精靈鼠小弟 第11期:半途而廢的喬治

Mrs. Little had provided him with a doll's size toothbrush, a doll's size cake of soap,

特爾太太給他準備了一個玩具般大的牙刷、肥皂、

a doll's size washcloth, and a doll's comb--which he used for combing his whiskers.

毛巾，還有一把玩具梳子--這可以讓他用來梳胡子。

He carried these things in his bathrobe pocket, and when he reached the top of the ladder he took them out, laid them neatly in a row, and set about the task of turning the water on.

他把這些東西都放到了他的浴衣口袋里，等他爬到梯子的頂端，便把它們掏出來整齊地排成一行，然后才去做放水的工作。

For such a small fellow, turning the water on was quite a problem.

對這樣一個小家伙來說，放水也成了一個難題。

He had discussed it with his father one day after making several unsuccessful attempts.

一天，他在幾次不成功的嘗試后，和他的父親商討起這件事來。

"I can get up onto the faucet all right," he explained,

"我完全能來到水龍頭那里，"他解釋，

but I can't seem to turn it on, because I have nothing to brace my feet against.

但有時我卻好像擰不開它，因為我不能在上面站穩(wěn)我的腳。

"Yes, I know," his father replied, "that's the whole trouble."

"是的，我知道，"他的父親回答，"所有的麻煩就在這里。"

George, who always listened to conversations whenever he could, said that in his opinion they ought to construct a brace for Stuart; and with that he got out some boards, a saw, a hammer, a screw driver, a brad-awl, and some nails, and started to make a terrific fuss in the bathroom, building what he said was going to be a brace for Stuart.

只要可能，總是在聽這些談話的喬治，建議說他們應該為斯圖亞特造一個踏板;于是他便去找了幾塊小木板，一把鋸子，一把錘子，一把螺絲刀，一把小錐子，幾根釘子，準備在浴室里干一個漂亮活兒，造一個他所說的要給斯圖亞特造的踏板。

But he soon became interested in something else and disappeared, leaving the tools lying all around the bathroom floor.

可是不久他就改了興趣，跑到別的地方去玩了，任那些工具在浴室里四處亂丟著。