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]聽說過這種生物，連新聞記者都來采訪他和庫克船長了。不過，意外的事情發(fā)生了，之前一直快活又淘氣的庫克船長忽然變得郁郁寡歡。慢慢地，它甚至不愿意進食了。這可著實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. 表情嚴肅的 2） terror n. 驚恐；恐懼

波普一家都太愛這個好玩又嚴肅的小家伙了。現(xiàn)在波普先生的心被恐懼籠罩著。他覺得，如果庫克船長走了，他的生活會變得很空虛。

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問南極的德雷克上將，但已經(jīng)沒時間了。

在絕望中，波普先生突然想到了一個主意： 是一封信給他帶來了這只寵物，于是他坐下來，開始寫另一封信。

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

兩天后，史密斯博士那兒傳回了消息。“不幸的是，”他寫道，“要救活一只生病的企鵝并不是一件容易的事。可能你不知道，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救她，但她依然病得很厲害。最近我在想，她是不是因為太孤獨了。也許你的企鵝也是這個原因才生病的。所以，我把我們的企鵝也給你寄來了，在另一個包裹里，你把她留下吧。看看他們能不能一起好轉(zhuǎn)。”

這就是格雷塔來到普勞福特432 號的原因。