【段落赏析】
Wilbur hesitated a moment, then jumped out into the air. He glanced hastily behind to see if a piece of rope was following him to check his fall, but nothing seemed to be happening in his rear, and the next thing he knew he landed with a thump.”Ooomp!” he grunted.
短短三行字就将小猪Wilbur学习织网过程中的努力，犹疑，紧张，兴奋表现得淋漓尽致。作者笔下的动物每一只都是活灵活现，如同人类一样有思想有情感，非常值得阅读体会。
№.1 - He crept down into his hole, pushed the goose egg out of the way, and returned with an old piece of dirty white string.
【译文】坦普顿悄悄爬进洞里，一点点把鹅蛋推出来，再拽着一根破旧的白线回到原处。
【短语笔记】creep down
【英英释义】
1. to move in a quiet, careful way, especially to avoid attracting attention
2. if something such as an insect, small animal, or car creeps, it moves slowly and quietly
3. to gradually enter something and change it
4. if a plant creeps, it grows or climbs up or along a particular place
5. if mist, clouds etc creep, they gradually fill or cover a place
【例】
1. Johann would creep into the gallery to listen to the singers.
2. Fog was creeping into the valley.
3. The feeling she had for Malcolm had crept up on her and taken her by surprise.
【举一反三】creep down和fall down
Creep down和fall down都有滑落的意思，那它们的区别在哪里呢?
这里我们要看creep和fall的区别，creep是悄悄偷偷地移动，我们要注意到这个词在地质学范围内还有土石沙砾徐动的意思。想象下沙土滑落的感觉，平面在滑落后发生了变形。所以这个词不仅是动作上的动态，还有物体本身的动态变化感。而fall就没有那么动态，它只表示从上到下的位移变化。两个词的不同，大家有感觉了么?
№.2 – And summoning all his strength, he threw himself into the air, headfirst.
【译文】他脑袋超前，全力一跃。
【单词笔记】summon
【英英释义】
1. to order someone to come to a place
2. to officially order someone to come to a court of law
3. to arrange for a meeting to take place and order people to come to it
【例】
1. Robert summoned the waiter for the bill.
2. Hugh was summoned to appear before the magistrate.
3. He had to summon the energy to finish the race.
【词义辨析】call，summon，send for
call，summon，send for
这些动词或词组均含有“召集，召唤”之意。
call非正式用词，含义广泛，指用说话或呼叫的形式召唤。
summon正式用词，指官方或正式的召集，召集者具有权力或权威性。
send for作“召唤”解时，语气较随便，暗示委派一件工作。
№.3 - My goodness, I would have starved to death waiting that long. I can make a web in a single evening.
【词组笔记】starve to death
【英英释义】
1. to suffer or die because you do not have enough to
2. to prevent someone from having enough food to live
【例】
1. They'll either die from the cold or starve to death.
2. The poor dog looked like it had been starved.