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● suit：成套的西装。linen：麻布。knickers（或作knicker-bockers）：一种小脚管的肥大短裤，短灯笼裤。
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● on her private affairs：料理自己的私事去了。
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Tom, having stared at the girl for a long time as one would study a curiosity, rare and valuable, but extremely surprising, put his feet together, made three jumps forward and said, “Hullo.”
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The little girl turned her head over one shoulder and slowly revolved on one heel, as if trying to examine the back of her own frock. She then stooped suddenly, brushed the hem with her hand, and said, “Hullo.”
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● study：端详，仔细地看。前有would，表示虚拟语气（好像是一个人看一件宝贝似的）。curiosity在这里是普通名词不是抽象名词，解作“奇珍异宝”。后随三个形容词：rare, valuable和surprising。普通学生作文总把形容词放在名词之前，然有时形容词放在名词之后，句法更易开展。请参阅前篇The Duck一文末句中“…that life, mysterious, fruitful, beautiful…”形容词的位置。
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● Tom是主语，它的动词是put（把双脚并起），made，said三字。
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● 双方瞪目而视者良久，小男孩跳了三步，上前迎候，小女孩羞答答地回礼。作者不用bashful这一类的字，而女孩娇羞之状可掬。她头向后转，以一只脚跟为支点，全身慢慢地转（revolved），好像要转身过去，仔细看看她身后的衣服似的。然后她突然俯下身去，手擦着衣服的边（hem），说声：哈罗。
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Tom made another jump, turned round, pointed out of the window, and said in a loud voice something like “twanky tweedle.” Both knew that neither the gesture nor the phrase was meant to convey a meaning. They simply expressed the fact that for Tom this was an important and exciting, a very special occasion.
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● twanky tweedle两字没有意义，是小孩嘴里随便发出的声音。gesture：姿势；即指手指窗外这一姿势。convey：表达。他做出这种姿势，说出这两个字来，其用意（was meant）并不要表达什么意义。
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● They=the gesture and the phrase。
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● occasion：时机，场合，事件。小客人来拜会，是一桩重要的、动人的、很特殊的事件（点明题意）。前面说句法如求便于开展，可将形容词放在名词之后；这里为求结束稳当，收煞有力，还是把名词放在形容词之后。
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The little girl took a step forward, caught her frock in both hands as if about to make a curtsy, rose upon her toes, and said in a prim voice, “I beg your pardon.”
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They both gazed at each other for some minutes with sparkling eyes. Neither smiled, but it seemed that both were about to smile.
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● curtsy：妇人欠身屈膝之礼。rose upon her toes：踮了脚身体伸直起来。prim：矜持，拘谨。I beg your pardon：对不起。（这句普通客套话，“你说什么，我没有听懂”。）
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● gaze亦是“凝视”。stare只是“瞠目”或“瞪目”而视，表情比较呆板；gaze则显得更用心，或更有意，更露出欣羡赞赏之情。对人stare容易引起人家见怪，gaze则不致引起礼貌问题。sparkling eyes：光亮的眼睛。
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Tom then gave another incomprehensible shout, ran round the table, sat down on the floor and began to play with a clockwork engine on a circular track. The little girl climbed on a tricycle and pedaled round the floor. “I can ride your bike,” she said.
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Tom paid no attention. He was trying how fast the engine could go without falling off the track.
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● incomprehensible：大家听不懂的，不可思议的。shout：乱嚷。another和前面的“twanky tweedle”相呼应。
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● clockwork：发条（用发条开动的）。engine：火车头。circular track：环形轨道。
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● tricycle：三轮脚踏车。pedaled：脚踏，蹬。bike原是bicycle的俗称，就本文看来，tricycle因为形状像bicycle，亦可简称作bike的。
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● 女孩子踩脚踏车玩儿，男孩子不去理她，只顾玩他的小火车。（这种不理睬人独行其是的态度，自是男孩儿的本色。）他在试验：火车头能快到什么程度，同时不至于跌出轨道外面去。
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The little girl took a picture book, sat down under the table with her back to Tom, and slowly, carefully, examined each page. “It’s got a crooked wheel,” Tom said, “that’s what.” The little girl made no answer. She was staring at the book with round eyes and a small pursed mouth—the expression of a nervous child at the zoo when the lions are just going to roar. Slowly and carefully she turned the next page. As it opened, her eyes became larger, her mouth more tightly pursed, as if she expected some creature to jump out at her.
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● 女孩子拿起图画书来看，男孩子还在玩他的小火车。crooked wheel：轮子扭曲了，所以车子老是跌出来。
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● pursed mouth：小嘴收缩起来。expression：表情；同位语，用以说明前面的round eyes and a small pursed mouth。这种瞪眼撅嘴的样子就像是一个胆怯的（nervous）小孩子，在动物园（zoo）里，看见狮子快要张口吼叫的时候，那种既兴奋又恐惧的表情。
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● As it opened：翻到次一页的时候。tightly：紧。
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