04 Animal Pills

Animal Pills At this point, George suddenly had an extra good wheeze. Although the medicine cupboard in the house was forbidden ground, what about the medicines his father kept on the shelf in the shed next to the henhouse? The animal medicines? What about those? Nobody had ever told him he mustn't touch them. Let's face it, George said to himself, hair-spray and shaving-cream and shoe-polish are all very well and they will no doubt cause some splendid explosions inside the old geezer, but what the magic mixture now needs is a touch of the real stuff, real pills and real tonics, to give it punch and muscle. George picked up the heavy three-quarters full saucepan and carried it out of the back door. He crossed the farmyard and headed straight for the shed alongside the henhouse. He knew his father

在这个时候，乔治突然有一个特别好的喘息。 虽然家里的药柜是禁地，但他父亲放在鸡舍旁边小棚子架子上的药呢? 动物药?那些呢? 从来没有人告诉过他不能碰它们。 “让我们面对现实吧，”乔治自言自语地说，“发胶、剃须膏和鞋油都很好，毫无疑问，它们会在这个老家伙体内引起一些精彩的爆炸，但现在这个神奇的混合物需要的是一点真正的东西，真正的药丸和真正的滋补品，让它更有冲击力和肌肉。” 乔治拿起那只沉重的四分之三满的平底锅，把它从后门拿了出来。 他穿过农家院子，径直向鸡舍旁边的小屋走去。 他认识他的父亲

wouldn't be there. He was out haymaking in one of the meadows. George entered the dusty old shed and put the saucepan on the bench. Then he looked up at the medicine shelf. There were five big bottles there. Two were full of pills, two were full of runny stuff and one was full of powder. 'I'll use them all,' George said. 'Grandma needs them. Boy, does she need them!' The first bottle he took down contained an orange-coloured powder. The label said, FOR

不会在那里的。他正在外面的一片草地上割干草。 乔治走进满是灰尘的旧棚屋，把平底锅放在长凳上。 然后他抬头看了看药柜。 那里有五个大瓶子。 两个装满了药片，两个装满了液体，一个装满了粉末。 “我要全部用上。”乔治说。 “奶奶需要它们。天哪，她真需要它们!”他拿下来的第一个瓶子里装着一种橙色的粉末。 标签上写着“FOR”

CHICKENS WITH FOUL PEST, HEN GRIPE, SORE BEAKS, GAMMY LEGS, COCKERELITIS, EGG TROUBLE, BROODINESS OR LOSS OF FEATHERS. MIX ONE SPOONFUL ONLY WITH EACH BUCKET OF FEED. 'Well,' George said aloud to himself as he tipped in the whole bottleful, 'the old bird won't be losing any feathers after she's had a dose of this.' The next bottle he took down had about five hundred gigantic purple pills in it. FOR HORSES WITH HOARSE THROATS, it said on the label. THE HOARSE-THROATED HORSE SHOULD SUCK ONE PILL TWICE A DAY. 'Grandma may not have a hoarse throat,' George said, 'but she's certainly got a sharp tongue. Maybe they'll cure that instead.' Into the saucepan went the five hundred gigantic purple pills.

鸡有臭虫、鸡瘟、嘴痛、腿瘸、鸡眼炎、蛋病、孵蛋或脱毛。 每桶饲料只混合一勺。 “好吧，”乔治一边把整瓶酒倒进去，一边大声自言自语道，“这只老鸟喝了一剂这个，一根羽毛也不会掉的。”他又拿了一瓶，里面装着大约五百颗巨大的紫色药丸。 标签上写着:适合嗓子沙哑的马。 嘶哑的马应该每天吸两片药。 “奶奶的嗓子也许不沙哑，”乔治说，“但她的舌头肯定很尖。 也许他们会治好这种病。”那500颗巨大的紫色药丸倒进了锅里。

Then there was a bottle of thick yellowish liquid. FOR COWS, BULLS AND BULLOCKS, the label said. WILL CURE COW POX, COW MANGE, CRUMPLED HORNS, BAD BREATH IN BULLS, EARACHE, TOOTHACHE, HEADACHE, HOOF-ACHE, TAILACHE AND SORE UDDERS. 'That grumpy old cow in the living-room has every one of those rotten illnesses,' George said. 'She'll need it all.' With a slop and a gurgle, the yellow liquid splashed into the now nearly full saucepan. The next bottle contained a brilliant red liquid. SHEEPDIP, it said on the label. FOR SHEEP WITH SHEEPROT AND FOR GETTING RID OF TICKS AND FLEAS. MIX ONE SPOONFUL IN ONE GALLON OF WATER AND SLOSH IT OVER THE SHEEP.

