The Story of Dr Dolittle / История доктора Дулиттла. 5 класс
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“We will wait here,” said Chee-Chee, “until the soldiers go back to bed. Then we can go on into the Land of the Monkeys.” So there they stayed the whole night through. At last, when daylight began to come through the thick leaves overhead, they heard Queen Ermintrude. She said in a very tired voice, “We can’t find them! Let’s go back and get some sleep.”
And then Chee-Chee brought the Doctor and his animals out of the hiding-place and they went to the Land of the Monkeys. It was a long, long way; and they often got very tired. They always had plenty to eat and drink because Chee-Chee and Polynesia knew all the different kinds of fruits and vegetables that grow in the jungle, and where to find them. They made their lemonade out of the juice of wild oranges, sweetened with honey which they got from the bees’ nests. At night they slept in tents made of palm leaves, on thick, soft beds of dried grass.
When the night came and they stopped for their resting-time, the Doctor made a little fire of sticks; and they sat round it in a ring. Polynesia started singing songs about the sea, and then Chee-Chee told stories of the jungle.
Now when the King’s army told the King that they couldn’t find the Doctor, the King sent them out again and told them they must stay in the jungle until they caught him. So all this time, while the Doctor and his animals were on the way to the Land of the Monkeys, the King’s men were after them.
One day Chee-Chee climbed up a high rock and looked out over the tree-tops. And when he came down he said they were now quite close to the Land of the Monkeys. And that evening they saw Chee-Chee’s cousin and a lot of other monkeys who were in the trees by a swamp, looking and waiting for them. And when they saw the famous doctor, these monkeys felt happy, made a tremendous noise and started waving leaves to greet him.
But the King’s men, who were still after them, heard the noise and they at last knew where the Doctor was, and wanted to catch him. A big monkey saw the Captain of the army among the trees. So he hurried after the Doctor and told him to run.
Then they all ran; and the King’s men began to run too; and the Captain ran hardest of all. Soon Chee-Chee shouted, “It’s all right! We are close to the Land of the Monkeys!” But before they could get into the Land of the Monkeys, they came to a steep cliff with a river below. This was the end of the Kingdom of Jolliginki; and the Land of the Monkeys was on the other side – across the river. And Jip, the dog, looked down over the edge of the steep, steep cliff and said,
“How can we get across?”
“Oh, dear!” [10] said Gub-Gub. “The King’s men are quite close now – Look at them! I am afraid they will take us back to prison again.” And he began to weep. But one of the monkeys cried out to the other monkeys, “Boys – a bridge! Quick! – Make a bridge!”
And very soon there was a bridge made of living monkeys across the river! And a big monkey shouted to the Doctor, “Walk over! Walk over – all of you – hurry!” So all of them crossed the river. The King’s men came to the edge of the cliff and saw they were too late. The Doctor and all his animals were safe in the Land of the Monkeys.
10
Ой-ой-ой!
Then Chee-Chee turned to the Doctor and said, “Many great explorers wanted to see how the monkeys make a bridge. But we never let a white man look at it before. You are the first to see the famous ‘Bridge of Apes.’” And the Doctor felt very pleased.
The Eighth Chapter
The Leader of The Lions
John Dolittle now became very busy. He found a lot of sick monkeys – gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, gray monkeys, red ones – all kinds. And many died. The first thing he did was to separate the sick monkeys from the well ones. Then he asked Chee-Chee and his cousin to build him a little house of grass. The next thing: he told all the monkeys who were still well to come and be vaccinated. [11] Then he asked to build another house – a big one, with a lot of beds in it; and he put all the sick monkeys in this house. But there were not enough well monkeys to look after the sick ones. So he asked the other animals, like the lions and the leopards and the antelopes, to come and help.
11
сделать
But the Leader of the Lions was a very proud creature. And when he came to the Doctor’s big house full of beds he looked angry.
“Do you dare to ask me, Sir?” he said and glared at the Doctor. “Do you dare to ask me – ME, THE KING OF BEASTS, to look after a lot of dirty monkeys?”
Although the lion looked very terrible, the Doctor was not afraid of him.
“They’re not dirty,” he said quietly. “They’ve all had a bath this morning. Now listen, and I’ll tell you something: the day may come [12] when the lions get sick. And if you don’t help the other animals now, the lions will be all alone when THEY are in trouble. That often happens to proud people.”
12
возможно, придёт день
“The lions are never IN trouble – they only MAKE trouble,” said the Leader, turning up his nose. And he walked away into the jungle.
Then the leopards became proud too and said they didn’t want to help. And then of course the antelopes said so. And now the poor Doctor was really worried because he didn’t know how to help poor sick monkeys.
But when the Leader of the Lions came back to his den, he saw his wife, the Queen Lioness, who said, “One of the cubs doesn’t want to eat. I don’t know WHAT to do with him. He hasn’t taken a thing since last night.” And she began to cry because she was a good mother, even though she was a lioness. So the Leader went into his den and looked at his children – two very little cubs, lying on the floor. And one of them seemed quite poor. Then the lion told his wife, quite proudly, about his talk with the Doctor. And she got so angry that she nearly drove him out of the den.
“You are foolish!” she screamed. “All the animals from here to the Indian Ocean are talking about this wonderful man, and how he can cure any kind of sickness, and how kind he is! And now, NOW – when we have a sick baby on our hands, you offended him! Go back to that white man at once,” she yelled, “and tell him you’re sorry. And take all the other stupid leopards and antelopes with you. Then do everything that the Doctor tells you. Work hard! And perhaps he will be kind enough to come and see the cub later. HURRY, I tell you! You’re not a good father!” And she went into the den next door, where another mother-lion lived, and told her all about it.
So the Leader of the Lions went back to the Doctor and said, “I was near your house and decided to look in. Have you got any help yet?”
“No,” said the Doctor. “I haven’t. And I’m really worried.”
“It’s very hard to get help these days,” said the lion. “Animals don’t want to work any more…Well, I see you’re in difficulties [13] so I am ready to help you but only if I don’t have to [14] wash the creatures. And I have told all the other animals to come and help. The leopards will be here soon…. Oh, and by the way, [15] we’ve got a sick cub at home. I don’t think that the problem is serious. But my wife is anxious. So will you take a look at him?”
13
у тебя трудности
14
только, если мне не придётся
15
кстати