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"Down the lane, through the second gate, on the right, an' the pool's by the big apple tree that stands by itself. There's trout there, if

you can tickle them!"

"They're more likely to tickle u s ! "

Mrs. Narracombe smiled. "There'll be the tea ready when you come back."

The pool formed by the damming of a rock, had a sandy bottom; and the big apple tree, lowest in the orchard, grew so close that its

boughs almost overhung the water; it was in leaf and all but in flower — its crimson buds just bursting. There was no room for more

than one at a time in that narrow bath, and Ashurst waited his turn, rubbing his knee and gazing at the wild meadow, all rocks and

thorn trees and field flowers, with a grove of beeches beyond, raised up on a flat mound. Every bough was swinging in the wind, every

spring bird calling, and a slanting sunlight dappled the grass. He thought of Theocritus,10 and the river Cherwell," of the moon, and the

maiden 12 with dewy eyes,13 of so many things that he seemed to think of nothing; and he felt absurdly happy.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. to make Chagford: to reach Chagford — a town in Devonshire.

2.Ashurst's football knee: the knee that Ashurst hurt in playing football.

3.thin as rails: It is a stable set-expression, somewhat hackneyed and trite. The list of such similes in English is fairly long. They

do not create fresh and vivid images, but are frequently used by the writers as they are easily understood and grasped by the

reader.

4.round-the-corner: absent-minded.

5.was talking through his hat: was talking nonsense.

6.took up the catechism: continued questioning smb. closely.

7.Scotch fir: common North European pine.

8.we've gone down (at Oxford and Cambridge): we've left the University.

9.strame, sittin', an': dialectical forms in Devonshire and Wales.

10. Theocritus [9i:'t)knt3s]: 270 B. C. Greek pastoral poet.

11. the river Cherwell ['tjawal]: a river in Oxfordshire.

12. maiden (chiefly liter.): a girl, a young unmarried woman.

13. He thought of Theocritus, and the river Cherwell, of the moon, and the maiden with dewy eyes: This is an enumeration, the members of

which belong to different spheres. This stylistic device is used by the writer to reveal the character's feelings and meditations.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY

Vocabulary Notes

1. track n 1) a mark left by someone or smth. that has passed, as the tracks of an animal (a car); to leave tracks, to follow the

tracks of; tracks in the snow (in the sand); to be on the track of smb. to be in pursuit of smb., e. g. The police were on the track of the

thief, to cover up one's tracks to conceal one's movements, e. g. The man was sure he had covered up his tracks. 2) a path, a narrow

rough road, as a track through a forest (a field); a narrow, hardly visible track; the beaten track the usual way of doing things, e. g.

Andrew was not a person to follow the beaten track, to keep (lose) track of to keep in (lose) touch with, e. g. You should keep track of

current events. 3) a set of rails on which trains or trams run, as a single (double) track.