Chapter 3 2.family problems

Stuart is also very useful when playing table tennis.The Little family likes to play table tennis, but the balls always roll under the chairs, sofas, and radiators. At this time, the players always have to bend down and get under these places to pick up the balls.It didn't take long for Stuart to learn to pick the ball.Many times, you can see him sweating and pushing a ping pong ball from under the radiator with all his might.Of course, the ball was almost as tall as he was, and he had to use every last bit of strength in his body to make it roll forward. The Little family has a grand piano in the living room.It is good in other places, but there is a key that is a little rough and cannot play the correct sound.Mrs. Little said it must be from the damp weather, but I don't understand how it got damp, that key has been working for four years, but during those four years, most of the time it was bright It's sunny.Anyway, the key was stuck anyway, which was very inconvenient for anyone who came to try to play the piano.This key was especially troublesome for George when he played the rather lively piece "Scarf Dance" on it.So George came up with the idea of ​​having Stuart stand in the piano, and when he was supposed to play the key, let Stuart push it.This is not an easy job for Stuart.He had to squat between the gavel wrapped in flannelette so as not to be beaten on the head. ②But Stuart still likes this job: listening to the great sound in the piano, it is very exciting when it jumps back and forth.Sometimes, spending too much time inside would leave his ears very deaf, like when he just got off a plane after a long trip, and there was little downtime before he regained normal hearing.

Mr. and Mrs. Little were always whispering about Stuart in his absence, for they never recovered from the shock and surprise of having a mouse in the house.He was so small and he caused so many problems for his parents.First, the word "rat" must no longer be used in their conversation, Mr. Little said.He also made Mrs. Little tear out the page from the nursery rhyme book that said "Three Blind Mice, See How They Run." ③ "I don't want Stuart to think too much about it," Mr Little said. "I'd be sad if my son grew up terrified that a farmer's wife would come and cut his tail off with a cleaver. The thought would give a child sleeping at night nightmares."

"Yes," replied Mrs. Little, "I think we should also think of that poem: 'It's Christmas Eve and there isn't a single animal running around in the house, not even a mouse.' I think Stuart He might be embarrassed to hear someone speak of rats in such a contemptuous tone." "Yes," said her husband, "but when we read this line, what are we going to say? We have to say something. We can't just say 'It's Christmas Eve and there isn't a single animal in the house. Run around', that would sound incomplete; then a word that rhymes with 'house' would be required."

"How about the lice?" asked Mrs. Little. "Or grouse," said Mr. Little. "I suggest the drunkard," reminded George, who happened to come out of the room and overheard these conversations. Having decided that "lice" was the most suitable word to replace the mouse, when Christmas came, Mrs. Little carefully erased the word "mouse" from the poem and rewritten it as "lice", so Stuart Art always thought that the poem said something like this: It's Christmas Eve, and in the house Not a single animal was roaming around, not even a louse.

It was the rat hole in the pantry that worried Mrs. Little the most.The hole had been there before the Littles moved in, and no one had thought to plug it.Mr. Little had no idea what Stuart thought of the rat hole.He didn't know where the hole would lead, and the thought that Stuart might one day want to venture into it made him particularly uncomfortable. "He looks very much like a mouse, after all," said Mr. Little to his wife. "I've never seen a mouse that didn't like to burrow." Note ①: "Scarf Dance": I have to simply translate it literally as "Scarf Dance", because I can't find the relevant introduction.If my friend Fugue appears, he can easily tell me, but who knows where he went?Forget it, anyway, I hate piano music, I hate classical music.

Note ②: Piano, the body is made of wood, with a steel plate inside, and dozens of steel wire strings on it. The keys make the small mallets covered with thick velvet strike the strings, and the timbre and volume can be changed by touching the pedals with your fingers. The shape is divided into two types: platform and vertical.After reading this boring note I found, I can probably imagine how much Stuart suffered in the piano. Note ③: This sentence comes from a nursery rhyme, but I can't find it.After my friend Yige told me, I was so happy, thank you!The following is the full text: Three blind mice. See how they run! They all ran after the farmers wife; who cut off their tails with a carving knife. Did you ever hear such a thing in your life? As three blind mice. The translation is roughly It means: "Three blind mice, running around, chasing the peasant woman blindly is never good! Three tails, cut off with a knife, watch you turn your tail up again. Have you ever heard this story in your life?" Although I translated it randomly , but from this I also know where the worries behind the book come from.

Note ④: The original text of these words here is this: house (house), louse (louse), grouse (Grouse), drunkard (souse) mouse (mouse).They should both rhyme with house. *