Mr. Popper’s Penguins（Ⅸ） 波普先生的企鵝 （九）

Richard and Florence Atwater

12 只企鵝給波普一家?guī)砹撕芏鄽g樂，不過，本來就入不敷出的家庭無論如何也養(yǎng)不起這一大群企鵝了。最終，按照波普先生的建議，波普太太彈起鋼琴曲來訓(xùn)練企鵝，很快，他們就排練出不少出色的節(jié)目。

Ten of the penguins now formed in a 1）semicircle as Nelson andColumbus in their midst put on a wild sparring contest. Their round blackheads leaned far back so that they could watch each other with bothround white eyes.

“Gork，” said Nelson， punching Columbus in the stomach with hisright flipper， and then trying to push him over with his left flipper.

“Gaw，” said Columbus， going into a 2）clinch and hanging his headover Nelsons shoulder as he tried to punch him in the back.

“Hey！ No fair！” said the manager. Columbus and Nelson broke looseas the other ten penguins， looking on， 3）applauded with their flippers.

Columbus now sparred politely with Nelson until Nelson hit him onthe eye， whereupon Columbus retreated with a loud “Ork”. The otherpenguins began to clap， and the audience joined them. As Mrs. Popper?finished the Waltz， both Nelson and Columbus stopped fighting， putdown their flippers and stood still， facingeach other.

“Which bird won？ Whos ahead？”shouted the audience.

“Gook！” said all the ten penguins in the semicircle. This musthave meant “Look！” for Nelson turned to look at them， and Columbusimmediately punched him in the stomach with one flipper and knockedhim down with the other. Nelson lay there， with his eyes closed.Columbus then counted ten over the prostrate Nelson， and again theten other penguins applauded.

“Thats part of the act，” explained Janie. “The other penguinsall like Columbus to win， and so they all say ‘Gook！ at the end. Thatalways makes Nelson look away， so Columbus can sock him good.”

Nelson now rose to his feet， and all the penguins formed in a row，and bowed to the manager.

1） semicircle n. 半圓；半圓形

2） clinch n. 擁抱

3） applaud v. 鼓掌；稱贊

10 只企鵝圍成一個半圓，把尼爾森和克朗巴斯圍在中間，讓他們進行一場打斗。他們圓圓的黑腦袋都用力地向后仰，這樣他們才能用圓圓的白眼睛看到對方。

“咕克。”尼爾森叫著，用右邊的翅膀打著克朗巴斯的肚子，然后又用左邊的翅膀去推他。

“咯。”克朗巴斯也叫著，緊緊地抱住尼爾森，并把頭放在他肩膀上，好從后面給他一拳。

“嘿，不公平！”經(jīng)理說。克朗巴斯和尼爾森松開了彼此，而另外10 只企鵝正看著他們，用翅膀給他們鼓著掌。

現(xiàn)在克朗巴斯風(fēng)度翩翩地跟尼爾森進行著爭斗，直到尼爾森朝他的眼睛來了一下，克朗巴斯大叫了一聲“喔克！”其他的企鵝開始拍手，觀眾也跟著一起拍。當波普太太結(jié)束彈奏的時候，尼爾森和克朗巴斯也停止了打斗，放下了翅膀，安靜地、面對面地站著。

“哪只鳥贏了？誰在前面？”觀眾叫道。

“咕克！”圍成半圓形的10 只企鵝一起叫著，仿佛在說，“看！”

這時尼爾森轉(zhuǎn)過頭去看他們，克朗巴斯馬上用一只翅膀打了他肚子一拳，然后用另一只翅膀把他打倒在地。尼爾森閉著眼睛躺在地上，克朗巴斯對著躺倒在地的尼爾森倒數(shù)了10 個數(shù)，然后那10 只企鵝再次鼓起了掌。

“在這部分的表演里，”珍妮說，“其他的企鵝們都想讓克朗巴斯贏，所以他們在最后都說了‘咕克！尼爾森聽到時，總會轉(zhuǎn)過頭去看，這時克朗巴斯就會狠狠揍他。”

這時，尼爾森站了起來，所有的企鵝排成一排，對著經(jīng)理鞠了一躬。