，天天5分钟，打破英语听力障碍！
‘Now, look here, Toad,’ said the Rat. ‘It’s about this Banquet, and very sorry I am to have to speak to you like this. But we want you to understand clearly, once and for all, that there are going to be no speeches and no songs. Try and grasp the fact that on this occasion we’re not arguing with you; we’re just telling you.’
“听着，蟾蜍，”河鼠说，“是有关宴会的事。很抱愧，我不能不如许跟你说话。不外，我们期看你大白，宴会上不搞讲演，不搞唱歌。你要放清醒些，我们不是和你讨论，而是通知你那个决定。”
Toad saw that he was trapped. They understood him, they saw through him, they had got ahead of him. His pleasant dream was shattered.
蟾蜍晓得，本身落进了圈套。他们领会他，把他看得透透的。他们夺在了他头里。他的美梦幻灭了。
‘Mayn’t I sing them just one LITTLE song?’ he pleaded piteously.
“我能不克不及就唱一收小歌?”他同情巴巴地央求道。
‘No, not ONE little song,’ replied the Rat firmly, though his heart bled as he noticed the trembling lip of the poor disappointed Toad.
“不可，一收小歌也不克不及唱，”河鼠勇敢地说，虽然他看到同情的蟾蜍那颤动的嘴唇，也怪心疼的。
‘It’s no good, Toady; you know well that your songs are all conceit and boasting and vanity; and your speeches are all self-praise and— and—well, and gross exaggeration and—and----‘
“那没益处，小蟾儿;你很清晰，你的歌满是大吹大擂，你的讲话满是自我夸耀，满是满是满是粗俗的夸饰，满是满是——”
‘And gas,’ put in the Badger, in his common way.
“胡吹，”獾痛快地说。
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‘It’s for your own good, Toady,’ went on the Rat. ‘You know you MUST turn over a new leaf sooner or later, and now seems a splendid time to begin; a sort of turning-point in your career. Please don’t think that saying all this doesn’t hurt me more than it hurts you.’
“小蟾儿，那是为你好呀，”河鼠陆续说。“你晓得，你迟早得洗心革面，而如今恰是重敲锣鼓另开张的大好时机，是你一生的转折点。请相信，说那话，我心里也欠好受，一点不比你好受。”
Toad remained a long while plunged in thought. At last he raised his head, and the traces of strong emotion were visible on his features. ‘You have conquered, my friends,’ he said in broken accents. ‘It was, to be sure, but a small thing that I asked—merely leave to blossom and expand for yet one more evening, to let myself go and hear the tumultuous applause that always seems to me—somehow—to bring out my best qualities. However, you are right, I know, and I am wrong. Hence forth I will be a very different Toad. My friends, you shall never have occasion to blush for me again. But, O dear, O dear, this is a hard world!’
蟾蜍深思了好久。最初，他抬起头，脸上显出深深动情的神采。“我的伴侣们，你们赢了，”他断断续续地说。“其实，我的要求很小很小，只不外是让我再尽情表示和发扬一个晚上，让我罢休演出一番，听听那雷喊般的掌声，因为我觉得，那掌声似乎表现了我更好的道德。不外，你们是对的，而我错了。从今以后，我必然要从头做人。伴侣们，你们再也不会为我脸红了。唉，老天爷，做人实难哪!”
And, pressing his handkerchief to his face, he left the room, with faltering footsteps.
说完，他用手帕捂住脸，踉踉跄跄地走出房间。
‘Badger,’ said the Rat, ‘_I_ feel like a brute; I wonder what YOU feel like?’
“獾，”河鼠说，“我觉得本身几乎是个狠心狼;不晓得你觉得如何?”
‘O, I know, I know,’ said the Badger gloomily. ‘But the thing had to be done. This good fellow has got to live here, and hold his own, and be respected. Would you have him a common laughing-stock, mocked and jeered at by stoats and weasels?’
“是啊，我大白，我大白，”獾忧郁地说。“可我们非如许做不成。那位好好先生必需在那儿住下往，站稳脚跟，受人尊崇。莫非你情愿看着他成为大伙儿的笑柄，被白鼬和黄鼠狼挖苦吗?”
‘Of course not,’ said the Rat. ‘And, talking of weasels, it’s lucky we came upon that little weasel, just as he was setting out with Toad’s invitations. I suspected something from what you told me, and had a look at one or two; they were simply disgraceful. I confiscated the lot, and the good Mole is now sitting in the blue boudoir, filling up plain, simple invitation cards.’
“当然不，”河鼠说。“说到黄鼠狼;那只给蟾蜍送信的小黄鼠狼，恰巧被咱们赶上了，实够命运的。我从你的话里，猜到那里准有文章，就抽查了一两封信。公然，那些信几乎写得活现眼。我把它们全充公了，好鼹鼠那会儿正坐在打扮室里，填写简单了然的请柬哩。”