Chapter 5

Chapter five I just stood there staring into Elsie's big brown eyes, which were about a mile above my head. She stared right back at me. Neither of us moved a muscle. When I have a stare-down with my sister, Emily, she bursts out laughing in about two seconds, so I always win. But Elsie didn't even bat an eyelash. I wasn't sure whether our stare-down was a good thing or a bad thing. It was definitely good that she wasn't charging at me with her giant tusks. But maybe she was thinking about doing it, which would definitely be bad. "Hi, Elsie," I whispered. "My name is Hank. Well, really it's Henry, but everyone calls me Hank, so you can, too."

我只是站在那里，凝视着埃尔西那双在我头顶一英里处的棕色大眼睛。 她也盯着我看。 我们俩都纹丝不动。 当我和妹妹艾米丽对视时，她会在两秒钟内突然大笑起来，所以我总是赢。 但埃尔西连一根睫毛都没眨。 我不确定我们的凝视是好事还是坏事。 她没有用她那巨大的獠牙冲我来，这绝对是件好事。 但也许她在考虑这么做，那肯定很糟糕。 “嗨，埃尔西，”我低声说。“我叫汉克。 嗯，其实我叫亨利，但大家都叫我汉克，所以你也可以叫我汉克。”

Suddenly, her ears started to flap. In fact, they flapped so hard that I could feel the air brush across my face. I jumped back a few feet. I hoped this was her way of saying, "Nice to meet you, too." But it was possible this was her way of saying, "This is my space, buddy. Now beat it." Suddenly, I heard footsteps crunching on the leaves of the enclosure. I was pretty sure it was Nora, coming back from visiting the other elephants. I knew the right thing to do was to tell Nora I was there. But sometimes the right thing to do isn't always the most fun thing to do. Without thinking, I ducked into the cave that was part of Elsie's enclosure. I hid behind a rock and peeked out. Nora had stopped and was petting Elsie's trunk. "How you doing, girl?" she said softly. At the sound of Nora's voice, Elsie started flapping her ears again.

突然，她的耳朵开始扇动起来。 事实上，它们拍打得很用力，我都能感觉到空气刷在我脸上擦过。 我向后跳了几英尺。我希望这是她说“我也很高兴见到你”的方式。 但也有可能这是她的一种表达方式，“这是我的空间，伙计。” 现在走开。”突然，我听到有脚步声踏在围墙的树叶上。 我很确定那是诺拉，她刚参观完其他大象回来。 我知道正确的做法是告诉诺拉我在那里。 但有时候正确的事情并不总是最有趣的事情。 我想都没想就钻进了埃尔西圈养的洞穴。 我躲在一块石头后面向外偷看。 诺拉停下来，抚摸着埃尔西的箱子。 “你好吗，姑娘？”她轻声说。 听到诺拉的声音，埃尔西又开始拍打她的耳朵。

"I know you're happy when your ears flap," Nora said. "I'm glad you're feeling better. That circus you were with didn't take good care of you, but we will." I was so curious about what happened to Elsie at that circus, but I was hiding so I couldn't ask. "Do you want a treat?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out an entire ear of corn. Elsie lifted her trunk and gently took the corn from Nora. Then she popped the whole thing in her mouth. Even from where I was, I could hear her teeth grinding.

“我知道你耳朵扇动的时候很开心，”诺拉说。 “我很高兴你感觉好些了。 你所在的马戏团没有照顾好你，但我们会的。” 我很好奇埃尔西在马戏团发生了什么事，但我躲起来了，所以我不能问。 “你要款待吗？”她把手伸进口袋，掏出一整穗玉米。 埃尔西抬起她的箱子，轻轻地从诺拉手里接过玉米。 然后她把整个东西塞进嘴里。 即使在我所在的地方，我也能听到她在磨牙。

I could tell Elsie loved that treat, because her ears starting flapping like crazy. I smiled, thinking about when I have a black and white cookie, which is my favorite treat. My ears are too small to flap, but I sure hop around a lot. "There's more where that came from," Nora told Elsie. "You be a good girl now." I watched as Nora walked across the enclosure to the high metal fence. She opened the gate, and without looking back, locked it behind her. Wow, I thought. This is great. Now it's just me and Elsie! The next thought I had was, Wow. This is not so great. I'm locked in here with fifteen thousand pounds of elephant! When Nora was out of sight, I crept out from behind the rock. I thought I was being quiet, but Elsie's big ears obviously worked very well. She whipped around, swishing her tail back and forth. When she saw me, she raised her giant trunk and let out a loud trumpeting sound.

