over to the right! Pay loop and around and around! Now in to the left! Attach! Climb! Repeat!
O.K.! Easy, keep those lines together! Now, then, out and down for the leg of the R! Pay out line! Whoa! Attach! Ascend! Repeat! Good girl!"
And so, talking to herself, the spider worked at her difficult task. When it was completed, she felt hungry. She ate a small bug that she had been saving. Then she slept.
Next morning, Wilbur arose (醒来) and stood beneath the web. He breathed the morning air into his lungs.
Drops of dew, catching the sun, made the web stand out clearly. When Lurvy arrived with breakfast, there was the handsome pig, and over him, woven neatly (整齐地) in block letters, was the word TERRIFIC.
Another miracle (奇迹).