第8章 THE SAILOR AND THE MONKEYS 水手和猴子

A SAILOR once went ashore on the coast of South America. He had with him a number of red woollen caps for sale. On his way to a town at some distance from the coast, he had to pass through a forest, in which troops of monkeys were everywhere seen climbing among the trees.

At noon, as the sun was right overhead, the sailor had to take shelter from its burning rays. He lay down to rest under the shade of a large tree.

Taking one of the caps out of his bundle, he put it on his head, and soon fell fast asleep.

When he awoke, he found, to his utter amazement, that the caps were all gone! A most unusual chattering among the dense branches above him drew his attention. Looking up, he saw the trees alive with troops of monkeys, and on the head of each monkey was a red woollen cap!

The little mimics had watched his proceedings;and, having stolen his caps while he slept, had adorned their black pates with their booty. The monkeys gave no heed to his shouts, but only grinned at his rage.

Finding every attempt to get back his caps fruitless, he pulled off the one which he had put on his head, and threw it on the ground, crying out, “Here, you little thieving rogues, if you will keep the rest, you may take this one too!”

No sooner had he done this, than, to his great surprise, the little animals at once did the same. Each snatched the cap from his head and threw it on the ground! The sailor regained all his caps, and marched off in triumph.

Questions

Who is that lying on the ground? What is he doing? What do you see on the trees? What have they got on their heads? What is the monkey on the ground doing? Where did the others get their caps? How were they made to give them up again?

Pronunciation

A-mer'-i-ca bun'-dle at-ten'-tion climb'-ing fruit'-less

dis'-tance branch'-es a-dorned' chat'-ter-ing thiev'-ing

Write

unusual attempt triumph

climbing fruitless thieving

amazement chattering snatched

有一次，一个水手在南美洲一个海岸上岸，他带了一些红色的羊毛帽子，准备卖到距离海岸不远的一个小镇。去这个小镇需要经过一片森林，这片森林里有好多猴子。

中午太阳日头正大的时候，水手想找个地方躲避炙热的阳光，于是便在一棵大树的树荫下躺下来休息。

水手拿出一顶帽子，盖到头上，很快睡着了。

当他醒来的时候，不禁大吃一惊，他的帽子全都没了！浓密的树枝间发出的不同寻常的颤动声引起了他的注意。他抬头往上一看，发现树上满是猴子，而且每个猴子头上都戴着一顶红色羊毛帽子！

原来这些小模仿者关注着水手的一举一动，他们趁水手睡着的时候偷了他的帽子，并且把自己的战利品戴在黑黑的脑袋上。猴子们不仅对水手的喊叫无动于衷，看到他震怒时还龇牙咧嘴地笑。

水手想尽了各种办法都没能把帽子夺回来，于是他把自己头上戴的那顶帽子拿下来，扔到地上，大声喊，“喂，你们这些偷东西的小无赖，既然你们把其他帽子都拿走了，那干脆把这顶也拿走算了！”

让水手大吃一惊的是，他刚把帽子一扔，这些小猴子们立即就做了同样的动作。所有的猴子都抓起自己头上的帽子，扔到了地上！水手收起了他的帽子，洋洋得意地走了。