17-A FLOATING PIECE OF DYNAMITE

A FLOATING PIECE OF DYNAMITE It had been a terrible day. I had come to Egypt to get a scoop, but I was going home empty-pawed! I looked at my watch. HOLEY CHEESE! It was already five o'clock in the morning. The sun was rising on the horizon. What an amazing sight! Now I understood why the Egyptians worshiped the sun. They gave it several names: Ra, Atum, Amon. They even built obelisks to honor the sun. I took several pictures. Then I packed my things. It was time to head back home to New Mouse City.

这是可怕的一天。 我来埃及是为了挖一条独家新闻，结果两手空空地回家了!我看了看手表。 多洞的奶酪!这时已经是早晨五点钟了。 太阳从地平线上冉冉升起。 多么神奇的景象啊!现在我明白为什么埃及人崇拜太阳了。 他们给它取了几个名字:拉、阿图姆、阿蒙。 他们甚至建造方尖碑来纪念太阳。 我拍了几张照片。然后我收拾行李。 是时候回新老鼠城了。

I said good-bye to the professor, who unfortunately could not remember anything about his invention. Oh, well. It wasn't every day a mouse got to see a real Egyptian pyramid, I told myself, I climbed onto my camel and galloped to the airport. Just as I was pulling up to the plane, my cell phone rang. It was Grandfather William. "Grandson!" he squeaked. "You're not thinking of flying back, are you? You're BLEEDING me dry! Have you forgotten my little lesson in saving money already? You'll come back by boat!" I groaned. I wasn't really in the mood for a long boat ride, but Grandfather had his mind made up. "Go to the harbor!" he barked. "I've already booked your return ticket." I galloped all the way to the harbor, where I discovered that Grandfather

我向教授告别，不幸的是，他对他的发明一点也不记得了。 哦,好吧。老鼠不是每天都能看到真正的埃及金字塔的，我对自己说。我爬上骆驼，向机场疾驰而去。 就在我要上飞机的时候，我的手机响了。 是祖父威廉。 “孙子!”“你不会是想飞回去吧?” 你把我榨干了!你已经忘了我教你省钱的小道理了吗? 你会坐船回来的!”我呻吟着。 我实在没有心情乘船远行，但祖父已经打定主意了。 “到港口去!”他吼道。 “我已经订好了你的回程机票。” 我一路飞奔到港口，在那里我发现了祖父

had bought me a ticket on a cargo ship. It was called the Dynamiter. I climbed on board. For some reason I had a funny feeling about that ship. I soon found out why. It was packed with deadly EXPLOSIVES! One wrong move and we'd be fried mice! It was a horrible journey. No luxury cruise for this mouse, that's for sure. I was stuck on a rickety old ship with sticks of dynamite as bunkmates. Yes, once again Grandfather William had cut costs to the tailbone! The captain of the ship was a rodent named squeaky Kaboom, but everyone

给我买了一张货船的船票。 它被称为“炸药”。 我爬上了船。出于某种原因，我对那艘船有一种奇怪的感觉。 我很快就找到了原因。里面装满了致命的炸药!走错一步，我们就成了炸老鼠!这是一次可怕的旅行。 这只老鼠肯定不会坐豪华游轮。 我被困在一艘摇摇欲坠的旧船上，和我同住的是炸药棒。 是的，威廉爷爷又一次把开支削减到了尾骨!这艘船的船长是只叫squeaky Kaboom的啮齿动物，但是每个人

called him Boom for short. He was a gray-furred mouse with a long scar on his snout and drooping whiskers. Boom loved to tell awful jokes. His great booming laugh could be heard day and night. Whenever he saw me, he would slap me on the shoulder and squeak: "Be careful with MATCHES, Stilton! We're a floating piece of dynamite here! Hey, why are you so PALE? Ha-ha, ha-ha!" I could hardly believe I was stuck on this rattrap of a ship for one whole month! Why,

简称他Boom。 他是一只灰毛的老鼠，鼻子上有一道长长的伤疤，胡须耷拉着。 布姆喜欢讲可怕的笑话。 他那响亮的笑声日夜都能听到。 每当他看见我，就拍我的肩膀，尖声说:“小心火柴，斯蒂尔顿!我们就像漂浮的炸药!嘿，你怎么这么苍白? 哈哈,哈哈!”我简直不敢相信我被困在这艘破船上整整一个月!为什么,

oh, why had I wanted to go to Egypt?! It was bad enough that I never got the story from Professor Spitfur, but now, to top it off, I was seasick. You see, I'm really not a sea mouse. I'm a land mouse at heart. I spent most of the journey home curled up in my bunk, shivering. Even my whiskers felt nauseous! I could not wait to get back home to New Mouse City.

哦，我为什么要去埃及呢?我没能从斯皮弗教授那里得到故事已经够糟糕的了，更糟糕的是，我还晕船了。 你看，我真的不是一只海鼠。 我的内心是一只陆地老鼠。 回家的路上，我大部分时间都蜷缩在床上，瑟瑟发抖。 连我的胡子都觉得恶心!我迫不及待地想回到新老鼠城的家。