1 Chapter 1 The Search Begins

FLAT STANLEY'S WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES 6 The African Safari Discovery

扁斯坦利的世界冒险6非洲狩猎探险发现

Chapter 1 The Search Begins Stanley Lambchop was flattened against the wall outside the kitchen. He knew it was impolite to eavesdrop, but his mother sounded upset. And she was talking about him. "I'm worried about Stanley," Harriet Lambchop was saying to her husband, George. "What if he's flat for the rest of his life? You know

第一章搜寻开始斯坦利·兰博切被压在厨房外的墙上。 他知道偷听是不礼貌的，但他母亲听起来很不安。 她在谈论他。 “我很担心斯坦利，”哈里特·兰切普对她的丈夫乔治说。 “如果他的余生都是平的呢?” 你知道

how difficult things can be for someone who's special." Stanley thought of the morning, not long ago, when he awoke to find that the bulletin board over his bed had fallen on him during the night. Ever since, he'd been only half an inch thick. With his new shape, Stanley could do all sorts of things most people couldn't do, such as travel via airmail. But his mother was right. Just yesterday, someone at school had called him "Boardbrains." "I'm sure everything will be fine, dear," Mr. Lambchop said. "Just because Stanley has gone flat—" "Become flat," Mrs. Lambchop said. "Stanley hasn't gone flat, George. He's become flat. You know how improper grammar makes me—" She was overcome with emotion. Stanley peeled himself off the wall and trudged down the hall. He felt like being alone. A moment later, he was flat on his back beneath the couch in the living room. It may have been too low to the ground for the vacuum cleaner, but it wasn't too low for Stanley... or for how he felt.

对于一个特别的人来说，事情是多么困难啊。” 斯坦利想起了不久前的一个早晨，当他醒来时发现床头的布告板在夜里掉在了他身上。 从那以后，他只有半英寸厚。 有了他的新形状，斯坦利可以做大多数人不能做的事情，比如通过航空邮件旅行。 但他的母亲是对的。就在昨天，学校里还有人叫他"板脑" “我相信一切都会好起来的，亲爱的，”兰姆切普说。 “就因为斯坦利的心变瘪了——”“变瘪了，”兰切普太太说。 “斯坦利没有走平，乔治。 他变得无精打采了。你知道不正确的语法使我——”她激动不已。 斯坦利从墙上爬下来，拖着沉重的步子穿过大厅。 他想一个人呆着。片刻之后，他躺倒在客厅的沙发下面。 对真空吸尘器来说，它可能离地面太低了，但对斯坦利来说，它还不算太低…… 或者他的感受。

Stanley should have been excited to find all the things that he and his little brother, Arthur, had lost under the couch. There was a dusty origami ninja star, which Stanley had made after traveling by mail to meet the boys' idol, the martial arts star Oda Nobu, in Japan. There was a hockey puck from a professional game in Canada where Stanley had recently slid across the ice. There was a yellow race car that Arthur liked to run down Stanley's body like a giant ramp. Stanley didn't want to be flat forever. He imagined how lonely he would be if he were the only flat person he knew for as long as he lived. The doorbell rang. Stanley heard his father answer it. "Mr. Dart!" Mr. Lambchop said. Mr. O. Jay Dart was the director of the Famous Museum and the Lambchops' neighbor. Stanley had helped him foil some sneak thieves when he first became flattened. He'd had to dress up like a shepherdess in a white dress and a curly wig and pretend to be in a painting. It was humiliating. "Good morning, George. Have you seen this morning's paper?" Mr. Dart said as Mr. Lambchop

斯坦利发现他和他的小弟弟亚瑟丢在沙发下面的所有东西时，应该很兴奋。 里面有一颗布满灰尘的折纸忍者之星，是斯坦利为了去日本见男孩们的偶像、武术明星织田信布(Oda Nobu)而通过邮件制作的。 在加拿大的一场职业比赛中，有一个冰球，斯坦利最近在冰上滑过。 有一辆黄色的赛车，阿瑟喜欢像一个巨大的斜坡一样从斯坦利的身上滑下来。 斯坦利不想永远是平的。 他想象着，如果他是他一生中唯一认识的扁平人，他将会多么孤独。 门铃响了。斯坦利听到父亲接了电话。 “飞镖先生!”兰切普说。 o·杰伊·达特(O. Jay Dart)先生是著名博物馆的馆长，也是兰博夫妇的邻居。 当他第一次被打倒时，斯坦利曾帮助他挫败过一些偷偷摸摸的小偷。 他不得不打扮得像个牧羊女，穿着白裙子，戴着卷曲的假发，假装自己在一幅画里。 这太丢脸了。“早上好，乔治。 你看了今天早晨的报纸了吗?”达特先生以兰切普先生的身份说

led him into the kitchen. A minute later, Stanley's father called, "Stanley!" Oh, great, thought Stanley. I must be in trouble. "Stanley?" his father shouted again. Stanley saw Arthur's sneakers race into the living room. "Stanley! Stanley!" "Stanley?" Mrs. Lambchop's gray high-heeled shoes marched past. "Stanley! Stanley? Stanley! Stanley!" Shoes paraded before Stanley's eyes. Doors opened and closed in other rooms. His family and Mr. Dart were looking everywhere for him. "Where could that boy be?" Mrs. Lambchop returned to the living room, her toe tapping the carpet anxiously. "You're sure he didn't go out?" Mr. Dart's brown loafers asked. "Maybe he saw it already," wondered Arthur's sneakers.

领他进了厨房。一分钟后，斯坦利的父亲叫道:“斯坦利!”哦，太好了，斯坦利想。 我一定有麻烦了。“斯坦利?”他父亲又喊了一声。 斯坦利看见阿瑟的运动鞋飞快地跑进客厅。 “斯坦利!斯坦利!”“斯坦利?”兰普切太太的灰色高跟鞋大步走过。 “斯坦利!斯坦利?斯坦利!斯坦利!”鞋子在斯坦利眼前游行。 其他房间的门开了又关。 他的家人和达特先生到处找他。 “那个男孩会在哪儿呢?”兰彻太太回到客厅，焦急地用脚趾敲着地毯。 “你确定他没有出去?”达特先生的棕色便鞋问道。 “也许他已经看到了。”阿瑟的运动鞋在想。

Stanley slid his head out from under the couch and looked up at everyone towering over him. "Saw what?" Mr. Dart thrust the newspaper in Stanley's face. "Stanley, my boy, they found a flat skull in Africa!" Stanley read. FLAT SKULL DISCOVERED IN AFRICA Scientists claimed to make a startling discovery yesterday when they unearthed a flat skull in remote Tanzania. The skull is highly unusual due to its shape. Scientists believe that this may be the missing link between flat creatures and regular ones. The discovery was nearly lost forever after a group of local children tried to play a game similar to "Frisbee" with it.

斯坦利从沙发底下探出头来，抬头看着每个比他高大的人。 “看见什么?”达特先生把报纸塞到斯坦利的脸上。 “斯坦利，我的孩子，他们在非洲发现了一个扁平的头骨!”斯坦利阅读。 昨天，科学家在坦桑尼亚偏远地区出土了一个扁平头骨，他们声称有了惊人的发现。 由于它的形状，这个头骨非常不寻常。 科学家认为，这可能是扁平生物和普通生物之间缺失的一环。 在一群当地孩子试图用它玩类似“飞盘”的游戏后，这一发现几乎永远消失了。