Chapter 3

Chapter three, Stay calm, Hankster, I said to myself as I felt the panic start in my toes and shoot out the top of my head. My neck felt like it was on fire. I blinked hard and looked around. I asked myself, Hank, does anything look familiar? And I can honestly say, the answer was NO. Where was my head when I was walking to the bathroom? I guess it had taken a trip to Saturn, which is my favorite planet because of the rings. But Saturn was sure not helping me now. And then, I saw a big map of the zoo posted in a glass case. Problem solved. I would just check the map. Except for the small problem that I can't read maps. But I wasn't

第三章，保持冷静，汉克斯特，我对自己说，我感到恐慌从我的脚趾开始蔓延到我的头顶。 我的脖子像着了火一样。 我使劲眨了眨眼睛，环顾四周。 我问自己，汉克，有什么眼熟的吗？ 我可以诚实地说，答案是否定的。 当我去洗手间的时候，我的头在哪里？ 我猜它去了一趟土星，那是我最喜欢的行星，因为有光环。 但土星现在肯定帮不了我了。 然后，我看到一张动物园的大地图贴在一个玻璃柜里。 问题解决了。我会查一下地图。 除了一个小问题，我看不懂地图。 但我不是

going to let that little detail get me down. I walked confidently over to the map and studied it very carefully. There were blue trails, green trails, yellow ones, and red ones. All I had to do was find the one with the snack bar on it. With my finger, I traced each trail to the end. And then panic grabbed me by the neck again when I realized that each one of the trails had a snack bar on it. I ask you, why do there have to be so many snack bars at one zoo? How many snacks does a person need? I stood there and took a deep breath. My mom always says that taking a deep breath will let your brain work better. And sure enough, a great thought jumped into my mind. Maybe I can't read a map. And maybe I don't know left from right. But I can speak English, and so could everyone else in the zoo. All I had to do was find an adult and ask them to take me to the snack bar closest to the gorillas. That was one great idea, if I do say so myself. I actually reached my hand over my

这个小细节会让我失望的。 我自信地走到地图跟前，仔细地研究着。 有蓝色的痕迹，绿色的痕迹，黄色的痕迹和红色的痕迹。 我所要做的就是找到那个有小吃店的。 我用手指把每条痕迹都追踪到尽头。 然后，当我意识到每条小径上都有一个小吃店时，恐慌再次抓住了我的脖子。 我问你，为什么一个动物园里要有这么多小吃店？ 一个人需要多少零食？ 我站在那里，深吸了一口气。 我妈妈总是说深呼吸会让你的大脑更好地工作。 果然，一个伟大的想法跳进了我的脑海。 也许我看不懂地图。也许我分不清左右。 但是我会说英语，动物园里的其他人也都会。 我所要做的就是找一个成年人，让他们带我去离大猩猩最近的小吃店。 如果我必须这么说的话，那真是个好主意。 我把手伸到我的

shoulder and patted myself on the back. I looked around for a friendly face, and decided to ask a friendly-looking couple who both had cameras around their necks. "Excuse me," I said, using my best manners. "Do you think you could show me the way to the gorillas?" They looked at each other and shrugged. "Je ne parle pas anglais," said the man. "Huh?" I said. He repeated something that sounded even more foreign. How could it be? Of all the visitors to the zoo, I picked the two who don't speak a word of English. "Gracias, anyway," I said. I didn't think they were speaking Spanish, but I thought I'd throw that out there to impress them. They shrugged again and walked away. I stood there, trying to figure out what to do next.

