精靈鼠小弟 第75期:鼠小弟買獨(dú)木舟

After Stuart had sealed his letter in an envelope, he turned to the storekeeper.

斯圖亞特把他的信裝到一個(gè)信封里，然后走向店主。

"Where can I get hold of a canoe?" he asked.

“我上哪里能找到一艘獨(dú)木舟?”他說(shuō)。

"Right here," replied the storekeeper.

“就在這里，”店主回答。

He walked over to his souvenir counter and took down a little birchbark canoe with the words SUMMER MEMORIES stamped on the side.

他走到他的紀(jì)念品柜臺(tái)，從上面拿下一艘很小的用樺樹(shù)皮制成的獨(dú)木舟，舟身上還刻著一行字：“夏天的記憶。”

Stuart examined it closely.

斯圖亞特仔細(xì)地檢查了一番。

"Does she leak?" asked Stuart.

“她不會(huì)漏水吧?”斯圖亞特問(wèn)。

"It's a nice canoe," replied the storekeeper, bending it gently back into shape with his fingers.

“這是艘不錯(cuò)的獨(dú)木舟，”店主用手指輕叩著舟身。

It will cost you seventy-five cents plus a penny tax.

它只需花掉你七十五美分，外加一美分的稅。

Stuart took out his money and paid the man.

斯圖亞特掏出錢付給了那個(gè)男人。

Then he looked inside the canoe and noticed that there were no paddles.

然后他又朝獨(dú)木舟里面看，這才注意到那里沒(méi)有船槳。

"What about paddles?" he said, making his voice sound businesslike.

“船槳在哪里?”他顯得很認(rèn)真地說(shuō)。

The storekeeper hunted around among the souvenirs but he couldn't seem to find any paddles,

店主在那些紀(jì)念品中間到處打量著，可是卻找不到什么船槳，

so he went over to the ice cream counter and came back with two little cardboard spoons—the kind you use for eating ice cream on picnics.

于是他便走到冰淇淋柜臺(tái)那里，找出了兩個(gè)硬紙板做的小勺子——就是那種你在野餐時(shí)用來(lái)舀冰淇淋吃的小勺。

"These will work out all right as paddles," he said.

“這東西用來(lái)做船槳很合適，”他說(shuō)。

Stuart took the spoons, but he was disgusted with the looks of them.

斯圖亞特接過(guò)小勺?？墒钱?dāng)他再看看那獨(dú)木舟時(shí)，便有些不高興了。

"They may work out all right," said Stuart, "but I would hate to meet an American Indian while I had one of these things in my hand."

“船和船槳也許都很合適，”斯圖亞特說(shuō)，“可要是我的雙手都拿著這些東西，就無(wú)法對(duì)付一個(gè)印第安人的突然襲擊了。”

The storekeeper carried the canoe and the paddles out in front of the store and set them down in the street.

店主只好替他把獨(dú)木舟和船槳拿到店外的街路上。

He wondered what this tiny boatman would do next, but Stuart never hesitated.

他對(duì)這個(gè)小船夫下一步怎么做很感興趣，但斯圖亞特可絲毫沒(méi)有猶豫。

Taking a piece of thread from his pocket, he lashed the paddles to the thwarts, swung the canoe lightly up on his head,

他從衣兜里拿出一根線，把船槳捆在獨(dú)木舟里，再把獨(dú)木舟輕輕翻過(guò)來(lái)扣到頭上，

and walked off with it as calmly as though he were a Canadian guide.

然后就沉著地往前走去，就像一個(gè)常做這類事的加拿大專家一樣。