THE BABY SHOW

 

 

 

 

MR. THEOPHILUS BANKS was a very important man. His friends called him Theo. I forget what he did exactly, but it was very important, and if he didn’t do it, then where should we all be? I don’t know. Everything depended on Mr. Banks.

 

He had three children. The first was a girl, and she was called Jessica Banks after her Mother. The next was a boy, and he was called Theophilus Banks, after his Father, Theophilus Banks. Some people thought it would be rather confusing¹ having two Theophiluses Bankses in the family, but Mr. Banks thought not. He said that for many years the child would be Master Banks, and if they liked they could call him Phil for short; and that by the time he was old enough to be Mr. Banks, his Father would be Judge Banks or Professor Banks, or Colonel² Banks or{76} President Banks—he hadn’t quite decided³ yet. So the baby was called Phil for short. And then, later on, there was a third child, and as Mr. Banks couldn’t very well call him Theophilus, too, he decided to keep as much of the name in the family as was possible. So the Baby was called Theodore, or Toddy for short.

 

Mr. Banks played golf. He was a very active man, and he played more golf in an afternoon than anybody else at his club. Sometimes the friends he was playing with would stop for tea after hitting the ball only seventy-five times, but Mr. Banks would never stop until he had hit it a hundred and twenty times. He was that sort of man. You would have thought that they would have given him a prize for being so active, but they didn’t. They always gave it to the others. Almost everybody in the club was given a little{77} silver cup except Mr. Banks. He used to feel very unhappy about it. Whenever he and Mrs. Banks went out to dinner with their friends, they would always see a silver cup on the table, and Mr. Binks (if that was the name of the friend) would explain to Mr. Banks how he had won the cup last Saturday, and Mrs. Binks would explain to Mrs. Banks how her husband had won it. And Mr. and Mrs. Banks would go home feeling very disheartened about it.

 

One day Mrs. Banks read in the paper that there was going to be a Baby Show in the town. She told Jessica, and Jessica said at once, “Oh, let’s put Toddy in! What fun!”

 

“Put Toddy in, put Toddy in,” cried Phil, thinking it was some sort of pond, and how funny Toddy would look in it.

 

“Oh, do let’s,” said Jessica, “and then if{78} he won, Father would have a silver cup like the others.”

 

Mrs. Banks suddenly remembered that it was Father’s birthday next week. He had everything he wanted except a silver cup. How happy he would be if he could win one just in time for his birthday!

 

So Master Theodore Banks was entered for the Baby Show. Of course it was to be a secret from Mr. Banks, so every day when he was at the office where everything depended on him, the others used to get together and wonder how they could improve Toddy, so as to make sure that he would win the prize.

 

Mrs. Banks thought that he was perfect as he was.

 

Jessica thought that he would have been perfect if his hair had been a little more curly⁴.

 

Phil thought that if he was put in a{79} pond and made to swim, he would be much stronger. And perfecter.

 

So Jessica brushed and brushed and brushed his hair every day; and every day Phil tried to get hold of him so as to strengthen⁵ him. But Mrs. Banks kept him on the chest⁶ of drawers, so that Jessica could brush his hair and Phil couldn’t quite reach him, and she thought to herself, “I believe he will win the prize after all.” And every day when Mr. Banks came home from golf, she looked at him to see if he had won a silver cup; but he hadn’t.

 

Mr. Banks hadn’t been thinking much about his birthday. He knew he was 35 or 107 or something, and he knew it was this week, but nobody was more surprised than he when he came down to breakfast on Thursday, and found a beautiful parcel⁷ on his plate. You can guess how excited he was.{80}

 

“Well, well, well, what can this be?” he said, and Phil nudged Jessica, and Jessica smiled at her Mother, and Phil jumped about and said, “Open it! Open it!” So Mr. Banks opened it.

 

“Well, well, well!” he said.

 

It was a silver cup.

 

“But what—?” he said.

 

Then he turned it round, and on the other side he saw:

 

FIRST PRIZE

(Division I)

WON BY

THEO BANKS

“But who—?” he said.

 

Then they explained how Theodore had won the prize, and how there hadn’t been room to get all his name in, so they had had to put Theo.

 

“Well, well, well,” said Mr. Theo. Banks again.{81}

 

So, from that day, whenever Mr. and Mrs. Binks came to dinner, there was the silver cup on the table!

 

“Now we shall all live happy ever after, shan’t we?” said Jessica to her Mother.

 

And they did.

1 confusing   

adj.混乱的，令人困惑的

参考例句：

• The instructions on the box are very confusing.盒子上的使用说明含混不清。
• It's very confusing to learn a new language.学习一门新语言是很令人困惑的。

2 colonel   

n.(英国陆军、美国陆空军及海军陆战队)上校

参考例句：

• It's a pity we didn't mend our fences with the colonel.可惜我们还没有和上校先生调整好关系。
• An army major ranks between a captain and a colonel.陆军少校的军阶在上尉与中校之间。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 curly   

adj.卷曲的，卷缩的

参考例句：

• The little boy has curly hair.这小男孩长着一头卷发。
• She is tall and dark with curly hair.她高高的个子，黑皮肤，卷头发。

5 strengthen   

vt.加强，变坚固；vi.变强，股票上涨

参考例句：

• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。
• You wish to strengthen our forces in the south?你想要加强我们在南部的势力？

6 chest   

n.胸，大箱子，金库，资金，一箱，密封室，衣橱

参考例句：

• The bear's chest is hairy.那只熊的胸部毛茸茸的。
• Mother has a pain in her chest.母亲胸口疼.。

7 parcel   

n.小包；包裹；vt.分配；打包；adj.部分的；adv.局部地

参考例句：

• Shall I tie up your things in a parcel?我把您的东西包起来，好吗？
• The parcel was sent express.这包裹是用快递方式寄出去的。