At four would come supper. Skim (脱脂的) milk, provender, leftover (剩下的) sandwich from Lurvy's lunchbox, prune (西梅干) skins, a morsel (一口) of this, a bit of that, fried potatoes, marmalade (果酱) drippings, a little more of this, a little more of that, a piece of baked apple, a scrap of upside down cake. (本段译文请参看讲义)
Wilbur had gone to sleep thinking about these plans. He awoke at six and saw the rain, and it seemed as though he couldn't bear it.
"I get everything all beautifully planned out and it has to go and rain," he said.
For a while he stood gloomily (沮丧地) indoors. Then he walked to the door and looked out. Drops of rain struck his face. His yard was cold and wet.
His trough had an inch of rainwater in it. Templeton was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you out there, Templeton?" called Wilbur. There was no answer. Suddenly Wilbur felt lonely and friendless.
"One day just like another," he groaned. "I'm very young, I have no real friend here in the barn, it's going to rain all morning and afternoon, and Fern won't come in such bad weather. Oh, honestly!"
And Wilbur was crying again, for the second time in two days.
At six-thirty Wilbur heard the banging of a pail (桶). Lurvy was standing outside in the rain, stirring up breakfast.
"C'mon, pig!" said Lurvy.
Wilbur did not budge (挪动). Lurvy dumped the slops, scraped the pail and walked away. He noticed that something was wrong with the pig.
Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love. He wanted a friend--someone who would play with him.
He mentioned this to the goose, who was sitting quietly in a corner of the sheepfold.
"Will you come over and play with me?" he asked.
"Sorry, sonny, sorry," said the goose. "I'm sitting-sitting on my eggs. Eight of them. Got to keep them toasty-oasty-oasty warm.
I have to stay right here, I'm no flibberty-ibberty-gibbet. I do not play when there are eggs to hatch. I'm expecting goslings (小鹅)."
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"Well, I didn't think you were expecting wood-peckers (啄木鸟)," said Wilbur, bitterly.
Wilbur next tried one of the lambs.
"Will you please play with me?" he asked.
"Certainly not," said the lamb. "In the first place, I cannot get into your pen, as I am not old enough to jump over the fence.
In the second place, I am not interested in pigs. Pigs mean less than nothing to me."
"What do you mean, less than nothing?" replied Wilbur. "I don't think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go.
It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something--even though it's just a very little bit of something.
But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is."
"Oh, be quiet!" said the lamb. "Go play by yourself! I don't play with pigs.
Sadly, Wilbur lay down and listened to the rain. Soon he saw the rat climbing down a slanting (倾斜的) board that he used as a stairway (阶梯).
"Will you play with me, Templeton?" asked Wilbur.
"Play?" said Templeton, twirling his whiskers. "Play? I hardly know the meaning of the word."
"Well," said Wilbur, "it means to have fun, to frolic (嬉戏；玩闹), to run and skip and make merry."
"I never do those things if I can avoid them, " replied the rat, sourly. "I prefer to spend my time eating, gnawing (咬), spying (暗中监视), and hiding.
I am a glutton (贪吃的人) but not a merry-maker. Right now I am on my way to your trough to eat your breakfast, since you haven't got sense enough to eat it yourself."
And Templeton, the rat, crept stealthily (偷偷摸摸地) along the wall and disappeared into a private tunnel that he had dug between the door and the trough in Wilbur's yard. Templeton was a crafty (狡猾的) rat, and he had things pretty much his own way.
The tunnel was an example of his skill and cunning (狡猾). The tunnel enabled him to get from the barn to his hiding place under the pig trough without coming out into the open.
He had tunnels and runways all over Mr. Zuckerman's farm and could get from one place to another without being seen. Usually he slept during the daytime and was abroad (到外面) only after dark.
Wilbur watched him disappear into his tunnel. In a moment he saw the rat's sharp nose poke out from underneath the wooden trough.
Cautiously Templeton pulled himself over the edge of the trough.
This was almost more than Wilbur could stand: on this dreary (沉闷的), rainy day to see his breakfast being eaten by somebody else. He knew Templeton was getting soaked (湿透), out there in the pouring rain, but even that didn't comfort him.
Friendless, dejected (沮丧的), and hungry, he threw himself down in the manure (粪肥) and sobbed.
Late that afternoon, Lurvy went to Mr. Zuckerman. "I think there's something wrong with that pig of yours. He hasn't touched his food."
"Give him two spoonfuls of sulphur (硫磺) and a little molasses (糖蜜)," said Mr. Zuckerman.
Wilbur couldn't believe what’s happening to him when Lurvy caught him and forced the medicine down his throat.
This was certainly the worst day of his life. He didn't know whether he could endure the awful (极坏的) loneliness any more.
Darkness settled over everything. Soon there were only shadows and the noises of the sheep chewing their cuds (反刍的食物), and occasionally the rattle of a cow-chain up overhead.
You can imagine Wilbur's surprise when, out of the darkness, came a small voice he had never heard before. It sounded rather thin, but pleasant.
"Do you want a friend, Wilbur?" it said. "I'll be a friend to you. I've watched you all day and I like you."
"But I can't see you," said Wilbur, jumping to his feet. "Where are you? And who are you?"
"I'm right here," said the voice. "Go to sleep. You'll see me in the morning."
The night seemed long. Wilbur's stomach was empty and his mind was full. And when your stomach is empty and your mind is full, it's always hard to sleep.
A dozen times during the night Wilbur woke and stared (凝视) into the darkness, listening to the sounds and trying to figure out what time it was.
A barn is never perfectly quiet. Even at midnight there is usually something stirring.
The first time he woke, he heard Templeton gnawing a hole in the grain bin (箱子). Templeton's teeth scraped loudly against the wood and made quite a racket.
"That crazy rat!" thought Wilbur. "Why does he have to stay up all night, grinding (磨碎) his clashers and destroying people's property? Why can't he go to sleep, like any decent animal?"
The second time Wilbur woke, he heard the goose turning on her nest and chuckling (哧哧地笑) to herself.
"What time is it?" whispered Wilbur to the goose.
"Probably-obably-obably about half-past eleven," said the goose, "Why aren't you asleep, Wilbur?"
"Too many things on my mind," said Wilbur.
"Well," said the goose, "that's not my trouble. I have nothing at all on my mind, but I've too many things under my behind. Have you ever tried to sleep while sitting on eight eggs?"
"No," replied Wilbur, "I suppose it is uncomfortable. How long does it take a goose egg to hatch (孵出)?"
"Approximately-oximately (大约) thirty days, all told," answered the goose. "But I cheat a little. On warm afternoons, I just pull a little straw over the eggs and go out for a walk."
Wilbur yawned (打哈欠) and went back to sleep. In his dreams he heard again the voice saying, "I'll be a friend to you. Go to sleep--you'll see me in the morning."
About half an hour before dawn, Wilbur woke and listened. The barn was still dark. The sheep lay motionless (一动不动).
Even the goose was quiet. Overhead, on the main floor, nothing stirred: the cows were resting, the horses dozed (小睡). Templeton had quit work and gone off somewhere on an errand (跑腿).
The only sound was a slight scraping noise from the rooftop, where the weather-vane (风向标) swung back and forth.
Wilbur loved the barn when it was like this--calm and quiet, waiting for light.
"Day is almost here," he thought.
Through a small window, a faint gleam appeared.
One by one the stars went out. Wilbur could see the goose a few feet away. She sat with head tucked (蜷缩) under a wing.
Then he could see the sheep and the lambs. The sky lightened.