Chapter 7

Chapter seven, Elsie looked down at the puddle, then raised her trunk and let out a happy trumpet. "I understand," I said to her. "If I were you, I'd feel much better, too." Elsie turned back to her lunch, pulling a giant clump of hay off the bale and shoving it into her mouth with her trunk. I knew that if I wanted to get her attention, it was going to have to involve hay. Here's a tip for you: You don't mess with an elephant when she's hungry. I walked over to Elsie's lunch spot and grabbed a fistful of hay. No, I wasn't going to eat it. Like I said, I'm more of a hot dog guy. I held the hay out for Elsie to sniff. The tip of her long trunk nuzzled my hand—it actually felt like

第七章，埃尔西低头看着水坑，然后抬起鼻子，高兴地吹了一声小号。 “我明白，”我对她说。 “如果我是你，我也会感觉好得多。” 埃尔西转身回去吃她的午饭，从捆上扯下一大堆干草，用鼻子塞进嘴里。 我知道，如果我想引起她的注意，就必须和干草有关。 给你个建议：不要在大象饿的时候惹她。 我走到埃尔西吃午饭的地方，抓起一把干草。 不，我没打算吃。 我说了，我更喜欢吃热狗。 我把干草拿出来给埃尔西闻。 她长长的鼻子尖蹭着我的手——实际上感觉就像

fingers tickling my palm. You'd be amazed how gentle such a huge animal can be. She took the hay and, curling her trunk toward her mouth, popped the whole handful in at once. I listened while she chewed. Then she burped. "Well of course that's going to happen," I said. "You put too much in your mouth at one time. The same thing happens to me when I'm sharing a pickle with my grandfather, Papa Pete. I love pickles so much, I shove the whole thing in my mouth at once. Then it's Burp City." Elsie was more interested in the hay than in my story. I picked up another fistful and she reached out for it with her trunk. This time, I took a few steps backward, and she followed me. I took a few more steps toward the fence that surrounded her enclosure. She followed me again. I kept repeating this until we were almost touching the fence. "That's a good girl," I said to Elsie. "Now comes the hard part. But I know you can do it. My mom always says 'if you can imagine it, you can make it happen.' Of course, I don't know if

手指挠我的手掌。你会惊讶于这么大的动物竟然如此温柔。 她拿起干草，把鼻子朝嘴边一卷，一下子把一大把干草都塞了进去。 她咀嚼的时候，我听着。 然后她打了个嗝。“那当然会发生，”我说。 “你一次往嘴里塞太多东西了。 当我和爷爷皮特爸爸分享泡菜时，同样的事情也发生在我身上。 我太喜欢腌黄瓜了，我一次就把整个都塞进嘴里。 然后就是打嗝城了。”埃尔西对干草比对我的故事更感兴趣。 我又捡了一把，她伸出鼻子去接。 这一次，我向后退了几步，她跟着我。 我又朝环绕着她的围栏走了几步。 她又跟着我。我不停地重复着，直到我们几乎要碰到栅栏了。 “真是个好孩子，”我对埃尔西说。 “现在是最困难的部分。但我知道你能做到。 我妈妈总是说：“如果你能想象，你就能实现。”当然，我不知道

that applies to elephants, but I'm going to be positive here and say that it does." I held the hay in front of me, and Elsie stretched out her long trunk. Instead of giving her the hay, I took hold of her trunk with my hands. Then she did the most amazing thing. She curled up her trunk so that it was in the shape of a hook—the perfect place for me to put my feet. I stepped onto her trunk, wrapped my arms around it, and held on tight. "Now lift me up and put me down on the other side of the fence," I told her. "When I'm on the other side, you'll get your hay." As Elsie lifted me high into the air, it felt like

