Mr. Popper’s Penguins（Ⅶ）波普先生的企鵝 （七）

Richard and Florence Atwater

波普先生去遛企鵝，當(dāng)?shù)厝藦那吧踔翛](méi)聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)這種生物，連新聞?dòng)浾叨紒?lái)采訪他和庫(kù)克船長(zhǎng)了。不過(guò)，意外的事情發(fā)生了，之前一直快活又淘氣的庫(kù)克船長(zhǎng)忽然變得郁郁寡歡。慢慢地，它甚至不愿意進(jìn)食了。這可著實(shí)讓波普先生著急壞了！

All the Poppers had grown terribly fond of the funny， 1）solemn littlechap， and Mr. Popper’s heart was frozen with 2）terror. It seemed to himthat his life would be very empty if Captain Cook went away.

Surely someone would know what to do for a sick penguin. Hewished that there were some way of asking advice of Admiral Drake，away down at the South Pole， but there was not time.

In his despair， Mr. Popper had an idea. A letter had brought him hispet. He sat down and wrote another letter.

It was addressed to Dr. Smith， the Curator of the great Aquarium inMammoth City， the largest in the world. Surely if anyone anywhere hadany idea what could cure a dying penguin， this man would.

Two days later， there was an answer from the Curator.“Unfortunately，” he wrote， “it is not easy to cure a sick penguin. Perhapsyou do not know that we too have， in ouraquarium at Mammoth City， a penguin from?the Antarctic. She is failing rapidly， in spite of everything we have done forher. I have wondered lately whether or not she is suffering from loneliness.Perhaps that is what ails your Captain Cook. I am， therefore， shippingyou， under separate cover， our penguin. You may keep her. There is just achance that the birds may get on better together.”

And that is how Greta came to live at 432 Proudfoot Avenue.

1） solemm adj. 表情嚴(yán)肅的 2） terror n. 驚恐；恐懼

波普一家都太愛(ài)這個(gè)好玩又嚴(yán)肅的小家伙了?，F(xiàn)在波普先生的心被恐懼籠罩著。他覺(jué)得，如果庫(kù)克船長(zhǎng)走了，他的生活會(huì)變得很空虛。

一定有人知道怎樣才能救活一只生病的企鵝。波普先生希望有什么方法可以問(wèn)問(wèn)南極的德雷克上將，但已經(jīng)沒(méi)時(shí)間了。

在絕望中，波普先生突然想到了一個(gè)主意： 是一封信給他帶來(lái)了這只寵物，于是他坐下來(lái)，開(kāi)始寫(xiě)另一封信。

這封信是寫(xiě)給史密斯博士的，他是世界上最大的水族館——猛犸城大水族館的館長(zhǎng)。如果真有人知道怎么救活一只快死的企鵝的話，那么這個(gè)人一定是他。

兩天后，史密斯博士那兒傳回了消息。“不幸的是，”他寫(xiě)道，“要救活一只生病的企鵝并不是一件容易的事?？赡苣悴恢?，在我們猛犸城的水族館里也有一只生病的南極企鵝，我們也做了很多事來(lái)救她，但她依然病得很厲害。最近我在想，她是不是因?yàn)樘陋?dú)了。也許你的企鵝也是這個(gè)原因才生病的。所以，我把我們的企鵝也給你寄來(lái)了，在另一個(gè)包裹里，你把她留下吧?？纯此麄兡懿荒芤黄鸷棉D(zhuǎn)?！?/p>

這就是格雷塔來(lái)到普勞福特432 號(hào)的原因。