As soon as Jeremy saw the visitors climbing over the fence, he ran to help them. He was very excitedat the thought of having guests. He took them over to old Grandad first, to be welcomed.
'Now I expect your friends will like to see round a bit,' said Grandad. 'Charlie the Chimp1 can go withyou. We've a rehearsal2 on tonight, so the ring has been set up. You can watch some of the show.'
This was grand news. The children saw that curved pieces of painted wood had been set together tomake a great ring in the field, and as they went across the grass, the Musical Horses began to troopinto the ring, the leading one ridden by Madelon, a lovely girl, dressed in shimmering4 gold.
'How beautiful they are!' thought Anne, as she watched. 'Look at their great feathery plumes5, noddingon their magnificent heads.'
38
The Bonzo Band struck up just then, and the horses at once trotted6 in perfect time to the music.
The band looked a little peculiar7 as the bandsmen had not put on their smart uniforms. They weresaving those for the opening night!
The horses trotted prettily8 out of the ring after two or three rounds, the beautiful Madelon on theleading horse. Then in came Fred the Fiddler and played his violin for a few minutes. First the musicwas slow and solemn, then Fred began to play quickly, and the children found themselves jigglingabout, up and down and round about. 'I can't keep still!' panted Anne. 'The tune10's got into my feet.'
Charlie the Chimp came up just then, walking on hind11 legs, and looking unexpectedly tall. He usuallywalked on all fours. He began to jig9 about too, looking very funny. He ran right into the ring and puthis arms round Fred the Fiddler's legs. 'He loves Fred,' said Jeremy. 'Now he's going to rehearse hiscricket act. I must go and bowl to him.'
And off went Jeremy into the ring. The chimpanzee rushed over to him and hugged him. A bat wasthrown into the ring, and Charlie picked it up, and made a few swipes into the air with it, makingdelighted noises all the time.
Then a cricket ball was thrown to Jeremy, who caught it deftly12. A small girl appeared fromsomewhere and set up three stumps13 for a wicket. 'Can't find the bails14, Jeremy!' she called. 'Have yougot them in your pocket?'
'No,' said Jeremy. 'Never mind, I'll knock the stumps right over!'
But that wasn't so easy with Charlie the Chimp at the wicket! He took a terrific swipe at the ball, andit went right over Jeremy's head, too high to catch.
The chimp lost his balance and sat down on the wicket, knocking the stumps out of the ground.
'OUT!' yelled Jeremy, but the chimp wasn't having that. He carefully put up the stumps again, andthen set himself in front once more, waggling the bat.
It was the funniest cricket that the children had ever seen! The chimpanzee was very, very clever withthe bat, and sent poor Jeremy running all over the place. Then finally he chased the boy all round thering with the bat making curious chortling noises. The children didn't know if he was amused orangry! Finally he threw the bat at Jeremy and walked off, scratching himself under one arm.
The children roared with laughter at him. 'He's as good as any clown!' said Dick. 'Jeremy, does he dothis cricket act every night when the circus is open?'
39
'Oh yes - and sometimes he hits the ball into the audience,' said Jeremy. 'There's great excitementthen. Sometimes, for a treat, we let one of the boys in the audience come down and bowl to Charlie.
One bowled him right out once, and Charlie was so cross that he chased him all round the ring threetimes - just as he chased me just now. The boy didn't like it much!'
Charlie came up to Jeremy, and put his great arms round him, trying to swing him off the ground.
'Stop that, Charlie,' said Jeremy, wriggling15 free. 'Look out - here comes the Dancing Donkey!
Better get out of the ring - goodness knows what antics he'll be up to!'
In came the Dancing Donkey. He was dark grey, and tossed his head as he came galloping16 in. Hestood and looked round at everyone. Then he sat down, lifted up a leg and scratched his nose.
The children stared in astonishment17. They had never in their lives seen a donkey do that before!
Then, when the band suddenly began to play, the donkey stood up and listened, flapping his ears firstone way and then another, and nodding his head in time to the music.
The band changed its tune to a march. The donkey listened again, and then began to march round thering in perfect time - clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop. Then it apparently18 felt tired, and sat down heavilyon its back legs. The children couldn't help laughing. The donkey got up, and somehow its back legsbecame entangled19 with its front ones, and it fell down, looking most ridiculous.
'Has it hurt itself?' asked Anne, anxiously. 'Oh dear - it will break one of its legs if it goes on like this.
Look, it can't untangle them, Jeremy.'
The donkey gave a mournful bray20, tried to get up, and flopped21 down again. The band changed itstune, and the donkey leapt up at once, and began to do a kind of tap-dance - clickety-click, clickety-click, clickety-click - it was marvellous!
'I shouldn't have thought that a donkey could possibly have been taught to tap-dance,' said George.
Soon the donkey seemed to feel tired again. It stopped dancing, but the band still went on playing.
The donkey ran towards it and stamped its foot.
A weird22 voice suddenly came from it. 'Too fast! TOO FAST!' But the band took no notice and wenton playing. The donkey bent23 down, wriggled24 hard - and its head fell off on to the grass in the ring!
Anne gave a shriek25 of fright.
