At night, one is kept awake by hearing the rat drinking the vegetable oil in one's lamp, upsetting the lamp when it tries to drain it of its last drop, rolling a walnut along the tilting floor, climbing up the side of the mosquito net, or just whetting and grinding its teeth against a door jamb or a table leg.
入夜則鼠子啖燈，才一合眼，鼠子便自由行動，或搬核桃在地板上順坡而下，或吸燈油而推翻燭台，或攀援而上帳頂，或在門框棹腳上磨牙，使得人不得安枕。但是對於鼠子，我很慚愧的承認，我「沒有法子」。