48 THE NEW FOOT

CHAPTER 48 THE NEW FOOT Mr. Beaver squinted at Roz's stump. "I've never built a foot before." He stroked his whiskers and muttered to himself. "There are really three problems to solve. The foot needs to grip the ground. And it needs to be durable. And then there's the issue of fixing it to the leg. I might have to consult a few friends." "Will she ever walk again?" said Brightbill. "What's that?" Mr. Beaver was lost in thought. "Oh, not to worry. You just sit back and leave everything to me. I love a challenge!" Mr. Beaver plunked into the pond, and returned a while later rolling a large section of a tree trunk. "Say hello to your new foot!" he said, slapping the wood with his tail. "Hello, new foot," said the robot. "That's the spirit! This beauty is from one of the hardest trees I ever chewed. I just need to make a few

第四十八章新来的脚比弗先生眯着眼睛看着罗兹的残肢。 “我从来没有造过一只脚。” 他抚摸着胡须，喃喃自语。 “实际上有三个问题需要解决。 脚需要抓住地面。 而且它需要耐用。 然后是把它固定在腿上的问题。 我可能得请教几个朋友。” “她还能走路吗？”布莱特比尔说。 “那是什么?”比弗先生陷入了沉思。 “哦，别担心。你只管坐好，把一切都交给我。 我喜欢挑战！”比弗先生扑通一声跳进池塘，过了一会儿，他滚了一大块树干回来。 “跟你的新脚打个招呼吧！”他说着，用尾巴拍打着木头。 “你好，新来的脚，”机器人说。 “就是这种精神！”这种美来自我咀嚼过的最坚硬的树之一。 我只需要做几个

modifications." Mr. Beaver placed the piece of wood next to Roz. He squinted, repositioned the piece, and squinted some more. With his claws, he marked different spots on the wood. And then he put his big chompers to work. The beaver chewed and gnawed and carved up that piece of wood, turning it over and over in his paws. Chitchat looked down from a branch and chattered through the quiet moments. "This reminds me of the time I saw a fox catch a lizard by the tail and somehow the lizard's tail fell off and he got away and later I saw that the lizard got a new tail and now Roz is going to get a new foot and everything will be fine…" The wooden foot took shape, and before long Mr. Beaver was standing beside a beautiful carving that resembled a boot. He tried to slide it over Roz's stump, but the opening was too small. So he scraped out more wood until it was a perfect fit. "Very good," he said, spitting out a wood chip. "My friends should be arriving any minute with the next few things we'll need. And there they are now! I'd like you all to meet Bumpkin, Lumpkin, and

修改。”比弗先生把那块木头放在罗兹旁边。 他眯着眼睛，把那块重新放好，又眯着眼睛。 他用爪子在木头上标出不同的点。 然后他就开始大嚼特嚼了。 海狸又咬又咬，把那块木头在爪子里翻来覆去地咬。 闲聊从树枝上往下看，在寂静的时刻喋喋不休。 “这让我想起了有一次我看到一只狐狸抓住了一只蜥蜴的尾巴，蜥蜴的尾巴不知怎么掉了，他逃走了，后来我看到蜥蜴换了一条新尾巴，现在罗兹也要换一只新脚了，一切都会好起来的……”木脚成形了，不一会儿，比弗先生就站在一个漂亮的像靴子的雕刻物旁边。 他试图把它滑过罗兹的残肢，但开口太小了。 于是，他刮出更多的木头，直到它完全合适。 “很好，”他说着，吐出了一块木屑。 “我的朋友们马上就到，带着我们接下来需要的东西。 现在他们来了！我想让你们都认识一下Bumpkin， Lumpkin，还有

Rumpkin. But I call them the Fuzzy Bandits." Three fat raccoons shuffled into the garden, dragging a tangle of vines behind them. "Good day," said Bumpkin. "Good day," said Lumpkin. "Good day," said Rumpkin. You might already know this, reader, but raccoons have very nimble hands. And the Fuzzy Bandits used theirs to skillfully tie those vines around the robot's leg and around her new foot. The vines caught nicely on all the dings and dents and scrapes. Once they were tied good and tight, Mr. Beaver threw back his head and hollered, "Trunktap! We could use your assistance!" There was silence. And then three quick taps echoed down from the forest canopy. "Ah, that'll be him," said Mr. Beaver, smiling. A very handsome woodpecker swooped into the garden. "You called?" came the woodpecker's musical voice. "Indeed I did! Everyone, this is my wood-pecking pal, Trunktap. Now, Trunky, we need some tree resin, the really sticky stuff. Can you help us out?"