这适用于大象，但我要积极地说，确实如此。” 我把干草放在前面，埃尔西伸出她的长鼻子。 我没有给她干草，而是用手抓住了她的树干。 然后她做了一件最神奇的事。 她把鼻子蜷曲成一个钩子的形状——这是我放脚的最佳位置。 我踩到她的树干上，用双臂紧紧地抱住它。 “现在把我举起来，放在篱笆的另一边，”我对她说。 “当我在另一边时，你会得到你的干草。” 当埃尔西把我高高举起时，感觉就像

I was in an elevator with no walls. Trust me, you don't realize how tall an elephant is until you're riding on its trunk. I looked down at the ground. That was a bad idea. It was way down there. So instead, I looked straight ahead of me and tried to pretend that what was happening wasn't happening. "Holy macaroni, Zip," I heard Frankie's voice call. "Oh my goodness, what is going on?" Ms. Shimozato shouted. "Elsie and I are working on a plan." "Whatever it is, looks extremely dangerous," she shouted. "It sure does," Ashley agreed. "Hank, are you okay up there?" "A little dizzy. I'm glad I didn't finish my scrambled eggs at breakfast, though. Did you guys find Nora?" "We found someone who knew where she was and went to get her. We rushed back here to make sure you're okay," Ashley said. "Zip!" Frankie called. "Can I just point out

我在一个没有墙的电梯里。 相信我，除非你骑在大象的鼻子上，否则你不会意识到大象有多高。 我低头看了看地面。 那是个坏主意。就在那下面。 所以，我只能直视前方，假装什么都没发生。 “天哪，芝普，”我听到弗兰基的声音。 “我的天哪，这是怎么回事？”Ms。 Shimozato喊道。“埃尔西和我正在制定一个计划。” “不管它是什么，看起来非常危险。”她喊道。 “确实是这样，"艾希礼表示同意。 “汉克，你还好吗？”“有点头晕。 不过我很高兴我早餐没有吃完炒鸡蛋。 你们找到诺拉了吗？”“我们找到了一个知道她在哪里的人，并去找她。 我们赶紧赶回来确保你没事，”阿什利说。 “邮政!”弗兰基。“我能指出来吗

you're on an elephant trunk?" I tried to sound calm, like riding an elephant's trunk was something I did every day. "Elsie is just giving me a little lift!" "A little lift!" Ms. Shimozato cried. "You're scaring me, Hank!" "Believe me, you're not the only one," I answered. "Get down here right now!" Ms. Shimozato

你骑在象鼻子上？”我试着让自己的声音听起来很平静，就好像我每天都在骑大象的鼻子一样。 “埃尔西只是在帮我一把！”“抬一点！”Ms。 Shimozato哭了。“你吓到我了，汉克！”“相信我，不止你一个人这么想，”我回答。 “马上给我下来！”Ms。 Shimozato

commanded. "You heard him, Elsie," I said into her big ear. "Down, girl. Put me down on the other side of the fence." Elsie stood very still for a minute, then her big eyes turned to look me right in the eye. "You can do this," I told her. "One step forward and lower me down to my friends." Elsie took a baby step forward. Let me remind you that a baby step for her is like a giant leap for us. Then she started to lower her trunk. Seventh floor. Sixth floor. Fifth floor. Soon, I was close enough to the ground to slide down her trunk like a firefighter coming down a firehouse pole. As my feet touched the ground, I put my hands in the air and shouted, "We did it! Thank you, Elsie!"

所吩咐的。“你听到了，埃尔西，”我对着她的大耳朵说。 ”,女孩。把我放在栅栏的另一边。” 埃尔西一动不动地站了一会儿，然后她的大眼睛转过来直视着我的眼睛。 “你能做到的，”我告诉她。 “向前一步，把我放低到我的朋友们那里。” 埃尔西向前迈了一小步。 让我提醒你，她的一小步对我们来说就是一大步。 然后她开始放下她的鼻子。 七楼。六楼。 五楼。很快，我离地面足够近，可以像消防员从消防站的杆子上下来一样，从她的树干上滑下来。 当我的脚触地时，我举起双手喊道：“我们成功了！谢谢你，埃尔西！”