宠物商店

廖文馨

One day， George is at a pet store. Because his birthday is coming soon， his parents promised1 to buy a pet for him as his birthday gift. He is looking at what kind of pet he might want to get. George has asked his parents if he could have a horse before. But his parents said no， because horses are too big to live in their house.

一天，乔治在一家宠物店里。因为他的生日快到了，父母答应给他买一只宠物作为生日礼物。他正在找他想要的那种宠物。乔治曾经问过父母他可不可以养一匹马。但是父母说不行，因为马太大了，不能住在他们家的房子里。

First， he sees dogs and cats. Baby dogs are called puppies， and baby cats are called kittens. George likes them because they are very easy to take care of and they can play a lot. But they will grow bigger someday. George likes small pets.

開始的时候，他看到了狗和猫。狗宝宝叫小狗，猫宝宝叫小猫。乔治喜欢它们，因为它们很容易照顾，还可以经常和它们玩。但它们总有一天会长大，乔治喜欢小宠物。

Then George sees some other animals， but they have to live in a cage2. He sees rabbits， guinea pigs3， and mice. Mice are what we call more than one mouse. He likes this kind of animals because they are small. Birds live in cages， too. George sees a parrot and a canary4. He likes them all， but the cage will always get dirty， and he doesnt want to clean it.

然后乔治看到了其他的动物，但是它们必须住在笼子里。他看到兔子、天竺鼠和老鼠。“Mice”就是当我们想表达不止一只老鼠时用的词。他喜欢这种动物，因为它们很小。鸟也住在笼子里，乔治看见一只鹦鹉和一只金丝雀。他喜欢它们，但是笼子总是会脏，他不想打扫。

George sees the animals in tanks5. The tanks are full of water. And there are fish and tortoises6 in them. He thinks about a goldfish， but he thinks he likes the tortoises more. There are also tanks with rocks and sand. There are snakes， spiders7， and scorpions8， but George is quite afraid of them. George likes the tortoises best， but they cant live in the little fishbowls. Tortoises need bigger tanks， so they can swim sometimes.

乔治看到了水箱里的动物。水箱里装满了水，里面有鱼和乌龟。虽然他考虑了一下金鱼，但他认为自己更喜欢乌龟。还有装满石头和沙子的罐子，里面有蛇、蜘蛛和蝎子，但是乔治非常怕它们。乔治最喜欢乌龟，但它们不能住在小鱼缸里。乌龟需要更大的水箱，这样它们就可以时常游泳。

Last， George decides9 that he wants to get a tortoise for his birthday. And then he asks for a list of what types of tortoises the store has. He also buys a book on how to take care of a tortoise.

最后，乔治决定了，他想要一只乌龟作为他的生日礼物。然后他要了一份商店里乌龟种类的清单，还买了一本关于如何照顾乌龟的书。

（英语原文选自：lingua.com）