耸耸肩，拍拍自己的背。 我环顾四周，寻找一张友好的脸，并决定问一对看起来很友好的夫妇，他们的脖子上都挂着相机。 “对不起，”我说，尽我最大的礼貌。 “你能告诉我去大猩猩的路吗？”他们面面相觑，耸耸肩。 “Je ne parle pas anglais，”那人说。 “嗯?”我说。他重复了一些听起来更加陌生的话。 怎么可能呢？在所有去动物园的游客中，我挑了两个不会说英语的人。 “不管怎样，谢谢你，”我说。 我不认为他们会说西班牙语，但我觉得我应该把这个扔出去给他们留下深刻印象。 他们又耸了耸肩，走开了。 我站在那里，想弄清楚下一步该做什么。

The only idea that came to me was that I might never leave the zoo. And I wasn't exactly thrilled about spending the night with a bunch of roaring lions close by. I felt a hand on my shoulder and spun around, hoping it was Ms. Flowers. It wasn't. It was a woman wearing a brown uniform with a Wild About Gingerbread T-shirt. "I like gingerbread, too," I said to her, "but I have to say I'm not wild about it." "I don't understand," she said. "Why are we talking about gingerbread?" "Because that's what it says on your shirt —Wild About Gingerbread." She looked down at her shirt, then back at me, then burst out laughing. "It says Wild About Giraffes," she said. "Not gingerbread."

我唯一想到的是，我可能永远都不会离开动物园了。 和一群咆哮的狮子在附近过夜，我一点也不兴奋。 我感到有一只手搭在我的肩膀上，便转过身来，希望是她。 花。它不是。那是一个穿着棕色制服的女人，穿着一件“关于姜饼的狂野”t恤。 “我也喜欢姜饼，”我对她说，“但我得说我不太喜欢。” “我不明白，”她说。 “我们为什么要谈论姜饼？”“因为你的衬衫上是这么写的——疯狂的姜饼。” 她低头看了看自己的衬衫，又看了看我，然后大笑起来。 “上面写着《长颈鹿的野性》，”她说。 “不是姜饼。”

"At least I was close," I said. "They both start with a G. I'm not much of a reader." "I wasn't at your age, either," she said, still smiling. "But it didn't stop me from doing something I love. I'm Nora Bicks," she went on. "I work here at the zoo with the giraffes and the elephants. You seem to be lost." "I'm only half lost," I said. "The half that can't find the snack bar where my class is waiting." "Is it the one near the gorillas? With the great frozen lemonades?" "That's exactly the one!"

“至少我很接近，”我说。 它们都是以G开头的。 我不太爱看书。” “我也不是在你这个年纪，”她说，仍然面带微笑。 “但这并没有阻止我做自己喜欢的事情。 我是诺拉·比克斯，”她继续说道。 “我在动物园和长颈鹿和大象一起工作。 你好像迷路了。”“我只迷路了一半，”我说。 “找不到小吃店的那一半，我的同学在那里等着。” “是靠近大猩猩的那个吗？” 配上美味的冰冻柠檬水？”“就是这个！”

"I can take you there. I just have to make a quick stop at the elephant enclosure and then check on Elsie." "Oh, is Elsie your mom?" "Actually, Elsie is my mom's name. That's why I named our newest elephant after her. Elephant Elsie just arrived at the zoo yesterday. We're keeping her separated from the others until we know she's comfortable here at her new home. Come on. We'll say hi, and I'll get you back to your class." As we followed the yellow line along the path, I couldn't believe that I was actually going to see a real live elephant up close. I couldn't stop smiling. "If I had a T-shirt," I told Nora, "mine would say Wild About Elephants. I think they're very smart." "They are," she said. "That's one of the reasons why it makes me so angry when they're mistreated. Elsie was in a circus where she wasn't taken care of properly. We rescued her."

“我可以带你去。我得在大象的圈地停一下，然后去看看埃尔西。” “哦，埃尔西是你妈妈吗？”“实际上，埃尔西是我妈妈的名字。 所以我用她的名字给我们的新大象命名。 大象埃尔西昨天刚到动物园。 我们要把她和其他动物分开直到她在新家过得很舒服。 来吧。我们打个招呼，然后我送你回教室。” 当我们沿着小路沿着黄线走的时候，我简直不敢相信我真的能近距离看到一头活生生的大象。 我忍不住笑了。“如果我有一件t恤，”我告诉诺拉，“我的t恤上会写着《野生大象》。 我认为他们非常聪明。” “是的，”她说。“这就是为什么当他们受到虐待时，我会如此生气的原因之一。 埃尔西在马戏团，她没有得到适当的照顾。 我们救了她。”