Getting green fingers at Grandpa’s 到艾莫爺爺家整理花園
It was a blisteringly hot day and Mark and Kathleen were on the way to help Mark’s Grandpa Elmo with some gardening. Kathleen couldn’t understand why Mark was so excited by it. “What’s so special about this garden?” she asked. “Wait till you see it. It’s big enough to play football in and there is a magnificent fountain. It’s beautiful,” Mark replied.
When they arrived at the house, Grandpa Elmo opened the door. “I’m so happy you came. I’m afraid I’m too old to look after the garden myself these days. Come through and take a look,” he said in a croaky voice. When Mark laid his eyes on the garden he couldn’t believe what he saw. The grass was overgrown, the flowerbeds were untidy and the fountain was broken.
“The first thing I want you to do is mow the lawn,” said Grandpa Elmo. “No problem! Where’s your old lawnmower?” asked Mark. “Oh, I threw it out. It was broken beyond repair. But don’t worry, you can use these,” he said, handing Mark a pair of scissors. As quick as a flash, Kathleen picked up the scissors and ran around the garden cutting the grass. Mark had never seen her move so fast, and three hours later she was finally finished.
“Good job! Time for a break,” said Grandpa Elmo handing them each a glass of fresh lemonade, which they quickly drank. “For your next task, I want you to water the flowers. Unfortunately there’s a hole in my hosepipe so you’ll have to use that,” he said, pointing to a tiny thimble on the coffee table. Kathleen was shocked, but she was too polite to say anything. “I have a better idea,” said Mark. He ran down to the river, sucked up some water with his trunk, and then sprayed it all over the flowers.
“What a great idea,” said Grandpa Elmo. “Now before you go, there’s one more thing I want you to do…”
(JOHN PHILLIPS, STAFF WRITER)
這是一個超級大熱天,馬克和凱薩琳正在去馬克爺爺家的途中,他們要去幫艾莫爺爺整理花園。凱薩琳不知道馬克為什麼對這感到很興奮,於是她問:「這個花園到底有什麼特別的啊?」馬克回答:「等妳看到妳就知道了。那裡大到可以踢足球,而且還有一個非常華麗的噴泉水池,實在美極了。」
當他們抵達艾莫爺爺家,艾莫爺爺開了門,用他低沉而沙啞的嗓音說:「我真高興你們來了,最近我很擔心我已經老到無法自己照顧花園了呢。快進來看看吧。」當馬克看到花園的景象時,他簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛。花園裡的草長得好高、花圃變得亂七八糟,連噴泉水池也都壞了。
艾莫爺爺說:「我希望你們先除除草。」馬克問:「沒問題!你的舊除草機呢?」「噢,我丟掉了。它壞了,修不好了。但別擔心,你們可以用這些,」他邊說邊遞給馬克一把剪刀。凱薩琳快如閃電地拿起剪刀,跑到花園裡去剪草。馬克從沒看她動作這麼快過,三個小時後,她總算都剪完了。
艾莫爺爺說:「做得好!休息一下吧。」他遞給他們一人一杯新鮮的檸檬水,他們一下子就喝光了。「你們的下一項任務就是去澆花。不巧的是,我的水管破了個洞,所以你們只好用那個,」他邊說,邊指著咖啡桌上一個迷你頂針。凱薩琳雖然被嚇了一大跳,但她仍不願失禮地多說什麼。馬克說:「我有個更好的主意。」他跑到河邊,用他的象鼻子吸了些水,澆灌在所有花朵上。
「真是個好主意啊,」艾莫爺爺說:「在你們走之前,我還要請你們幫忙一件事…」(翻譯:袁星塵)
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