【George s Marvellous Medicine】母雞

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STORY

George"s Marvellous Medicine

喬治的神奇藥水

The Hen

母雞

He stood in the farmyard looking up the roof. The old farmhouse had a fine roof of pale red tiles and a tall chimney. There was a song bird sitting on the chimney-pot, singing a song. There was no sign of grandma. She"s got stuck in the attic, he thought. Thank goodness for that.

Suddenly a tile came clattering down from the roof and fell into the yard. The song-thrust took off fast and flew away. Then another tile came down. Then half a dozen more.

他站在農場里，仰頭看著屋頂。這座農舍雖然老舊，但屋頂狀況良好，鋪著淡紅色的瓦片，豎著一根高高的煙囪。一隻鳴鳥落在煙囪頂帽上唱著歌。暫時沒看見姥姥，她被困在閣樓里了吧，他心想，謝天謝地。

突然，一塊瓦片咔嗒咔嗒地從屋頂掉落到院子里。那隻鳴鳥迅速起身飛走了。又掉下來一塊瓦片，接著有六七片還多。

And then, very slowly, like a weird monster rising up from deep, grandma』s head came through the roof. And then her scrawny neck and the tops of her shoulder.

Didn"t I tell you I have magic powers. Didn"t I warn you I have wizardry in the tips of my fingers. But you wouldn"t listen to me!

You didn"t do it. I did it. I made you a new medicine.

The wrinkled old face high up on the roof stared down suspiciously at george, are you telling me you actually made a new medicine all by yourself?

I don"t believe you. But I am very comfortable up here. Fetch me a cup of tea.

然後，十分緩慢地，就像一隻可怕的怪物從地下深處升上來一樣，姥姥的腦袋穿破了屋頂，接著是她骨瘦如柴的脖子和肩膀頭。

我告訴過你我有魔力的。我警告過你我的指尖有魔法的。但是你卻不聽。

您根本沒有。這是我的功勞。我給您製作了一種新藥水。

那張萎縮的老臉充滿懷疑地從高高的屋頂上往下盯住喬治，你是在告訴我你自己給我做了一種新藥水嗎？我才不相信你呢。不過，我在這上面很舒服，快去給我端一杯茶來。

A hen was pecking about close to where he was standing. The hen gave him an idea. He quickly uncorked the bottle of brown stuff and poured some into the spoon. Grandma, watch this. Then he crouched down, holding out the spoon to the hen.

Chickens are stupid animals, and very greedy. They think everything is food. This one thought the spoon was full of corn. It hopped over. It put its head on one side and looked at the spoon.

一隻母雞在附近啄食，這令喬治產生了一個想法。他快速打開瓶蓋，把棕色的液體倒入湯匙里。姥姥，看這裡。然後他彎下腰，將湯匙遞到母雞跟前。

雞是愚蠢的動物，而且非常貪婪，它們認為一切皆為食物。這隻母雞以為湯匙裡面裝滿了玉米粒，然後它跳了過來，歪著腦袋看著湯匙。

The brown hen stretched out its neck towards the spoon and went peck. It had a beakful of medicine.

The effect was electric. The hen shot straight up into the air like a rocket. It went as high as the house.

Then down it came again into the yard, splosh. It sat with feathers sticking out from its body. There was a look of amazement on its silly face. George stood watching it. Grandma, up on the roof was watching it, too.

這隻棕色的母雞朝著大湯匙伸長脖子，開始啄食。它吃了一小口，但效果令人震驚。母雞像火箭一般直飛衝天，飛到房屋那麼高，然後吧唧一下掉回院子里。它坐在地上，身上的羽毛都鼓出來了，愚蠢的臉上滿是驚愕。喬治站在一邊看著這一切。在屋頂高處的姥姥也看到了這一幕。

The hen got to its feet. It was rather shaky. It was making funny gurgling from its throat. Its beak was opening and shutting. It seemed like a pretty sick hen.

All of a sudden, black smoke started pouring out of the hen"s beak. It is on fire!

George ran to the water trough and got a bucket of water.

That hen will be roasted and ready for eating any moment.

George sloshed the bucket of water over the hen. There was a sizzling sound and smoke went away.

母雞搖搖晃晃地站了起來，喉嚨里發出了可笑的咯咯咯的聲音。它的嘴一張一合，看起來像一隻得了重病的雞。突然間，一陣黑煙從這隻母雞的嘴裡噴射出來。它著火了！

喬治跑向水槽，提了一桶水。

這隻母雞快被燒烤完隨時可以上餐桌了。

喬治把桶里的水潑向那隻母雞，只聽嘶的一聲，煙霧散開了。

That hen"s laid its last egg. Hens don"t do any laying after they"ve been on fire.

Now that the fire was out. The hen seemed better. It stood up properly. It flapped its wings. It crouched down low to the ground, as though getting ready to jump. It did jump. It jumped high up into the air and turned a complete somersault. Then it landed back on its feet.

這隻母雞下了最後一個蛋。母雞在經歷了大火之後通常是不會下蛋的。

看來火已經徹底滅了。母雞看上去好多了。它穩穩地站了起來，拍了拍翅膀。然後蹲下緊挨地面，一副準備起跳的樣子。它真的跳起來了。它高高地躍到空中，完成了一個完整的空翻，然後雙腳著地。

It is a circus hen. It is a flipping acrobat. Now the hen was growing.

George had been waiting this to happen.

Soon the hen was four or five times its normal size.

He was hopping about from one foot to the other with excitement, pointing the enormous hen and shouting, it had the magic medicine, and the hen is growing like you did.

這是一隻馬戲團的母雞。這是一隻會空翻的雜技母雞。現在，這隻母雞開始長高了。喬治一直期待著這個變化。不一會兒，這隻母雞的高度變成了原來的四五倍。他興奮地跳來跳去，指著那隻巨大無比的母雞大喊，它吃了我的神奇藥水，現在這隻母雞長高了，就像您一樣。

But there was a difference between the way the hen was growing and the way grandma grew. As grandma was growing taller and taller, her body got thinner and thinner. Then hen didn"t. It stayed plump and nice all along.

It was taller than george, but it didn"t stop there. It went right on growing until it was about as high as a horse. Then it stopped.

Compared with me, that hen is titchy small. I am the tallest of them all.

但是母雞與姥姥的變化有所不同。姥姥是個頭越來越高，而身體卻越變越瘦。母雞卻不是這樣的，它還是很豐滿。它比喬治還要高，而且還會更高。它一直在長，直到跟一匹馬一樣高的時候，它停住了。

跟我相比，那隻母雞還是矮得多，我才是最高的。

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