我看得出来，埃尔西很喜欢这种食物，因为她的耳朵开始疯狂地拍打着。 我笑了，想起我吃到黑白饼干的时候，那是我最喜欢的点心。 我的耳朵太小了，不能拍打，但我确实经常跳来跳去。 诺拉告诉埃尔西：“还有更多的事情要做。” “你现在要乖乖的。”我看着诺拉穿过围栏，走向高高的金属栅栏。 她打开大门，头也不回地锁上了。 哇，我想。这太棒了。 现在只剩下我和埃尔西了！我的下一个想法是，哇。 这不是很好。我和一万五千磅的大象被关在这里！诺拉消失后，我从岩石后面爬了出来。 我以为我是在保持沉默，但埃尔西的大耳朵显然很管用。 她猛地转过身来，前后甩动着尾巴。 当她看到我时，她抬起她巨大的鼻子，发出一声响亮的喇叭声。

I stood completely still, as if I had turned into a clay statue. Elsie took a step toward me. Then another step. My heart started to beat really fast, and when I say fast, I mean like a speeding race car. What was Elsie going to do to me? Push me? Sit on me? Crush me? Breathe, Hank. Don't panic. It's only the largest land mammal on Earth. You can think of something. Look around and use your brain. My eyes darted around the enclosure, hoping to find an ear of corn that I could give Elsie. That would at least distract her for a minute. Then, I spotted a dusty soccer ball. Maybe Elsie plays soccer, I thought. And maybe she was in the mood for a game. You never know. "Elsie," I said, in my calmest voice. The one I use when I'm trying to explain to my dad why

我一动不动地站着，仿佛自己变成了一尊泥塑。 埃尔西朝我走了一步。 然后是下一个步骤。我的心开始跳得很快，我说的快是指像超速的赛车一样。 埃尔西要对我做什么？ 推我?坐在我身上？迷恋我吗? 呼吸,汉克。不要恐慌。 它是地球上最大的陆地哺乳动物。 你可以想想办法。 环顾四周，动动脑子。 我的眼睛扫视着围栏，希望能找到一颗玉米穗送给埃尔西。 那至少能分散她一分钟的注意力。 然后，我发现了一个满是灰尘的足球。 也许埃尔西踢足球，我想。 也许她是想玩游戏。 谁知道呢。“埃尔西，”我用最平静的声音说。 就是我跟我爸解释原因时用的那个

my report card is always so bad. "I'm going to walk over to that soccer ball, and you're going to stay right there. Okay?" Elsie lifted her trunk and let out another loud trumpet. "I'm going to take that as a yes," I said. "And here I go." My brain told my feet to move. At first, they didn't. But then they did. Never taking my eyes off Elsie, I starting creeping toward the ball. "So Elsie, want to hear a joke?" I asked. "Jokes always make me feel happy. Here it is. What's the best time to go to the dentist? Give up? Tooth-hurty." Elsie didn't move a muscle. I guess she didn't get the joke. That made sense. I mean, elephants don't spend a lot of time in the dentist's chair. Elsie watched carefully as I took the last few steps toward the ball. "I'm going to pass the ball to you, very gently," I explained. "And then you pass the ball back to me, very, very, very gently. We humans

我的成绩单总是那么差。 “我要走到那个足球那里，你就站在那里。 没事吧?”埃尔西举起箱子，又大声吹了一声小号。 “我就当你答应了。”我说。 “我要走了。”我的大脑让我的脚动起来。 起初，他们没有。但后来他们做到了。 我目不转睛地盯着埃尔西，开始向球爬去。 “那么，埃尔西，想听个笑话吗？”我问。 “笑话总是让我感到快乐。 在这里。什么时候去看牙医最好？ 放弃吗?Tooth-hurty。”埃尔西一动也不动。 我猜她没听懂我的笑话。 这很有道理。我是说，大象不会花很多时间在牙医的椅子上。 埃尔西仔细地看着我朝着球走最后几步。 “我要把球传给你，轻轻地，”我解释道。 “然后你把球传给我，非常、非常、非常温柔。 我们人类