09 The Pig, the Bullocks, the Sheep, the Pony and the Nanny-goat

The Pig, the Bullocks, the Sheep, the Pony and the Nanny-goat At that moment, George's mother came back from shopping in the village. She drove her car into the yard and got out. She was carrying a bottle of milk in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. The first thing she saw was the gigantic brown hen towering over little George. She dropped the bottle of milk. Then Grandma started shouting at her from the rooftop, and when she looked up and saw Grandma's head sticking up through the tiles, she dropped the bag of groceries. 'How about that then, eh, Mary?' Grandma shouted. 'I'll bet you've never seen a hen as big as that! That's George's giant hen, that is!' 'But… but… but…' stammered George's mother.

小猪、公牛、绵羊、小马和山羊保姆正在这时，乔治的妈妈从村里买东西回来了。 她把车开进院子里，下了车。 她一只手拿着一瓶牛奶，另一只手拿着一袋杂货。 她首先看到的是一只巨大的棕色母鸡，高高耸立在小乔治的头顶上。 她把那瓶牛奶弄掉了。 然后奶奶开始在屋顶上对她大喊大叫，当她抬头看到奶奶的头从瓦片里伸出来时，她扔掉了那袋杂货。 “那怎么样，嗯，玛丽?”奶奶喊道。 “我敢打赌你从来没见过这么大的母鸡!”那是乔治的大母鸡!“可是……可是……可是……”乔治的母亲结结巴巴地说。

'It's George's magic medicine!' Grandma shouted. 'We've both of us had it, the hen and I!' 'But how in the world did you get up on the roof?' cried the mother. 'I didn't!' cackled the old woman. 'My feet are still standing on the floor in the living-room!' This was too much for George's mother to understand. She just goggled and gaped. She looked as though she was going to faint. A second later, George's father appeared. His name was Mr Killy Kranky. Mr Kranky was a small man with bandy legs and a huge head. He

“这是乔治的魔药!”奶奶喊道。 “我们俩都受够了，母鸡和我!”“可你究竟是怎么上屋顶的?”母亲叫道。 “我没有!”老妇人咯咯地说。 “我的脚还站在客厅的地板上!”这让乔治的母亲难以理解。 她只是目瞪口呆。 她看上去好像要晕倒了。 一秒钟后，乔治的父亲出现了。 他的名字是基利·克朗奇先生。 克朗奇先生个子不高，腿弯曲，头很大。 他

was a kind father to George, but he was not an easy person to live with because even the smallest things got him all worked up and excited. The hen standing in the yard was certainly not a small thing, and when Mr Kranky saw it he started jumping about as though something was burning his feet. 'Great heavens!' he cried, waving his arms. 'What's this? What's happened? Where did it come from? It's a giant hen! Who did it?' 'I did,' George said. 'Look at me!' Grandma shouted from the rooftop. 'Never mind about the hen! What about me?' Mr Kranky looked up and saw Grandma. 'Shut up, Grandma,' he said. It didn't seem to surprise him that the old girl was sticking up through the roof. It was the hen that excited him. He had never seen anything like it. But then who had? 'It's fantastic!' Mr Kranky shouted, dancing round and round. 'It's colossal! It's gigantic! It's tremendous! It's a miracle! How did you do it, George?'

他是乔治的慈父，但他不是一个容易相处的人，因为即使是最小的事情也会使他激动不已。 站在院子里的母鸡当然不是一件小事，当克朗奇先生看到它时，他开始跳来跳去，好像有什么东西在烧他的脚。 “伟大的天堂!他喊道，挥舞着双臂。 “这是什么?发生了什么事? 它是从哪里来的?这是一只巨大的母鸡!谁干的?“是的，”乔治说。 “看着我!”奶奶在屋顶上喊道。 “别管那只母鸡!”那我呢?”克朗奇先生抬头看见了奶奶。 “闭嘴，奶奶，”他说。 他似乎并不感到惊讶，那个老女孩从屋顶上伸出来。 让他兴奋的是那只母鸡。 他从未见过这样的景象。 但是，是谁呢?“棒极了!”克朗奇先生喊着，跳着舞。 “这是巨大的!这是巨大的!这是巨大的!真是个奇迹!你是怎么做到的，乔治?”

George started telling his father about the magic medicine. While he was doing this, the big brown hen sat down in the middle of the yard and went cluck-duck-cluck… cluck-cluck-cluck-cluckcluck. Everyone stared at it. When it stood up again, there was a brown egg lying there. The egg was the size of a football. 'That egg would make scrambled eggs for twenty people!' Mrs Kranky said. 'George!' Mr Kranky shouted. 'How much of this medicine have you got?' 'Lots,' George said. 'There's a big saucepanful in the kitchen, and this bottle here's nearly full.'

乔治开始告诉他父亲关于神奇药物的事。 当他这样做的时候，那只棕色的大母鸡坐在院子中央，咯咯地叫着，咯咯地叫。 每个人都盯着它看。当它再次站起来时，有一个棕色的鸡蛋躺在那里。 蛋有足球那么大。 “那个鸡蛋可以做二十个人的炒蛋!”克朗奇夫人说。 “乔治!”克朗奇先生喊道。 “这种药你有多少?”“很多，”乔治说。 “厨房里有一个大汤锅，这个瓶子差不多满了。”

'Come with me!' Mr Kranky yelled, grabbing George by the arm. 'Bring the medicine! For years and years I've been trying to breed bigger and bigger animals. Bigger bulls for beef. Bigger pigs for pork. Bigger sheep for mutton…' They went to the pigsty first. George gave a spoonful of medicine to the pig. The pig blew smoke from its nose and jumped about all over the place. Then it grew and grew. In the end, it looked like this…

“跟我来!”克朗奇先生喊道，一把抓住乔治的胳膊。 “把药拿来!”多年来，我一直在努力繁殖越来越大的动物。 更大的公牛用来做牛肉。大猪换猪肉。 他们先去了猪圈。 乔治给猪喂了一勺药。 猪从鼻子里喷出烟来，到处乱跳。 然后它越长越大。最后，它看起来是这样的……

They went to the herd of fine black bullocks that Mr Kranky was trying to fatten for the market. George gave each of them some medicine, and this is what happened…

他们去了一群漂亮的黑牛，克朗奇先生正试图把它们养肥以供市场使用。 乔治给他们每人开了一些药，事情是这样的……