Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Ⅹ)波普先生的企鵝（十）

企鵝表演在全國引起了巨大的轟動。他們拿到了十周的合約，每周的報酬是五千美元。接下來的十周里，波普先生全家帶著訓練有素的十二只企鵝在各大城市間穿梭旅行。

From the Pacific coast they turned east again， to cross the 1）continent.They had time enough， on this brief tour， to touch only the larger cities.After Minneapolis， they played Milwaukee， Chicago， Detroit， Cleveland， andPhiladelphia.

Wherever they went， their 2）reputation traveled ahead of them. When，early in April， they reached Boston， huge crowds awaited them in the railwaystation.

Up to now， it had not been too difficult to keep the penguins comfortable.But a warm spring wind was 3）blowing across Boston Common， and at thehotel Mr. Popper had to have the ice brought up to his rooms in thousandpoundcakes. He was glad that the ten-week contract was almost up， andthat the next week， when his birds were to appear in New York， was the last.

Already Mr. Greenbaum was writing about a new contract.Mr. Popper was beginning to think， however， that he had better begetting back to Stillwater， for the penguins were growing 4）irritable.

1） continent n. 洲；大陸

2） reputation n. 名聲；名譽

3） blow v. （風）刮；吹

4） irritable adj. 易怒的；急躁的

他們從太平洋西海岸往東走，要穿過美洲大陸。在這次短促的旅程中，他們只有時間去大點兒的城市。在明尼阿波利斯市演出之后，他們又去了密爾沃基、芝加哥、底特律、克利夫蘭和費城。

每去一個地方，他們總是人未到就已經名聲在外。4 月初，他們到達波士頓的時候，已經有大批的人在火車站迎接他們。

直到現在，讓企鵝們舒服地生活不是太難的事。但溫暖的春風吹拂著波士頓公園，在旅館，波普先生不得不讓人送來了1000 磅重的冰塊。他很高興這十周的合約馬上就要結束了，下周他們將在紐約進行最后一場表演。

格林鮑姆先生已經在擬定新的合約。但波普先生已經開始在想，他們最好趕快回到靜水鎮，因為企鵝們已經開始焦躁不安了。