'Don't be an ass3, Anne,' said Dick. 'You didn't think the donkey was a real one, did you?'
40
'Isn't it?' said Anne, relieved. 'It looks just like that donkey that used to give rides to children onKirrin beach.'
The donkey now split in half, and a small man climbed out of each half, taking their legs carefullyout of the donkey's legs. The donkey-skin fell to the ground, and lay there, flat and collapsed26.
'Wish I had a donkey-skin like that,' said Tinker. 'I've got a friend at school who could be the backlegs and I'd be the front legs. The things we'd do!'
'Well, I must say you'd make a first-class donkey, the way you behave sometimes,' said George.
'Look, this must be Dead-Shot Dick coming on.'
But before Dead-Shot Dick could do any of his shooting tricks, the two donkey-men had run to theband and begun a loud argument with them.
'Why play so fast? You know we can't do our tricks at top speed. Are you trying to mess up our turn?'
The band leader shouted something back. It must have been rude, because one of the donkey-menshook his fist and began to run towards the band.
A loud voice crashed in on the argument, and made everyone jump. It was Mr. Tapper, old Grandad,giving his orders in an enormous voice.
'ENOUGH! You, Pat, and you, Jim, get out of the ring. I give the orders, not you. ENOUGH, I SAY!'
The two donkey-men glared at him, but did not dare to say a word more. They stalked out of the ring,taking the donkey-skin with them.
Dead-Shot Dick looked very ordinary, dressed in a rather untidy flannel27 suit. 'He's not going to go allthrough his act,' said Jeremy. 'You'll see him another night, when the show's on for the public - heshoots at all kinds of things - even a sixpenny bit dangling28 on a long string from the roof - and nevermisses! He's got a smashing rig-out too - sequins sewn all over his trousers and jersey29 - and his littlehorse is a wonder - goes round and round the ring and never turns a hair when Dead-Shot Dick fireshis gun! Look - there he is, peeping in to see if Dick's coming back to him.'
A small white horse was looking anxiously at the ring, its eyes fixed30 on Dead-Shot Dick. It pawed theground as if to say, 'Buck31 up! I'm waiting for you! Am I to come on or not?'
41
'All right, Dick - you can go off now,' shouted Grandad. 'I hear your horse has hurt a foot - give him agood rest tonight. We'll want him on tomorrow.'
'Right, sir!' said Dead-Shot Dick. He saluted32 smartly, and ran off to his little horse.
'What's next, Jeremy?' asked George, who was enjoying everything very much.
'Don't know. Let's see - there's the acrobats33 - but the trapeze-swings aren't put up yet, so they won'tcome on tonight. And there's the Boneless Man - look, there he is. Good old Boney! I like him. He'sfree with his money, he is, not like some of the other folk!'
The Boneless Man looked very peculiar. He was remarkably34 thin, and remarkably tall. He walked in,looking quite extraordinary. 'He can't be boneless!' said Dick. 'He couldn't walk if he was!'
But the Boneless Man soon began to seem absolutely boneless. His legs gave way at the knees, andhis ankles turned over so that he sank down to the ground, unable to walk. He could bend his arms allkinds of different ways, and turned his head almost completely round on his neck. He did a fewpeculiar things with his apparently boneless body, and finally wriggled along the ground exactly likea snake!
'He'll be dressed in a sort of snake-skin when he does his act properly,' said Jeremy. 'Queer, isn't he?'
'How on earth does he do it?' wondered Julian, amazed. 'He bends his arms and legs all the wrongways! Mine would break if I did that!'
'Oh, it's easy for him!' said Jeremy. 'It's just that he's completely double-jointed - he can bend hisarms both ways, and his legs both ways, and make them seem so loose that it looks as if he really isboneless. He's a nice chap. You'd like him.'
Anne felt a bit doubtful. What queer people made up a circus! It was a world of its own. She jumpedsuddenly as there came the sound of a trumpet35 blowing loudly.
'That's for supper,' said Jeremy gleefully. 'Come on - let's go to old Grandma and her pot! Buck up,all of you!'
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
chimp
|
|
| n.黑猩猩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
rehearsal
|
|
| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
shimmering
|
|
| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
plumes
|
|
| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
trotted
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
prettily
|
|
| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
jig
|
|
| n.快步舞（曲）；v.上下晃动；用夹具辅助加工；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hind
|
|
| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
deftly
|
|
| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
stumps
|
|
| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
bails
|
|
| （法庭命令缴付的）保释金( bail的名词复数 )； 三柱门上的横木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
wriggling
|
|
| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
galloping
|
|
| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
entangled
|
|
| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
bray
|
|
| n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
flopped
|
|
| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
weird
|
|
| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
wriggled
|
|
| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
shriek
|
|
| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
collapsed
|
|
| adj.倒塌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
flannel
|
|
| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
dangling
|
|
| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
jersey
|
|
| n.运动衫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
buck
|
|
| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
saluted
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
acrobats
|
|
| n.杂技演员( acrobat的名词复数 )；立场观点善变的人，主张、政见等变化无常的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
remarkably
|
|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
trumpet
|
|
| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |