Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Ⅹ)波普先生的企鹅（十）

企鹅表演在全国引起了巨大的轰动。他们拿到了十周的合约，每周的报酬是五千美元。接下来的十周里，波普先生全家带着训练有素的十二只企鹅在各大城市间穿梭旅行。

From the Pacific coast they turned east again， to cross the 1）continent.They had time enough， on this brief tour， to touch only the larger cities.After Minneapolis， they played Milwaukee， Chicago， Detroit， Cleveland， andPhiladelphia.

Wherever they went， their 2）reputation traveled ahead of them. When，early in April， they reached Boston， huge crowds awaited them in the railwaystation.

Up to now， it had not been too difficult to keep the penguins comfortable.But a warm spring wind was 3）blowing across Boston Common， and at thehotel Mr. Popper had to have the ice brought up to his rooms in thousandpoundcakes. He was glad that the ten-week contract was almost up， andthat the next week， when his birds were to appear in New York， was the last.

Already Mr. Greenbaum was writing about a new contract.Mr. Popper was beginning to think， however， that he had better begetting back to Stillwater， for the penguins were growing 4）irritable.

1） continent n. 洲；大陆

2） reputation n. 名声；名誉

3） blow v. （风）刮；吹

4） irritable adj. 易怒的；急躁的

他们从太平洋西海岸往东走，要穿过美洲大陆。在这次短促的旅程中，他们只有时间去大点儿的城市。在明尼阿波利斯市演出之后，他们又去了密尔沃基、芝加哥、底特律、克利夫兰和费城。

每去一个地方，他们总是人未到就已经名声在外。4 月初，他们到达波士顿的时候，已经有大批的人在火车站迎接他们。

直到现在，让企鹅们舒服地生活不是太难的事。但温暖的春风吹拂着波士顿公园，在旅馆，波普先生不得不让人送来了1000 磅重的冰块。他很高兴这十周的合约马上就要结束了，下周他们将在纽约进行最后一场表演。

格林鲍姆先生已经在拟定新的合约。但波普先生已经开始在想，他们最好赶快回到静水镇，因为企鹅们已经开始焦躁不安了。