Lesson 5 The Talking Mongoose

No one has ever decided what it was. But it called itself a mongoose^①. And it lived on the Isle of Man in a lonely farmhouse looking out on the Irish sea. The house, a very old one, was called Doarlish Cashen. It was bought in 1917 by a Mr. James Irving.

In 1931 Mr. and Mrs. Irving began to hear strange noises behind the walls. There were taps, hisses^②, grow ls^③, squeaks^④, and other animal sounds. Then one day Mr. Irving heard a gurgle^⑤. It sounded like a baby learning to talk. Mr. Irving thought he would answer the sounds. He barked like a dog. He meowed like a cat. To his surprise, his sounds were repeated in a shrill, high voice. Mr. Irving made the sounds again. This time he followed each one with the name of the animal he was imitating. The voice behind the wall repeated every word he said.

Within a few weeks, Mr. Irving had taught the thing—whatever it was—to speak well. He asked it what it was and where it had come from. A t first it answered that it was a ghost in the form of a weasel^⑥. Later it said it was a mongoose. It said its name was Jeff. So the Irvings began to speak of their mysterious guest as “he” instead of “it”.

Jeff didn’t let the Irvings see him at first. Once in a while he would show his paws and let the family touch him. A fter some time, Jeff let the Irvings’ daughter photograph him. But the pictures did not come out well.

Once they got used to him, the Irvings liked Jeff. Since Doarlish Cashen was a farm, he proved to be quite useful. He rid the farm of mice and rats by throw ing stones at them or by meow ing like a cat. If he had to, he killed them. When the farm’s goats stayed away too long, Jeff would go after them. He would bark at them like a dog and herd them home. He even caught rabbits for the dinner table.

Jeff did not confine himself to Doarlish Cashen. He made visits to nearby houses and farms. And he loved to go to horse and cattle shows. Jeff would tell the Irvings what he had observed on his trips. His reports were later found to be quite true.

Another of Jeff’s pastimes was listening to the radio. Through new scasts he learned a great deal of what was taking place in the outside world.

And the outside world soon learned about Jeff. Strangers began to come to Doarlish Cashen. They hoped to see or hear the talking mongoose. Jeff would talk to strangers, but only when he felt like it. If he sensed that they did not believe he was real, he shut up like a clam^⑦.

Two strangers who did believe in Jeff were Harry Price and Richard Lambert. Mr. Price was an expert on the spirit world and the strange powers of the mind. Mr. Lambert worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation. The two men came to make a study of Jeff. They w rote a book about him. It is called The Haunting of Cashen’s Gap.

In spite of the book, many questions about Jeff still remain. What was he really? Where did he come from? What made him so clever? Probably we w ill never know. In the m iddle 1930s, the Irvings sold Doarlish Cashen and m oved away. The new owner said that soon after taking possession of the farm he shot a strange animal on the property^⑧. It could have been Jeff, for he has never been heard from since.

Notes

① mongoose [ˑmɒŋɡu:s] n. 猫鼬

② hiss [hɪs] n. 嘶嘶声

③ growl [ɡraʊl] n. 嗥叫

④ squeak [skwɪk] n. 尖叫

⑤ gurgle [ˑɡɜ:ɡl] n. 咕咕声，咯咯声

⑥ weasel [ˑwɪzəl] n. 黄鼠狼

⑦ clam [klæm] n. 蚌

⑧ property [ˑprɒpətɪ] n. 房产；所有物，财产； 所有，所有权

Exercises

Ⅰ. How well did you read?

1. [Note the setting] This story happened on___.

A. the coast of Ireland 　B. the Isle of Man

C. an island in the Atlantic

2. [Follow the order] One of the first sounds that strange creature made was a___.

A. word 　B. squeak 　C. gurgle

3. [See the reason] The Irvings began to call the creature “he” because it___.

A. gave itself a boy’s name

B. asked them to do so

C. acted like a boy

4. [Judge from details] Paragraph 5 shows that Jeff___.

A. did not photograph well

B. could copy animal sounds

C. like killing mice and rats

5. [Understand the facts] Jeff learned about people and places outside Doarlish Cashen by___.

A. traveling in the area

B. listening to newscasts

C. both A and B

6. [See the difference] Unlike many strangers, Price and Lambert___.

A. believed Jeff was real

B. answered all the questions about Jeff

C. thought Jeff came from the outer space

7. [Understand the writer’s thoughts] The w riter feels sure that Jeff___.

A. was a ghost

B. w ill appear again

C. is still a mystery

Ⅱ. Read for words and exp ressions

1. Choose one best paraphrase for the underlined words.

(1) When the farm’s goats stayed away too long, Jeff would go after them. He would bark at them like a dog and herd them home. (Para. 5)

A. move or drive 　B. guide 　C. lead

(2) Jeff did not confine himself to Doarlish Cashen. He made visits to nearby houses and farms. (Para. 6)

A. restrict 　B. link 　C. help

2. Choose one best paraphrase for the underlined expressions.

(1) He rid the farm of m ice and rats by throw ing stones at them or by meow ing like a cat. If he had to, he killed them. (Para. 5)

A. keep...out of 　B. separate…from… 　C. make…free of

(2) If he sensed that they did not believe he was real, he shut up like a clam. (Para. 8)

A. refused to speak 　B. hid in a clam 　C. shut himself inside

Ⅲ. Writing practice

In not more than 200 words tell the story of the mysterious animal. Do not include anything that is not in the passage.

Answer these questions in note form to get your points:

1. What did Mr. Irving find one day on his farm?

2. What was special about this animal?

3. What did Mr. Irving teach the animal to do?

4. How did the animal help the family?

5. Where else did the animal go and what else did it do?

6. Why did people begin to come to the farm?

7. What did the animal do to the people who didn’t believe he was real?

8. What might have happened to the animal in the end after the Irvings moved?

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