2 Mamsie’s Birthday Surprise

CHAPTER 2 Mamsie's Birthday Surprise Polly bundled Phronsie's foot into one of Mamsie's old slippers. Phronsie looked sadly at her tiny little shoe. "Will I ever be able to wear my new shoes again?" she asked. "You'll be good as new in a week," Polly told her, handing Phronsie her favorite doll.

第二章玛姆西的生日惊喜波莉把弗朗西的脚塞进了玛姆西的一只旧拖鞋里。 弗朗西伤心地看着她的小鞋子。 “我还能再穿我的新鞋吗？”她问。 “一个星期后你就会像新的一样。”波莉告诉她，把她最喜欢的洋娃娃递给弗朗西。

Phronsie hugged the old, worn doll close and smiled a bright little smile. She knew everything would be all right, because Polly had told her so. "Now, we must begin," Polly said cheerfully. She put on her apron and bustled about the kitchen as Phronsie and her doll watched. Polly stepped over Joel and Davie, who wrestled on the kitchen floor, arguing over who would be more help. "Boys, go and get me some cinnamon from the basement cupboard," Polly asked, even though she didn't need any more cinnamon for the cake. Davie and Joel went down to the basement. Polly carefully measured the brown flour, water, butter, and cinnamon. She mixed it together with Grandma's raisins. She poured the batter into the cake tin, put it in the cranky, black stove and happily banged the door shut. Polly took Phronsie into her arms and sat back to wait until the cake was done. That's when

弗朗西紧紧地抱着这个破旧的旧娃娃，露出灿烂的微笑。 她知道一切都会好起来的，因为波莉已经告诉过她了。 “现在，我们必须开始了。”波莉高兴地说。 她系上围裙，在厨房里忙来忙去，弗朗西和她的洋娃娃在一旁看着。 波莉从乔尔和大卫身上踩过去，他们在厨房地板上扭打在一起，争论谁能帮得上忙。 “孩子们，去地下室的橱柜里给我拿些肉桂来。”波莉说，尽管她做蛋糕已经不需要更多的肉桂了。 戴维和乔尔下到地下室。 波莉仔细地量了面粉、水、黄油和肉桂的量。 她把它和奶奶的葡萄干混合在一起。 她把面糊倒进蛋糕模里，放进那黑乎乎的火炉里，高兴地砰地一声把门关上。 波莉把弗朗西抱在怀里，坐下来等着蛋糕烤好。 这是当

Polly heard a THUMP from the basement. "Joel, Davie," Polly called. "Come up here this instant!" Joel and Davie trooped up the stairs and into the kitchen. Their faces were dusty with cinnamon. "What happened?" Polly asked. Phronsie's eyes grew round and large. "We were wrestling—" Davie began. "The sack just fell over on us. Honest it did, Polly," Joel interrupted. "Goodness. Let's get you cleaned up before Mamsie comes home," Polly said. She jumped up and cleaned off their faces with a wet dishrag. Phronsie saw it first. A wispy curl of black smoke rose above the cranky, old stove. "Mamsie's cake!" Phronsie cried. Polly raced over to the stove, yanked out the cake, and set it on the table. Their beautiful cake was ruined. It was black

波莉听到地下室传来砰的一声。 “乔尔，戴维。”波莉叫道。 “马上给我上来！”乔尔和戴维成群结队地走上楼梯，进了厨房。 他们的脸上沾满了肉桂粉。 “发生什么事了?”波利问道。 弗朗西的眼睛变得又圆又大。 “我们在摔跤——”戴维开始说。 “袋子倒在我们身上了。 真的，波莉。”乔尔打断他的话。 “善良。在玛姆西回家之前，我们把你弄干净吧。”波莉说。 她跳起来，用湿抹布把他们的脸擦干净。 弗朗西先看到了。一缕黑烟从摇摇晃晃的旧炉子上升起。 “Mamsie蛋糕!”Phronsie哭了。 波莉跑到火炉前，把蛋糕拉出来放在桌子上。 他们漂亮的蛋糕毁了。 它是黑色的

on the top and the center had fallen in. Polly turned around and shouted at the stove. "I hope you're happy. You've spoiled our Mamsie's birthday, you mean, old thing!" Without warning, Polly sank down to the middle of the floor and began to cry as hard as she could. Phronsie, Davie, and Joel didn't know what to do. "Well, well, what's happening here?" asked a kindly and cheery voice. Everyone turned around. "Mrs. Beebe!" cried Davie. "Look, Polly. It's Mrs. Beebe." Mr. and Mrs. Beebe owned the shoe shop in town. They had gone out for a ride to pick some flowers and buy some candies. On their way back to town, they heard the fuss in the Little Brown House and stopped to see if they could help. Polly hopped to her feet, ashamed. She wiped