然后是一瓶浓稠的淡黄色液体。 标签上写着:奶牛、公牛和公牛。 治疗牛痘、牛癣、牛角皱缩、牛口臭、耳痛、牙痛、头痛、蹄痛、尾痛、乳痛。 “客厅里那头脾气暴躁的老牛，病得很重。”乔治说。 “她会需要的。”黄色的液体哗啦一声，汩汩地溅进了快要满的锅里。 下一个瓶子里装着一种鲜红色的液体。 标签上写着SHEEPDIP。 给羊涂羊脂，还能除掉虱子和跳蚤。 在一加仑水中混合一勺水，在羊身上晃动。

CAUTION, DO NOT MAKE THE MIXTURE ANY STRONGER OR THE WOOL WILL FALL OUT AND THE ANIMAL WILL BE NAKED. 'By gum,' said George, 'how I'd love to walk in and slosh it all over old Grandma and watch the ticks and fleas go jumping off her. But I can't. I mustn't. So she'll have to drink it instead.' He poured the bright red medicine into the saucepan. The last bottle on the shelf was full of pale green pills. PIG PILLS, the label announced. FOR PIGS WITH PORK PRICKLES, TENDER TROTTERS, BRISTLE BLIGHT AND SWINE SICKNESS. GIVE ONE PILL PER DAY. IN SEVERE CASES TWO PILLS MAY BE GIVEN, BUT MORE THAN THAT WILL MAKE THE PIG ROCK AND ROLL. 'Just the stuff', said George, 'for that miserable old pig back there in the house. She'll need a very big dose.' He tipped all the green pills, hundreds and hundreds of them, into the saucepan.

小心，不要让混合物太浓，否则羊毛会掉下来，动物会赤身裸体。 “天哪，”乔治说，“我真想走进去，把水泼在老奶奶身上，看着虱子和跳蚤从她身上跳下来。 但是我不能。我不能。所以她只能喝了。”他把鲜红色的药倒进平底锅里。 架子上的最后一瓶瓶子里装满了淡绿色的药片。 “猪药丸”，标签上写着。 适用于有猪刺、猪蹄、猪鬃枯萎病和猪病的猪。 每天服用一片。在严重的情况下，可以给两粒，但超过两粒就会使猪摇晃起来。 “就是那东西，”乔治说，“给屋子里那只可怜的老猪的。 她需要一剂很大的药。”他把所有的绿色药片，成百上千的，倒进了锅里。

There was an old stick lying on the bench that had been used for stirring paint. George picked it up and started to stir his marvellous concoction. The mixture was as thick as cream, and as he stirred and stirred, many wonderful colours rose up from the depths and blended together, pinks, blues, greens, yellows and browns. George went on stirring until it was all well mixed, but even so there were still hundreds of pills lying on the bottom that hadn't melted. And there was his mother's splendid powder-puff floating on the surface. 'I shall have to boil it all up,' George said. 'One good quick boil on the stove is all it needs.' And with that he staggered

长凳上放着一根用来搅拌颜料的旧棍子。 乔治拿起它，开始搅拌他那奇妙的混合物。 这混合物像奶油一样浓稠，他不停地搅拌，许多奇妙的颜色从深处冒出来，混合在一起，粉红色、蓝色、绿色、黄色和棕色。 乔治继续搅拌，直到混合均匀，但即使这样，仍有数百粒药丸躺在底部，没有融化。 他妈妈那只漂亮的粉扑在水面上漂着。 “我得把这些都煮了。”乔治说。 只需要在炉子上煮一锅就行了说着，他摇摇晃晃