Chapter 3 Escape (1)
在互联网时代，答案变得越来越不那么重要，而问题却变得越来越稀缺。
时不时问自己问题是个好习惯，这样可以享受思考的乐趣。
今天阅读前，有以下几个小问题：
Do you know what is a barn?
Have you ever been to a barn?
What kind of things do you think may be found in a barn?
Do you know the smell of a barn?
Let's read to find out what kind of barn Wilbur was living.
The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell---as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world. It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease and of rubber boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat was given a fish-head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostly it smelled of hay, for there was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the horses and the sheep.
The barn was pleasantly warm in winter when the animals spent most of their time indoors, and it was pleasantly cool in summer when the big doors stood wide open to the breeze. The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grind stones, pitch forks, monkey wrenches, scythes,lawn mowers, snow shovels, ax handles, milk pails, water buckets, empty grainsacks, and rusty rat traps. It was the kind of barn that swallows like to build their nests in. It was the kind of barn that children like to play in. And the whole thing was owned by Fern's uncle, Mr. Homer L. Zuckerman.
Wilbur's new home was in the lower part of the barn,directly underneath the cows. Mr. Zuckerman knew that a manure pile is a good place to keep a young pig. Pigs need warmth, and it was warm and comfortable down there in the barn cellar on the south side.
本部分原文节选共314个单词。
这部分内容主要运用名词而不是形容词来介绍谷仓。通过具体的物品或物质让作者感受谷仓的环境和气息。
原文中的名词：
1. perspiration: 汗水
It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows.
在上面这个句子中，为什么作者不用sweat, 而选择用perspiration呢？
我个人觉得是因为作者很欣赏勤劳与耐心的品质，所以干完活，劳累的马所出的汗就用更正式的“汗水”，耐心的奶牛的呼吸也用“甜美”来形容。
2. harness dressing: 马具油
这个词查了好长时间，最一开始想当然认为harness dressing就是马具的意思，但是harness本身就有马具的意思，为什么还要有dressing呢？查dressing 有“擦鞋油”的意思，在加上原文句子中后面有axle grease，我就理解dressing 是养护马具的油了。
3. axle grease：车轴油
4. breeze：微风
5. stall：畜栏，马厩
6. tie-up：牛棚
7. sheepfold：羊圈
8. pigpen：猪圈
9. monkey wrenches：螺旋钳
10. scythe：长柄大镰刀
11. rat trap：捕鼠夹
原文中的动词：
1. pitch：to throw something with a lot of force, often aiming carefully
原文中的形容词：
1. rusty
Questions:
If you are asked to retell what kind of things are there in the barn, How many things have you remembered?
What kind of animals can you find in this barn?
Can you tell the names of the homes of sheep, pig ,horse and cow?
Can you describe the smells of the barn?