上面和中间都塌了。 波莉转过身来，对着炉子喊道。 “我希望你快乐。你毁了我们玛西的生日，你是说，老东西！”毫无征兆地，波莉瘫倒在地板中央，拼命地哭起来。 弗朗西、戴维和乔尔不知道该怎么办。 “喂，喂，这里发生了什么事？”一个和蔼愉快的声音问道。 每个人都转过身来。“夫人。 毕比！”戴维叫道。“看,波利。 是毕比太太。”毕比夫妇在镇上开了一家鞋店。 他们骑马出去摘了些花，买了些糖果。 在他们回城的路上，他们听到小棕色房子里的喧闹声，就停下来看看能不能帮忙。 波莉羞愧地跳了起来。 她擦去

away her tears. The children explained to Mrs. Beebe about Mamsie's birthday the next day and why Polly was crying. "My goodness, you poor things," Mrs. Beebe said over and over as she heard the sad story. "Here, my dear. Here are some flowers for you," Mrs. Beebe said, handing a bunch to Polly. "Thank you, Mrs. Beebe," Polly said, smiling through her tears. Polly looked sadly at the black top and deep hole in the center of the cake. Then she looked at the flowers in her hand. "I know!" Polly exclaimed. Polly placed the bunch of flowers in the hollow center of the cake. The flowers covered up the hole and the black top! "It's beautiful," Phronsie said. "It's perfect!" Mrs. Beebe agreed. "Thank you, Mrs. Beebe," Polly said again, this time with a wide smile. "We must get back to the shoe shop," Mrs.

擦去她的眼泪。孩子们向毕比太太解释第二天是玛西的生日，以及波莉为什么哭。 “我的天哪，你们这些可怜的东西，”毕比太太听了这个悲惨的故事，一遍又一遍地说。 “给你，亲爱的。这是给你的花，”毕比太太说着，递给波莉一束花。 “谢谢你，毕比太太。”波莉说，泪流满面。 波莉伤心地看着蛋糕中央的黑色顶部和深洞。 然后她看了看手里的花。 “我知道!”波利喊道。 波莉把那束花放在蛋糕中空的中间。 花盖住了洞和黑色的顶部！“太美了，”弗朗西说。 “太完美了!”毕比太太同意了。 “谢谢你，毕比太太。”波莉又说了一遍，这次她露出了灿烂的笑容。 “我们必须回到鞋店去。”

Beebe said, pleased that all was well. "Oh, one more thing," she said, reaching into her pocket. "Here's a peppermint candy for each of you." After Mrs. Beebe was gone, the Little Brown House was quiet once again. "I wish the world were made of peppermint candy," Joel said as the last bit of peppermint melted on his tongue. "I'm going to hide the cake away till tomorrow morning, so Mamsie can't find it," Polly said. She climbed on a chair and gently placed the cake on the top shelf of the highest cupboard. "Now, during dinner, make sure that none of you look up at the cupboard and give away the surprise," Polly told them. "Can't I open it a little crack and take one smell when Mamsie isn't looking?" Joel asked. "No!" Polly said firmly. "Not one peek! Or she will guess the surprise." But that evening Mrs. Pepper was too busy

毕比说，很高兴一切都好。 “哦，还有一件事，”她把手伸进口袋说。 “这是给你们每人的薄荷糖。” 毕比太太走后，棕色小屋又安静了下来。 “我希望世界是薄荷糖做的，”乔尔说，最后一点薄荷在他的舌头上融化了。 “我要把蛋糕藏起来，等到明天早上，这样玛姆西就找不到它了。”波莉说。 她爬上一把椅子，轻轻地把蛋糕放在最高的碗柜最上面的架子上。 “喂，吃饭的时候，你们谁也不要抬头看碗柜，把惊喜泄露出去。”波莉告诉他们。 “难道我不能趁玛西不注意的时候，把它打开一条缝，闻一下吗？”乔问。 “不!”波莉坚定地说。“不许偷看！”或者她会猜出这个惊喜。” 但是那天晚上佩珀太太太忙了