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三怪客泛舟记
Three Men in a Boat

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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Chapter 8 George starts work

We decided that now George was there，he was going to do some work．He did not want to work， of course．'I've had a bad day at the bank，'he explained．

Harris，who is sometimes a little cruel，said，'Ah！And now you're going to have a bad time on the river for a change．A change is good for you．Come on！Get out of the boat and tow！'

George could not refuse，really，but he did say，'Perhaps it would be better if I stayed in the boat and prepared the meal．You two can tow the boat． 'then he added，'It's very difficult to prepare a meal and you both look tired．'

Our only reply was to give him the rope．So he started walk-ing，and he pulled the boat behind him．

Sometimes people forget that they are towing a boat，and later，George told us a story about this…

George had once seen a man and a young lady who were walking by the side of the river．They were pulling a rope behind them and they were talking to each other．They did not notice that there was no boat on the end of the rope．Of course，they probably had a boat on the end of the rope when they started out．But it had disappeared．The two young people were not worried about this．They had their rope．They did not seem to care that there was no boat．George was going to call out to tell them about it But，just then，he had an idea．He took hold of the rope，and he tied it to his own boat．Then he and his three fat，heavy friends sat in the back of their boat，and lit their pipes．And that young man and young woman towed George and his friends up to Marlow．It was when they reached the lock that they looked back．Suddenly they understood that they had been towing the wrong boat．George said，'I've never seen anyone look as sad as those two young people then！'

The young man was a bit annoyed．In fact，he was probably going to say something angry to George and his friends．But just then，the young woman cried wildly，'Oh，Henry，then where's Aunt Mary？'…'Did they ever get the old lady back？'Harris asked．George replied that he did not know．

But the most exciting thing of all is to let girls tow your boat．Let me tell you about it…First of all，you need three girls．You always need three girls to tow a boat．Two of them hold the rope，and the other one runs here and there and laughs all the time．

They usually begin by tying themselves up in the rope．They get it round their legs，and then they have to sit down to untie it．Next，they get it round their necks．When they finally get it right，they always start by running．They pull the boat much too fast．After a few minutes，they are tired，and so they stop suddenly．They all sit down on the grass，and they start to laugh．Meanwhile，your boat goes out into the middle of the river，and it starts to turn round．Then they stand up and are surprised．

'Oh，look！'they say．'The boat's gone into the middle of the river！'

After this，they pull you along quite well for a time．Then one of them decides to stop for something else．So the boat runs aground in shallow water near the river bank．You jump up，and you push the boat off into deep water．You shout to them，'Don't stop！'

'Yes，what's the matter？'they shout back．

'Don't stop！'you cry loudly．

'Don't what？'

'Don't stop… go on… go on！'

'Go back，Emily，and see what they want，'one of them says．

And Emily comes back and asks，'What is it？Is anything wrong？'

'No！'you shout．'It's all right！But go on！Don't stop！'

'Why not？'

'Because we can't steer the boat if you stop．'

'Why not？'

'You must keep the boat moving！'

'Oh，all right．I'll tell them．Are we doing everything else all right？'

'Oh，yes，very nicely-but don't stop！'

'I see．Oh，give me my hat，please．It's over there．'

You find her hat，and you give it to her．But then another girl comes．She thinks she will have her hat，too．And then they take Mary's hat for her．Mary does not want it，so they bring it back．Then they want a comb．It is about twenty minutes before they start again．Then，at the next corner，they see a cow．You have to stop，and leave the boat，to chase the cow away…

Anyway，this time it was George who towed us on to Penton Hook．There we discussed the important question of where to spend the night．We had decided to sleep on the boat．There-fore we could stay there，or we could go on past Staines．In the end，we decided to continue to Runnymede．

Later we all wished we had stopped at Penton Hook．