精靈鼠小弟 第8期:貯藏室里耗子洞

It was decided that louse was the best substitute for mouse,

決定了"虱子"是最合適的替代老鼠的詞以后，

and so when Christmas came around Mrs. Little carefully rubbed out the word mouse from the poem and wrote in the word louse,

當(dāng)圣誕節(jié)來到時，利特爾太太便小心地把"老鼠"那個詞從詩里抹掉，改寫為"虱子"，

and Stuart always thought that the poem went this way:

于是斯圖亞特就總以為那句詩是這么說的：

It was the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a louse.

這是圣誕的前夜，房子里沒有一個動物在亂跑，甚至是一只虱子。

The thing that worried Mr. Little most was the mouse hole in the pantry.

最使利特爾太太擔(dān)心的還是食品貯藏室里的那個耗子洞。

This hole had been made by some mice in the days before the Littles came to live in the house, and nothing had been done about stopping it up.

這個洞在利特爾一家搬來這里住之前就有了，而且沒人想過把它堵上。

Mr. Little was not at all sure that he understood Stuart's real feeling about a mouse hole.

利特爾先生根本不知道斯圖亞特對那個老鼠洞是怎么看的。

He didn't know where the hole led to, and it made him uneasy to think that Stuart might some day feel the desire to venture into it.

他不知道那個洞會通到哪里，而且一想到斯圖亞特有一天可能會想進那里面去探險，他心里就特別的不舒服

"After all, he does look a good deal like a mouse," said Mr. Little to his wife.

"畢竟，他看起來非常像一只老鼠，"利特爾先生對他的妻子說.

And I've never seen a mouse yet that didn't like to go into a hole.

我還從沒見過一只不喜歡鉆洞的老鼠呢。