10 Boggis’s Chicken House Number One

10 Boggis's Chicken House Number One 'This time we must go in a very special direction,' said Mr Fox, pointing sideways and downward. So he and his four children started to dig once again. The work went much more slowly now. Yet they kept at it with great courage, and little by little the tunnel began to grow. 'Dad, I wish you would tell us where we are going,' said one of the children.

“这次我们必须走一个非常特殊的方向，”狐狸先生一边说一边指着旁边和下面。 于是他和他的四个孩子又开始挖了起来。 现在工作进行得慢多了。 然而，他们仍以极大的勇气坚持着，渐渐地，隧道开始长起来了。 “爸爸，我希望你能告诉我们要去哪里，”一个孩子说。

'I dare not do that,' said Mr Fox, 'because this place I am hoping to get to is so marvellous that if I described it to you now you would go crazy with excitement. And then, if we failed to get there (which is very possible), you would die of disappointment. I don't want to raise your hopes too much, my darlings.' For a long long time they kept on digging. For how long they did not know, because there were no days and no nights down there in the murky tunnel. But at last Mr Fox gave the order to stop. 'I think,' he said, 'we had better take a peep upstairs now and see where we are. I know where I want to be, but I can't possibly be sure we're anywhere near it.'

“我不敢这么做，”狐狸先生说，“因为我想去的这个地方太奇妙了，如果我现在向你描述它，你会兴奋得发疯的。 然后，如果我们没能到达那里(这是很有可能的)，你会失望而死。 我不想让你们抱太大的希望，亲爱的。”他们挖了很长很长时间。 他们不知道会持续多久，因为在黑暗的隧道里没有白天和黑夜。 但最后狐狸先生下令停止。 “我想，”他说，“我们最好上楼看看，看看我们在什么地方。 我知道我想去哪里，但我不确定我们是否在附近。”

Slowly, wearily, the foxes began to slope the tunnel up towards the surface. Up and up it went… until suddenly they came to something hard above their heads and they couldn't go up any further. Mr Fox reached up to examine this hard thing. 'It's wood!' he whispered. 'Wooden planks!' 'What does that mean, Dad?' 'It means, unless I am very much mistaken, that we are right underneath somebody's house,' whispered Mr Fox. 'Be very quiet now while I take a peek.'

狐狸们慢慢地、疲倦地开始把隧道向地面倾斜。 它越升越高，直到他们突然碰到头顶上有个硬硬的东西，他们再也走不动了。 狐狸先生伸手去检查这个硬东西。 这是木头!他低声说。 “木板!“这是什么意思，爸爸?”“这意味着，除非我弄错了，我们就在某人房子的下面，”狐狸先生小声说。 “安静点，让我看一眼。”

Carefully, Mr Fox began pushing up one of the floorboards. The board creaked most terribly and they all ducked down, waiting for something awful to happen. Nothing did. So Mr Fox pushed up a second board. And then, very very cautiously, he poked his head up through the gap. He let out a shriek of excitement. 'I've done it!' he yelled. 'I've done it first time! I've done it! I've done it!' He pulled himself up through the gap in the floor and started prancing and dancing with joy. 'Come on up!' he sang out. 'Come up and see where you are, my darlings! What a sight for a hungry fox! Hallelujah! Hooray! Hooray!' The four Small Foxes scrambled up out of the tunnel and what a fantastic sight it was that now met their eyes! They were in a huge shed and the whole place was teeming with chickens. There

狐狸先生小心翼翼地推起一块地板。 木板发出最可怕的嘎吱声，他们全都蹲下身子，等待着可怕的事情发生。 没有什么做的。于是，福克斯先生举起了第二块木板。 然后，他小心翼翼地从缝隙里探出头来。 他发出一声兴奋的尖叫。 “我做到了!”他喊道。 “我第一次就这么做了!”我做到了!我做到了!”他从地板的缝隙里爬了起来，开始高兴地蹦蹦跳跳。 “上来吧!”他大声说。 “上来看看你们在什么地方，我的宝贝!”对于一只饥饿的狐狸来说，这是多么壮观的景象啊!阿利路亚!万岁!万岁!”四只小狐狸从隧道里爬了出来，现在他们看到了多么奇妙的景象啊!他们在一个巨大的棚子里，整个地方都是鸡。 在那里

were white chickens and brown chickens and black chickens by the thousand! 'Boggis's Chicken House Number One!' cried Mr Fox. 'It's exactly what I was aiming at! I hit it slap in the middle! First time! Isn't that fantastic! And, if I may say so, rather clever!' The Small Foxes went wild with excitement. They started running around in all directions, chasing the stupid chickens. 'Wait!' ordered Mr Fox. 'Don't lose your heads! Stand back! Calm down! Let's do this properly! First of all, everyone have a drink of water!' They all ran over to the chickens' drinkingtrough and lapped up the lovely cool water. Then Mr Fox chose three of the plumpest hens, and with a clever flick of his jaws he killed them instantly. 'Back to the tunnel!' he ordered. 'Come on! No fooling around! The quicker you move, the quicker you shall have something to eat!'

有成千上万的白鸡、棕鸡和黑鸡!“Boggis’s Chicken House一号!”狐狸先生叫道。 “这正是我想要的!”我正好打在中间!第一次!真是太棒了!而且，恕我直言，相当聪明!”小狐狸们兴奋得发疯了。 他们开始四处乱跑，追逐那些愚蠢的小鸡。 “等等!狐狸先生命令道。“不要惊慌!”向后站!冷静下来!让我们好好做这件事!首先，每个人都喝点水!”他们都跑到鸡的饮水槽，舔了一口可爱的凉水。 然后，狐狸先生挑了三只最胖的母鸡，用他的下巴巧妙地一弹，立即杀死了它们。 “回隧道去!”他命令道。 “来吧!别胡闹了!你走得越快，就能越快吃到东西!”