6 The Greatest Showparret

The Greatest Showparrot Claudette had only invited a talonful of guests to her rehearsal, so the theater wasn't busy at all. Once inside, Ebenezer went up to the royal box, whilst Bethany descended into the stalls because she wanted to sit with the other children from the orphanage. Specifically, Bethany wanted to sit with Geoffrey. At this point, their friendship

克劳德特只邀请了几位客人来参加她的排练，所以剧院一点也不忙。 进去后，埃比尼泽走到皇家包厢，而伯大尼则走到正厅，因为她想和孤儿院的其他孩子坐在一起。 具体来说，宝芬妮想和杰弗里坐在一起。 此时，他们的友谊

existed pretty much entirely through comic recommendations. "Here you go," said Bethany, removing a comic from her backpack. "It's that demon tarantula one I was telling you about." "Marvelous. In return, I offer you one about a detective who's disguised as a tortoise," said Geoffrey. Bethany flicked through a few pages of Sergeant Tortoise: Fast Thinker, Slow Walker and immediately decided that she was going to like it. She shoved the comic into her backpack and changed the topic of conversation to cover the new director of the orphanage. "What do you think of Timothy, then?" she asked.

几乎完全是通过漫画推荐存在的。 “给你，”贝瑟尼说着，从背包里拿出一本漫画。 “就是我跟你说过的那个狼蛛恶魔。” “太不可思议了。作为回报，我给你讲一个关于一个伪装成乌龟的侦探的故事，”杰弗里说。 贝瑟尼随手翻了几页《乌龟中士：思维敏捷，行动迟缓》，立刻觉得自己会喜欢这本书的。 她把漫画塞进背包，把话题转到孤儿院的新院长身上。 “那么，你觉得提摩太怎么样？”她问。

"Oh, fine, fine. He has an unusual shape of spectacles," said Geoffrey. Geoffrey was a well-mannered young man who had been raised to always look out for the best in people, even if the best thing one could find was a mildly interesting shape of spectacles. Bethany was maddened by Geoffrey's refusal to speak badly of others. "I think he's a weak fart who wouldn't be able to lead a mouse to a bit of cheese," she said. "It would perhaps be useful if he was a little stronger with some of the children—especially Gloria. I'm sure he's trying his best, though," said Geoffrey, who was getting as close as he could to insulting another person. "What's this Gloria like? Is she worse than me?" asked Bethany, feeling oddly

“哦，好吧，好吧。他戴着一副不寻常的眼镜，”杰弗里说。 杰弗里是一个彬彬有礼的年轻人，从小就被教育要总是注意别人的优点，即使人们能找到的最好的东西是一副有点有趣的眼镜。 杰佛瑞拒绝说别人的坏话，这让宝芬妮很生气。 她说：“我认为他是个软弱的家伙，连把老鼠领到一块奶酪跟前都做不到。” “如果他对一些孩子——尤其是格洛丽亚——表现得坚强一点，也许会有帮助。 不过我相信他已经尽力了。”杰弗里说，他几乎要侮辱另一个人了。 “格洛丽亚是什么样的人？”她比我差吗？”宝芬妮奇怪地问

competitive. By way of response, Geoffrey held up his hands. They were covered with cuts and bandages. "Gloria made us all sew her a sequin jacket. None of us were very good at using the machine," he explained. "Why did she want you to make her a sequin jacket?" asked Bethany. "You'll see in the briefest of moments," said Geoffrey, standing up. "Sorry, but Harold and I have to prepare the smoke machine. We've all been forced to help Gloria hijack the rehearsal with a surprise performance." Geoffrey ran up the aisle and climbed onto the stage—apologizing to the rest of the audience as he did so. A row down, a boy by

竞争力。作为回应，杰弗里举起双手。 他们身上都是伤口和绷带。 “格洛丽亚让我们给她缝一件亮片夹克。 我们都不擅长使用这台机器，”他解释道。 “她为什么要你给她做一件亮片夹克？”宝芬妮问。 “你很快就会看到的。”杰弗里说着站了起来。 “对不起，哈罗德和我得准备烟雾机。 我们都被迫帮助格洛丽亚用一场惊喜表演来劫持排练。” 杰弗里跑过过道，爬上舞台，一边向其他观众道歉。 往下一排，一个男孩经过

the name of Harold Chicken did the same thing, but without quite so many apologies. Geoffrey and Harold had been unable to find a smoke machine at such short notice, so they improvised by setting a couple of newspapers on fire and running around the front of the curtain. Meanwhile, the rest of the children from the orphanage started drumrolling to announce Gloria's arrival—bashing empty cookie tins with splintery chopsticks as a substitute for drum kits. The drumroll grew louder and louder, and the newspaper smoke grew thicker and thicker, until Gloria Cussock marched onto the stage. She was wearing a badly sewn sequin jacket, paired with a top hat that was too big for her and a set of tap shoes, which left deep nail marks in the floor. Bethany

哈罗德·Chicken这个名字也做了同样的事情，但没有那么多道歉。 杰弗里和哈罗德在这么短的时间内找不到烟雾机，所以他们临时点燃了几张报纸，然后在窗帘前跑来跑去。 与此同时，孤儿院的其他孩子开始敲鼓，宣布格洛丽亚的到来——用筷子敲空饼干罐，代替鼓。 鼓声越来越响，报纸的烟雾越来越浓，直到格洛丽亚·库索克走上舞台。 她穿着一件缝得很差的亮片夹克，戴着一顶太大的礼帽，脚上穿着一双踢踏舞鞋，地板上留下了深深的钉痕。 伯大尼

wanted to shove worms up her nostrils already. "You lucky, lucky people," began Gloria. Her voice was dripping with affectation, as if every word she spoke had been practiced several times in the mirror. "For tonight you will have not just one performance, but two! And I'm so sorry, but mine is going to be much better than the parrot's." She performed a self-written song entitled "Gloria the Glorious" whilst Geoffrey and Harold ran around the stage fanning away the smoke they had created. It was a song-and-dance number, where neither the song nor the dance brought joy to the audience. "My ears is hurtsing!" said Amy Clue, a toddler from the orphanage who was seated on the other side of where Geoffrey had been

已经想往她鼻孔里塞虫子了。 “你们这些非常非常幸运的人，”格洛丽亚开始说。 她的声音里带着矫揉造作的腔调，仿佛她说的每一个字都在镜子里练过好几遍似的。 “因为今晚你们将有不止一场表演，而是两场！”我很抱歉，但我的会比鹦鹉的好得多。” 她表演了一首自创的歌曲《光荣的格洛丽亚》，而杰弗里和哈罗德则在舞台上跑来跑去，用扇子吹走他们制造的烟雾。 这是歌舞表演，歌曲和舞蹈都没有给观众带来欢乐。 “我的耳朵疼！”艾米·克鲁伊说，她是孤儿院的一个孩子，坐在杰弗里坐过的地方的另一边