One day when Mrs. Little was washing out the bathtub after Mr. Little had taken a bath,she lost a ring off her finger and was horrified to discover that it had fallen down the drain.
一天,利特尔太太在利特尔先生浴后刷浴缸时,把手指上的戒指弄掉了,并且惊恐地发现它已经滑进了排水孔里。
"What had I better do?" she cried, trying to keep the tears back.
“我该怎么办?”她叫着,强忍着要流下的眼泪。
"If I were you," said George, I should bend a hairpin in the shape of a fishhook and tie it onto a piece of string and try to fish the ring out with it.
“如果我是你,”乔治说,我会把一个发卡弯成鱼钩形,再把它系在一根绳子上,用这根绳子去从里面把戒指钓出来。
So Mrs. Little found a piece of string and a hairpin, and for about a half-hour she fished for the ring;
于是利特尔太太就找了一根绳子和一个发卡,在那里垂钓了大约半小时;
but it was dark down the drain and the hook always seemed to catch on something before she could get it down to where the ring was.
可是排水孔下面那么黑,而那钩子在被她放到戒指所在的地方之前,总是似乎先钓起别的什么东西。
"What luck?" inquired Mr. Little, coming into the bathroom.
"运气如何?"来到浴室的利特尔先生问。
"No luck at all," said Mrs. Little. "The ring is so far down I can't fish it up."
"糟透了,"利特尔太太说。"这戒指落得太深了,我没办法钓到它。"
"Why don't we send Stuart down after it?" suggested Mr. Little. "How about it, Stuart, would you like to try?"
“为什么我们不派斯图亚特下去找找?"利特尔先生建议。"怎么样,斯图亚特,你愿意去试试吗?”
"Yes, I would," Stuart replied, "but I think I'd better get into my old pants. I imagine it's wet down there."
“是的,我愿意,"斯图亚特回答,"不过我想我最好还是穿着我的旧裤子下去,我估计那下面很湿。”
"It's all of that," said George, who was a trifle annoyed that his hook idea hadn't worked.
“就那么办吧。”乔治说。因为钩子的主意没有奏效,他有点儿不太高兴。