9 The Monkeys’ Council

CHAPTER 9 The Monkeys' Council The first thing Doctor Dolittle did when he awoke was to announce he must go home. "It's

杜立特医生醒来后做的第一件事就是宣布他必须回家了。 “这是

time to return to Puddleby," he said. "I've been away long enough." All the jungle animals were surprised to hear this. They all thought he would stay with them forever. So that night, all the monkeys got together to talk it over. The chief chimpanzee stood up first. "Why would he go away? Is he not happy with us?" Then the Grand Gorilla stood up. "I think we should ask him to stay. Perhaps if we build him a bigger house and a comfortable bed, he won't want to leave." Now Chee-Chee got up. All the others whispered, "Shh! Chee-Chee is going to speak." "My friends," Chee-Chee said, "I am afraid it is useless to ask the doctor to stay. He has many responsibilities back home in Puddleby. There are other animals waiting for him. The horse will be quite worried by now. There are friends he left behind. Also, a fisherman was kind enough to lend him a boat. That boat crashed against the

是时候回普德比了。”他说。 “我离开的时间够长了。” 听到这个消息，所有的丛林动物都很惊讶。 他们都认为他会永远和他们在一起。 所以那天晚上，所有的猴子聚在一起讨论这件事。 领头的黑猩猩第一个站了起来。 “他为什么要走呢？”他对我们不满意吗？”然后大猩猩站了起来。 “我想我们应该请他留下来。 也许如果我们给他造一个更大的房子，一张舒适的床，他就不会想离开了。” 现在奇奇站了起来。其他人都小声说：“嘘！奇奇要说话了。” “我的朋友们，”奇奇说，“恐怕请医生留下来是没有用的。 他在普德比有很多责任。 还有其他动物在等着他。 这匹马现在一定很担心。 他留下了一些朋友。 另外，一位渔夫好心地借给他一条船。 那艘船撞到了河上

rocks, so Doctor Dolittle will have to replace it. It wouldn't be fair if he stayed here." The monkeys were silent for some time. They sat on the ground thinking carefully. At long last, one of the baboons stood up. "I don't think we should let this good man leave without giving him something. We should think of a present wonderful enough to say thank you for all his work. He needs to know how grateful we all are." A tiny red monkey at the back of the group stood up. "I agree! We need to find the perfect gift." "We should give him a giant bag of coconuts!" one monkey yelled. "A hundred bunches of bananas!" said another. Chee-Chee shook his head. "Those are wonderful ideas but they would be too heavy to carry home. Also, they would probably go bad before they were half eaten."

石头，所以杜立特医生必须换掉它。 如果他留在这里，那就不公平了。” 猴子们沉默了一会儿。 他们坐在地上仔细地思考着。 终于，一只狒狒站了起来。 “我认为我们不应该不给这个好人一点东西就让他离开。 我们应该想一份足以表达对他所有工作的感谢的礼物。 他需要知道我们有多感激他。” 队伍后面的一只小红猴子站了起来。 “我同意!我们需要找到完美的礼物。” “我们应该给他一大袋椰子！”一只猴子喊道。 “一百串香蕉！”另一个说。 奇奇摇了摇头。“这些都是很好的想法，但它们太重了，带不回家。 而且，它们可能还没吃到一半就坏了。”

"I know!" said the little red monkey. "I know exactly what we should give him. A pushmipullyu." "That's a wonderful idea," Chee-Chee said. "No one back home has ever seen a pushmipullyu. That's perfect!"

“我知道！”小红猴说。 “我很清楚我们应该给他什么。 pushmipullyu。”“好主意，”芝芝说。 “家里没人见过推拉。 那是完美的!”