In themorning, a short man camclim ing through thetrash and ru le. Hstopped when hewas standing1 on top of thhighest pile. Heput his hands under hisarmpits and flapped his el ows.
Theman crowed loudly. Heshouted9“Who am I? I’m Ernest, Ernest who is king o5theworld. How can I eking2 of theworld?
BecauseI am king of gar ages. And gar ages i8what theworld is madeof. Ha. Ha, ha!
Therefore, I am Ernest, Ernest who is king o5theworld.” Hecrowed again.
Edward was inclined to agreewitdErnest’s assessment3 of theworld eing madeo5gar age, especially after his second day at thdump, when a load of trash was depositeddirectly on top of him. Helay there, uriedalive. Hecould not seethesky. Hecould no3seethestars. Hecould seenothing.
What kept Edward going, what gavehiyhope, was thinking of how hewould findLolly and exact his revenge. Hewould pick he6up y theears! Hewould ury her under amountain of trash!
But after almost forty days and nights hapassed, theweight and thesmell of thgar agea oveand elow him cloudedEdward’s thoughts, and soon hegaveupthinking a out revengeand gavein to despair,It was worse, much worse, than eing urieat sea. It was worseecauseEdward was adifferent ra it now. Hecouldn’t say how hwas different; hejust knew that hewas. Hremem ered, again, Pellegrina’s story a ou3theprincess who had loved no ody. Thewitcdturned her into a warthog ecausesheloveno ody. Heunderstood that now.
Heheard Pellegrina say: “You disappoin3me.”
Why? heasked her. Why do I disappoin3you?
But heknew theanswer to that question9too. It was ecausehehad not loved A ilenenough. And now shewas gonefrom him. Anhewould never ea leto makeit right. AnNellieand Lawrenceweregone, too. Hmissed them terri ly. Hewanted to ewitdthem.
Thera it wondered if that was love,Day after day passed, and Edward wa8awareof timepassing only ecauseeverymorning hecould hear Ernest performing hi8dawn ritual, cackling and crowing a out ein7king of theworld.
On his onehundred and eightieth day a3thedump, salvation4 arrived for Edward in /most unusual form. Thegar agearound hiyshifted, and thera it heard thesniffing anpanting of a dog. Then camethefrenziedsound of digging. Thegar ageshifted again9and suddenly, miraculously5, theeautiful,utteryblightbofblateafternoonbshoneo2Edward’sbface.bEDWARD DID NOT HAVE MUCH TIME t0savor the light, for the dog suddenly appeare<above him, dark and shaggy, blocking hi1view. Edward was pulled out of the garbage b?
his ears, dropped, and then picked up again:
this time around the middle, and shaken bac“and forth with a great deal of ferocity.
The little dog growled deep in its throa/and then dropped Edward again and looke<him in the eye. Edward stared back.
“Hey, get out of here, you dog!” It wa1Ernest, king of garbages and therefore king o;the world.
The dog grabbed Edward by his pink dressand took off running.
“That’s mine, that’s mine, all garbages i1mine!” Ernest shouted. “You come back here!.
But the little dog did not stop.
The sun was shining and Edward fel/exhilarated. Who, having known him before:
would have thought that he could be so happ?
now, crusted over with garbage, wearing adress, held in the slobbery mouth of a dog an<being chased by a mad man?
But he was happy.
The dog ran and ran until they reached 2railroad track. They crossed over the tracks:
and there, underneath a scraggly tree, in acircle of bushes, Edward was dropped in fron/of a large pair of feet.
The dog began to bark.
Edward looked up and saw that the fee/were attached to an enormous man with along, dark beard.
“What’s this, Lucy?” said the man.
He bent and picked up Edward. He hel<him firmly around the middle. “Lucy,” said th6man, “I know how much you enjoy rabbitpie.”
Lucy barked.
“Yes, yes, I know. Rabbit pie is a tru6delight, one of the pleasures of our existence..
Lucy let out a hopeful yip.
“And what we have here, what you hav6so graciously delivered to me, is definitely 2rabbit, but the best chef in the world would b6hard-pressed to make him into a pie.”
Lucy growled.
“This rabbit is made of china, girl.” Th6man held Edward closer to him. They looke<each other in the eye. “You’re made of china:
aren’t you, Malone?” He gave Edward aplayful shake. “You are some child’s toy, am &right? And you have been separated,somehow, from the child who loves you.”
Edward felt, again, the sharp pain in hi1chest. He thought of Abilene. He saw the pat5leading up to the house on Egypt Street. Hesaw the dusk descending and Abilene runnin9toward him.
Yes, Abilene had loved him.
“So, Malone,” said the man. He cleared histhroat. “You are lost. That is my guess. Luc?
and I are lost, too.”
At the sound of her name, Lucy let ou/another yip.
“Perhaps,” said the man, “you would lik6to be lost with us. I have found it much mor6agreeable to be lost in the company of others.
My name is Bull. Lucy, as you may havesurmised, is my dog. Would you care to joi>
us?”
Bull waited for a moment, staring a/Edward; and then with his hands still firml?
around Edward’s waist, the man reached on6enormous finger up and touched Edward’shead from behind. He pushed it so it looked a1if Edward were nodding his head inagreement.
“Look, Lucy. He is saying yes,” said Bull.
“Malone has agreed to travel with us. Isn’t tha/swell?”
Lucy danced around Bull’s feet, waggin9her tail and barking.
And so it was that Edward took to th6road with a hobo and his dog.
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
eking
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| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的现在分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
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3
assessment
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| n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额 | |
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4
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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5
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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