开篇是他们一起兴高采烈、欢声笑语（in high spirits, with much chatter and laughter.）的样子，这里我有点困惑，他们离开野树林的时候天色不早了，但是第五章开篇说他们玩了一整天（after a long day's outing with Otter），那这中间还有个晚上是跳过去了吗？因为这里又是天要黑了（the shades of the short winter day were closing in on them）。 虽然他们从獾的洞口出来就是野树林的边缘，也能看见大河，但是大河可是有头有尾的，很长，所以他们现在是一边玩一边找路。路过了一个羊圈，sheep-pen，他们发现一条岔道，根据直觉判断这里能回家（THIS leads home!）。 从羊圈出来是一个村庄，这对小动物来说有点陌生，因为他们平时走的路都是避开人类的生活空间，The animals did not hold with villages, and their own highways, thickly frequented as they were, took an independent course, regardless of church, post office, or public-house.（P81）但是村庄现在没有人，这个季节大家都在室内，舒服地待着。At this season of the year they're all safe indoors by this time, sitting round the fire; men, women, and children, dogs and cats and all. （P81）在暖和的房间里烤火真的是一个经久不衰的意象，它所代表的是安全，熟悉，放松和温暖，很多童话都是这样结尾或者用类似的方式来结尾，可以说在一个这样的空间里，前面所有的苦都不作数了，都只剩下了甜。这里进一步勾起了他俩的思乡和想家情绪。夜幕下的村庄安静祥和而且每家每户都十分温馨。这里是对人类世界的描写，在鼹鼠和水鼠眼里，每一个人类的房间就如同一座剧院：Moving at will from one theatre to another, the two spectators, so far from home themselves, had something of wistfulness in their eyes as they watched a cat being stroked, a sleepy child picked up and huddled off to bed, or a tired man stretch and knock out his pipe on the end of a smouldering log.（P82）最让他俩感到羡慕和神往的是一个窗子的剪影，窗子把室内室外隔绝开来，室内是温暖的，明亮的，凛冽的外界压力与室内无关：that the sense of home and the little curtained world within walls--the larger stressful world of outside Nature shut out and forgotten--most pulsated. （P82）透过这扇窗他俩还看到一只鸟的剪影。Close against the white blind hung a bird-cage, clearly silhouetted, every wire, perch, and appurtenance distinct and recognisable, even to yesterday's dull-edged lump of sugar. （P82)even to yesterday's dull-edged lump of sugar. 这个就很妙了，昨天的糖块，边缘不完整了，那是为啥呢？被鸟吃了一些。虽然是剪影，但是细节也很清晰。写这只鸟的姿态和动作也非常精细：They could see the gape of his tiny beak as he yawned in a bored sort of way, looked round, and then settled his head into his back again, while the ruffled feathers gradually subsided into perfect stillness. （P82）鸟醒了，打个呵欠，把头埋进后背，又睡了。人家这么暖和舒服，他俩呢，在这吹冷风：Then a gust of bitter wind took them in the back of the neck, a small sting of frozen sleet on the skin woke them as from a dream...(P83)他俩离开村庄之后继续走，这里说鼹鼠，The Mole's ran a good deal on supper，满心都是晚餐，可能注意力很飘忽，但是在这种情况下，suddenly the summons reached him, and took him like an electric shock.（P83）本来心不在焉地赶路，结果突然像被电击中一样，感受到了什么东西在召唤自己。这里有个词，后面不断出现，summons，召唤：为什么鼹鼠会有这样的感觉，我们只能将它称作嗅觉。We others, who have long lost the more subtle of the physical senses, have not even proper terms to express an animal's inter-communications with his surroundings, living or otherwise, and have only the word 'smell,' ...（P83）他感知到的不是别的，是home。出来这么久，接近一年的时间，他终于想起来自己离开家就没再回去过。Since his escape on that bright morning he had hardly given it a thought, so absorbed had he been in his new life, in all its pleasures, its surprises, its fresh and captivating experiences. Now, with a rush of old memories, how clearly it stood up before him, in the darkness! Shabby indeed, and small and poorly furnished, and yet his, the home he had made for himself, the home he had been so happy to get back to after his day's work. And the home had been happy with him, too, evidently, and was missing him, and wanted him back, and was telling him so, through his nose, sorrowfully, reproachfully, but with no bitterness or anger; only with plaintive reminder that it was there, and wanted him.（P84）这段非常好看，尤其是这句，家就是再不堪，也是我们劳累一天的港湾。于是他喊水鼠停下，但是水鼠忙于赶路，也不知道鼹鼠发现了什么，没听清楚，所以水鼠没停留，加上又要下雪了，水鼠蒙头继续往前走。但是这里鼹鼠的心情写得非常好，我们一起看看：Poor Mole stood alone in the road, his heart torn asunder, and a big sob gathering, gathering, somewhere low down inside him, to leap up to the surface presently, he knew, in passionate escape. But even under such a test as this his loyalty to his friend stood firm. Never for a moment did he dream of abandoning him. Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded, whispered, conjured, and finally claimed him imperiously. He dared not tarry longer within their magic circle. With a wrench that tore his very heartstrings he set his face down the road and followed submissively in the track of the Rat, while faint, thin little smells, still dogging his retreating nose, reproached him for his new friendship and his callous forgetfulness.（P86） 水鼠他俩又走了很远，因为这里说鼹鼠 With an effort he caught up to the unsuspecting Rat，很努力才追上。而且水鼠还在和鼹鼠说一会儿回到自己的家，他们会多么的快乐，how jolly a fire of logs in the parlour would be（P87）。一个朋友情绪已经要爆发了，另一个还不知道咋回事，哪壶不开提哪壶呢。就这样，鼹鼠终于憋不住了。鼹鼠开始哭，一开始小小的哭，后来就绷不住了：
