3 At The Circus

CLAUDE at the Circus AlexT. Smith

克劳德在马戏团。 史密斯

In a house on Waggy Avenue, number 112, there lives a dog. A small dog. A small, plump dog. A small, plump dog who wears a beret and a rather fetching sweater. His name is Claude, and here he is.

瓦基大街112号的一所房子里住着一只狗。 一只小狗。一只又小又胖的狗。 一只又小又胖的狗，戴着贝雷帽，穿着一件相当迷人的毛衣。 他叫克劳德，他来了。

Claude's best friend is Sir Bobblysock. He is both a sock and quite bobbly. Claude and Sir Bobblysock don't live in their big house all by themselves; Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes live there too. Usually, Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes get up bright and early, leap into their smartest clothes and shiniest shoes and hotfoot it out of the door to work. Sometimes though, mainly on nice sunny Saturdays, Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes pop on their comfy clothes and pack a picnic.

克劳德最好的朋友是波布里索克爵士。 他既长得短，又很胖。 克劳德和波布利索克爵士并不是独自住在他们的大房子里；皮鞋先生和皮鞋太太也住在那里。 通常，皮鞋先生和皮鞋太太一大早就起床了，穿上他们最漂亮的衣服和最闪亮的鞋子，然后快步出门去上班。 不过有时候，主要是在阳光明媚的周六，皮鞋先生和皮鞋太太会穿上舒适的衣服，带上野餐的东西。

'Let's go on a day trip!' Mr Shinyshoes says. 'Lovely idea!' says Mrs Shinyshoes. 'Shall we take Claude?' 'No,' whispers Mr Shinyshoes. 'Let's leave him here to sleep. You know how awfully tired he gets. We won't be long.' And so Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes tiptoe out of the house, hop in the car and pootle off to the countryside for the day. But Claude hasn't really been asleep. He's been listening with his floppy ears and peeping with his beady eyes. As soon as the front door closes, Claude jumps out of bed, puts on his beret, and decides what adventure he shall have.

“我们去一日游吧！”Shinyshoes先生说。 “可爱的主意!皮鞋太太说。 “我们带上克劳德好吗？”“不，”皮鞋先生小声说。 “我们把他留在这儿睡觉吧。 你知道他有多累。 我们不会待太久的。”于是，皮鞋先生和皮鞋太太蹑手蹑脚地走出家门，跳上汽车，慢悠悠地到乡下去玩一天。 但克劳德并没有真正入睡。 他耷拉着耳朵在听，瞪着大眼睛在偷看。 前门一关上，克劳德就从床上跳起来，戴上贝雷帽，决定要去冒险。

One bright Saturday morning when Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes were off in the country, Claude popped on his beret and thought about what he wanted to do. He felt like he needed a treat as he had been very busy the day before, giving his bed a good spring clean. He had plumped up the pillow, shaken the blanket and tidied up his top-secret hidy-hole. Out went several packets of half- chewed biscuits and a juicy bone baguette which was rather past its best.

一个阳光明媚的星期六早晨，皮鞋先生和太太正在乡下度假，克劳德戴上贝雷帽，开始思考他要做的事情。 他觉得自己需要好好款待一下，因为前一天他很忙，给他的床做了一次春季大扫除。 他把枕头拍得鼓鼓的，抖了抖毯子，收拾了他那绝密的藏身之处。 出去的是几包嚼了一半的饼干和一块多汁的骨法棍面包，这条面包已经过了它最好的时候。

Sir Bobblysock had sat in a comfy armchair and told him what to do. He would have loved to help, but he didn't want to get in the way.

波布利索克爵士坐在一张舒适的扶手椅上，告诉他该怎么做。 他很想帮忙，但他不想碍事。