Chapter 31

They met once, Mr. and Mr. Kumar, the baker¹ and theteacher. The first Mr. Kumar had expressed the wish to seethe² zoo. "All these years and I've never seen it. It's so closeby, too. Will you show it to me?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," I replied. "It would be an honour." Weagreed to meet at the main gate the next day after school.
I worried all that day. I scolded myself, "You fool! Why didyou say the main gate? At any time there will be a crowd ofpeople there. Have you forgotten how plain he looks? You'llnever recognize him!" If I walked by him without seeing him‘he would be hurt. He would think I had changed my mindand didn't want to be seen with a poor Muslim baker. Hewould leave without saying a word. He wouldn't be angry – hewould accept my claims that it was the sun in my eyes – buthe wouldn't want to come to the zoo any more. I could see ithappening that way. I had to recognize him. I would hide andwait until I was certain it was him, that's what I would do. ButI had noticed before that it was when I tried my hardest torecognize him that I was least able to pick him out. The veryeffort seemed to blind me.
At the appointed hour I stopd squarely before the main gateof the zoo and started rubbing my eyes with both hands.
"What are you doing?"It was Raj, a friend.
"I'm busy.""You're busy rubbing your eyes?""Go away.""Let's go to Beach Road.""I'm waiting for someone.""Well, you'll miss him if you keep rubbing your eyes likethat.""Thank you for the information. Have fun on Beach Road.""How about Government Park?""I can't, I tell you.""Come on.""Please, Raj, move on!"He left. I went back to rubbing my eyes.
"Will you help me with my math homework, Pi?"It was Ajith, another friend.
"Later. Go away.""Hello, Piscine."It was Mrs. Radhakrishna, a friend of Mother's. In a fewmore words I eased her on her way.
"Excuse me. Where's Laporte Street?"A stranger.
"That way.""How much is admission to the zoo?"Another stranger.
"Five rupees. The ticket booth is right there.""Has the chlorine got to your eyes?"It was Mamaji.
"Hello, Mamaji. No, it hasn't.""Is your father around?""I think so.""See you tomorrow morning.""Yes, Mamaji.""I am here, Piscine."My hands froze over my eyes. That voice. Strange in afamiliar way, familiar in a strange way. I felt a smile welling upin me.
"Salaam³ alaykum, Mr. Kumar! How good to see you.""Wa alaykum as-salaam. Is something wrong with youreyes?""No, nothing. Just a bit of dust.""They look quite red.""It's nothing."He headed for the ticket booth but I called him back "No,no. Not for you, master."It was with pride that I waved the ticket collector's handaway and showed Mr. Kumar into the zoo.
He marvelled⁴ at everything, at how to tall trees came tallgiraffes, how carnivores were supplied with herbivores andherbivores with grass, how some creatures crowded the dayand others the night, how some that needed sharp beaks⁶ hadsharp beaks and others that needed limber limbs had limberlimbs. It made me happy that he was so impressed.
He quoted from the Holy Qur'an: "In all this there aremessages indeed for a people who use their reason."We came to the zebras. Mr. Kumar had never heard ofsuch creatures, let alone seen one. He was dumbfounded.
"They're called zebras," I said.
"Have they been painted with a brush?""No, no. They look like that naturally.""What happens when it rains?""Nothing.""The stripes don't melt?""No."I had brought some carrots. There was one left, a large andsturdy specimen⁷. I took it out of the bag. At that moment Iheard a slight scraping of gravel⁸ to my right. It was Mr.
Kumar, coming up to the railing in his usual limping and rollinggait.
"Hello, sir.""Hello, Pi."The baker, a shy but dignified⁹ man, nodded at the teacher,who nodded back.
An alert zebra had noticed my carrot and had come up tothe low fence. It twitched¹⁰ its ears and stamped the groundsoftly. I broke the carrot in two and gave one half to Mr.
Kumar and one half to Mr. Kumar. "Thank you, Piscine," saidone; "Thank you, Pi," said the other. Mr. Kumar went first,dipping his hand over the fence. The zebra's thick, strong,black lips grasped the carrot eagerly. Mr. Kumar wouldn't letgo. The zebra sank its teeth into the carrot and snapped it intwo. It crunched¹¹ loudly on the treat for a few seconds, thenreached for the remaining piece, lips flowing over Mr. Kumar'sfingertips. He released the carrot and touched the zebra's softnose.
It was Mr. Kumar's turn. He wasn't so demanding of thezebra. Once it had his half of the carrot between its lips, he letgo. The lips hurriedly moved the carrot into the mouth.
Mr. and Mr. Kumar looked delighted. "A zebra, you say?"said Mr. Kumar. "That's right," I replied. "It belongs to thesame family as the ass⁵ and the horse.""The Rolls-Royce of equids," said Mr. Kumar.
"What a wondrous¹² creature," said Mr. Kumar.
"This one's a Grant's zebra," I said.
Mr. Kumar said, "Equus burchelli boehmi."Mr. Kumar said, "Allahu akbar."I said, "It's very pretty."We looked on.

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 seethe   

vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动

参考例句：

• Many Indians continue to seethe and some are calling for military action against their riotous neighbour.很多印度人都处于热血沸腾的状态，很多都呼吁针对印度这个恶邻采取军事行动。
• She seethed with indignation.她由于愤怒而不能平静。

3 salaam   

n.额手之礼，问安，敬礼；v.行额手礼

参考例句：

• And the people were so very friendly:full of huge beaming smiles,calling out "hello" and "salaam".这里的人民都很友好，灿然微笑着和我打招呼，说“哈罗”和“萨拉姆”。
• Salaam is a Muslim form of salutation.额手礼是穆斯林的问候方式。

4 marvelled   

v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I marvelled that he suddenly left college. 我对他突然离开大学感到惊奇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I marvelled at your boldness. 我对你的大胆感到惊奇。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

6 beaks   

n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者

参考例句：

• Baby cockatoos will have black eyes and soft, almost flexible beaks. 雏鸟凤头鹦鹉黑色的眼睛是柔和的，嘴几乎是灵活的。 来自互联网
• Squid beaks are often found in the stomachs of sperm whales. 经常能在抹香鲸的胃里发现鱿鱼的嘴。 来自互联网

7 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

8 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

9 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

10 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

12 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。