That was the summer Dill came to us.
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play in the back yard, Jem and I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch. We went to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy—Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was expecting—instead we found someone sitting looking at us. Sitting down, he wasn’t much higher than the collards. We stared at him until he spoke:
"Hey."
"Hey yourself," said Jem pleasantly.
"I’m Charles Baker Harris," he said. "I can read."
"So what?" I said.
"I just thought you’d like to know I can read. You got anything needs readin’ I can do it…"
"How old are you," asked Jem, "four-and-a-half?"
"Go in‘on seven."
"Shoot no wonder, then" said Jem, jerking his thumb at me. "Scout yonder’s been readin’ ever since she was born, and she ain’t even started to school yet. You look right puny for goin’ on seven."
"I’m little but I’m old," he said.
Jem brushed his hair back to get a better look. "Why don’t you come over, Charles Baker Harris?" he said. "Lord, what a name."
" ’s not any funnier’n yours. Aunt Rachel says your name’s Jeremy Atticus Finch."
Jem scowled. "I’m big enough to fit mine," he said. "Your name’s longer’n you are. Betit’s a foot longer."
"Folks call me Dill," said Dill, struggling under the fence.
"Do better if you go over it instead of under it," I said. "Where’d you come from?"
Dill was from Meridian, Mississippi, was spending the summer with his aunt, Miss Rachel, and would be spending every summer in Maycomb from now on. His family was from Maycomb County originally, his mother worked for a photographer in Meridian, had entered his picture in a Beautiful Child contest and won five dollars. She gave the money to Dill, who went to the picture show twenty times on it.
"Don’t have any picture shows here, except Jesus ones in the courthouse sometimes,"
said Jem. "Ever see anything good?"
Dill had seen Dracula, a revelation that moved Jem to eye him with the beginning ofrespect. "Tell it to us," he said.
Dill was a curiosity. He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt, his hair was snow white and stuck to his head like duck fluff; he was a year my senior but I towered over him. As he told us the old tale his blue eyes would lighten and darken; his laugh was sudden and happy; he habitually pulled at a cowlick in the center of his forehead.
When Dill reduced Dracula to dust, and Jem said the show sounded better than the book, I asked Dill where his father was: "You ain’t said anything about him."
"I haven’t got one."
"Is he dead?"
"No…"
"Then if he’s not dead you’ve got one, haven’t you?"
Dill blushed and Jem told me to hush, a sure sign that Dill had been studied and found acceptable. Thereafter the summer passed in routine contentment. Routine contentment was: improving our tree house that rested between giant twin chinaberry trees in the back yard, fussing, running through our list of dramas based on the works of Oliver Optic, Victor Appleton, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. In this matter we were lucky to have Dill. He played the character parts formerly thrust upon me—the ape in Tarzan, Mr.Crab tree in The Rover Boys, Mr. Damon in Tom Swift. Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin, whose head teemed with eccentric plans, strange longings, and quaint fancies.
But by the end of August our repertoire was vapid from countless reproductions, and it was then that Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.
The Radley Place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings and explanations it drew him as the moon draws water, but drew him no nearer than the light-pole on the corner, a safe distance from the Radley gate. There he would stand, his arm around the fat pole,staring and wondering.
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📖 单词学习
--------熟词僻义—————
eye 这里是动词，有注视，审视，细看的意思（to eye sb. suspiciously）怀疑地注视某人
原文：Dill had seen Dracula, a revelation that moved Jem to eye him with the beginning ofrespect. "Tell it to us," he said.
迪尔看过《德拉库拉》这一显摆顿时让杰姆对他刮目相看。
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collard patch
原文：Jem and I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’scollard patch.
collard n.羽衣甘蓝,羽衣甘蓝叶(作蔬菜用)
patch n. 小块田地
wire fence铁丝篱笆（如下图）
原文：We went to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy—Miss Rachel’s rat terrier was expecting—instead we found someone sitting looking at us."Hey.”
scowl
n. 愁容；怒容；阴沉沉的样子
vi. 皱眉；怒视
vt. 皱眉表示；对…沉下脸
revelation原文这里是说Dill“显摆” 看过Dracular这件事
n.显露, 泄露, 透露, 揭露
被揭露的事, 暴露出来的事
cowlick额前蓬乱的鬈发
原文理解：he habituallypulled ata cowlick in the center of his forehead.、
chinaberry trees
苦谏树，可做药用
light-pole
原文：light-pole on the corner 拐角的路灯柱子
contentment满足，满意
repertoire n.全部节目
vapid adj. 无趣味的；无生气的；索然乏味的
原句：But by the end of August our repertoire was vapid from countless reproductions
到了八月底，我们的剧目因为不断重复上演，变得平淡无味了。
📖 短语积累
jerking his thumb at me这里指“用拇指向我挑了一下”
jerk 急拉，猛推
He jerked the phone away from her. 他猛然一下从她那儿把电话抢走
towered over／above sb./sth.
高于或超过（附近的人或物）
he was a year my senior but Itowered overhim 他比我大一岁，但是比我矮。
blue linen shorts 蓝色亚麻短裤
原文：He wore blue linen shorts that buttoned to his shirt
📖 句子
"Do better if you go over it instead of under it," I said. "Where’d you come from?”
看来两位小朋友的新朋友真的是太矮小了
看看作者如何形容Radley Place把Dill迷住了
The Radley Place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings and explanationsit drew him as the moon draws water.
就像月亮吸引海水一样。