Rumpkin。但我称他们为毛茸茸的强盗。” 三只胖胖的浣熊拖着一团藤蔓慢吞吞地走进花园。 “你好。”“你好。”杜鲁普金说。 “你好。”朗普金说。读者，你可能已经知道了，浣熊的手非常灵活。 毛茸茸的强盗们用他们的藤蔓巧妙地把这些藤蔓绑在机器人的腿上和她的新脚上。 藤蔓很好地抓住了所有的凹痕、凹痕和擦伤。 把它们捆得又紧又好，比弗先生仰起头来，喊道：“树干！我们需要你的帮助！”一阵沉默。 接着，三声急促的敲击声从林冠上回荡下来。 “啊，就是他了，”比弗先生笑着说。 一只非常漂亮的啄木鸟突然飞进了花园。 “你在叫？”啄木鸟悦耳的声音传来。 “真的！各位，这是我的啄木鸟朋友，树干。 Trunky，我们需要一些树脂，那种很黏的东西。 你能帮帮我们吗？”

"Of course I can!" said the woodpecker. "You've got a perfect pine right here!" Trunktap hopped over to a crusty old pine tree and pecked a few deep holes in the bark. Thick, syrupy resin began oozing down the trunk. Mr. Beaver scooped up handfuls of the resin and smeared it all over the wooden foot and the vines until everything was glistening with stickiness. And when the resin dried a short time later, Roz's foot was finished. "This is wonderful!" said the robot as she strolled around her garden. "I am as good as new!" Mr. Beaver and Trunktap and the Fuzzy Bandits went away feeling pretty happy with themselves. They'd done a very nice thing. But it was the first wooden foot any of them had ever made. And within a week the vines were coming undone and the foot was sliding loose. So they returned, determined to get it right. They found even harder wood and even tougher vines. They experimented with resin, heating it by the fire, letting it boil and thicken, until it became an indestructible glue. They kept tinkering with their design until, finally, Roz had herself a wooden foot that she could rely on. "Huzzah!" Mr. Beaver rapped his knuckles on the

“我当然能！”啄木鸟说。 “你这儿有一棵完美的松树！”树干跳上一棵硬皮老松树，在树皮上啄了几个深洞。 粘稠的糖浆状树脂开始顺着树干渗出来。 比弗先生抓起一把树脂，把它涂在木脚和藤蔓上，直到所有的东西都因粘稠而闪闪发光。 树脂干了一段时间后，罗兹的脚就完成了。 “这太棒了！”机器人边在花园散步边说。 “我和新的一样！”比弗先生、树干和毛茸茸的强盗们都很高兴地离开了。 他们做了一件非常好的事情。 但这是他们第一次做木脚。 不到一个星期，藤蔓就松了，脚也松了。 于是他们又回来了，决心要把事情办好。 他们找到了更坚硬的木头和更坚硬的藤蔓。 他们用树脂做实验，用火加热，让它沸腾并变稠，直到它变成一种坚不可摧的胶水。 他们不断修改自己的设计，直到最后，罗兹有了一个可以依靠的木脚。 “万岁!”比弗先生用指关节敲了敲桌子

new-and-improved creation. "I knew we'd get it right." Roz moved slower than before, and she had a slight limp, but she was back to her old self again, and that was a relief to everyone, especially Brightbill.

新的创造。 “我知道我们会做对的。” 罗兹走得比以前慢了，而且有点跛，但她又恢复了原来的样子，这对每个人来说都是一种解脱，尤其是布莱特比尔。