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《会变魔术的小兔子》
Fluffy the Magician
“那么，”梅茜一边练习她参加学校才艺表演的巴东棍韵律操一边说，“你把所有笑话都串起来了吗，马蒂？”
“我能看出你听过我所有的笑话，”马蒂说，“这就是问题。所以这次才艺表演我不坐在那儿演脱口秀了。我想到个新节目，我要当魔术师。”
“什么时候想到的？”梅茜问。
“我叔叔鲍勃上周来看我，还把他小时候变魔术的那些旧玩意儿全都给我带来了，就是从那时候开始的。我现在有一顶高顶礼帽和一件袖子里可以藏东西的外套。他甚至还给我弄来了一只可以从帽子里拽出来的兔子。我妈妈对此不是很高兴。这只兔子叫绒绒。”
“今年暑假可以让我们的宠物兔子司令官和绒绒来一场兔子赛跑！”梅茜说，“好吧，我很想看你的表演，但卡维塔和我必须为演出排练了。”
“噢，”戴德丽说，“每个人都要演节目，除了我。”
“你可以做我的助手，”马蒂说，“我需要一个人刚好在恰当的时刻带着我的高顶礼帽和兔子出现。”
“你的意思是，当你的美女助手？” 戴德丽说，“当然，那可太好了。”
范德诺斯特太太是负责这次才艺演出的老师，她整个星期都在学校舞台上组织彩排。
“那对一肚子坏水的双胞胎为什么总在彩排时瞎转悠啊？”所有孩子一起走路回家的时候梅茜问道。
“范德诺斯特太太让鲍勃和罗布做舞台管理员。”马蒂说。
“好吧，我不信任他们。”卡维塔说。
“我也不信任他们，”梅茜说，“马蒂在台上的时候他们绕着兔笼子转悠了好大工夫。”
马蒂并没注意听，他在担心他的戏法。“听着，你们觉得我是不是应该变完魔术之后讲几个笑话？”
“除非你的魔术出岔子了，”戴德丽说，“那样的话就讲一个笑话——要快。”
演出当晚，马蒂的魔术并不是唯一出岔子的。幕布该升上去的时候落了下来，好几样道具还不见了。谁都没时间去找原因，他们都忙着准备上场。接着范德诺斯特太太向观众宣布：巴东棍韵律操姐妹卡维塔和梅茜将在魔术师马蒂之后出场，而不是像在节目单里写的那样在魔术节目之前。因此马蒂不得不快速跑上舞台。他本来应该藏在袖子里的卡片不见了，他变魔术用的几条丝巾好像也粘在了口袋里，就好像是有人把它们缝在那儿一样。结果他讲了好多笑话来收场，讲得还很快。
“别担心，”他小声对戴德丽说，“只管把帽子和绒绒拿上来演压轴大戏就行。”
戴德丽跑去拿帽子。卡维塔刚好从后台拿着帽子跑过来，把帽子交给了她。
“变变变！”马蒂念起咒语，“现在我从帽子里拽出来的是……兔子司令官？”他惊讶地尖叫道。
“你怎么会在这儿？”
观众哄然大笑，掌声如雷。每个人都以为这是表演中的一部分。马蒂快速地鞠了个躬，匆匆忙忙回到后台。“绒绒在哪儿呢？”他抓狂地问，“还有，司令官怎么会在这里？”
梅茜和卡维塔跑上舞台开始她们的巴东棍韵律操表演，戴德丽领着马蒂回到范德诺斯特太太的道具柜，柜子里绒绒平安无事地待在笼子里。
“我觉得你得好好表扬表扬梅茜和卡维塔，”戴德丽解释道，“她们看不惯鲍勃和罗布整个星期一直围着绒绒的笼子转悠。所以梅茜就把司令官带来了，并把它的兔笼子放进了范德诺斯特太太的道具柜，就为了以防万一。然后她们请范德诺斯特太太调换了节目顺序，这样她们就能盯着这对双胞胎。果然，你一上台，那俩男孩就偷走了绒绒，把它藏到了门卫的壁橱里。梅茜跟着他们，而卡维塔就跑去拿司令官，及时把它送到了台上。然后梅茜救出了绒绒，把它藏进了范德诺斯特太太的柜子里——嗨，你们好！”
卡维塔和梅茜跑了过来，刚才表演的那些旋转动作让她们有一点上气不接下气。
“嗨，马蒂！”卡维塔说，“如果从帽子里拎出的兔子错了你就大吃一惊，那你真应该看看鲍勃和罗布发现绒绒从门卫壁橱里消失时的那两张脸！”
马蒂大笑起来。“他们肯定以为绒绒也会变魔术呢，”他说，“感谢伟大、神奇、会失踪术的兔子魔术师绒绒和它美丽的助手，卡维塔和梅茜！”
他们全都大笑起来，直到最后演出结束他们上台谢幕时还笑个不停。
“So,” said Maisie as she practiced her baton twirling ) for the school talent show, “do you have all your jokes lined up ), Marty?”
“I can see you’ve heard all of my jokes,” said Marty. “That’s the problem. So I’m not doing sit-down comedy ) for this talent show. I’ve got a new act ). I’m a magician.”
“Since when?” asked Maisie.
“Since my uncle Bob visited last week and brought me all his old magic stuff that he had as a kid. I have a top hat and a coat to hide things up the sleeves. He even got me a bunny to pull out of the hat. My mom wasn’t too happy about that. His name is Fluffy.”
“This summer we can have bunny races with our pet Commander Lapin and Fluffy!” said Maisie. “Well, I’d like to watch your act, but Kavita and I have to practice for the show.”
“Aw,” said Deidre. “Everyone is in the show but me.”
“You can be my assistant,” said Marty. “I need someone to come out with my top hat and bunny at just the right moment.”
“Your beautiful assistant, you mean,” said Deidre. “Sure, that’ll be great.”
Mrs. Vandernost, the teacher in charge of the talent show, held rehearsals on the school stage all week.
“Why were those mean twins hanging around at rehearsal?” asked Maisie as the kids all walked home together.
“Mrs. Vandernost made Bob and Rob stagehands ),” said Marty.
“Well, I don’t trust them,” said Kavita.
“Me neither,” said Maisie. “They were spending an awful lot of time around the bunny cage while Marty was onstage.”
Marty wasn’t paying attention. He was worried about some of his tricks. “Listen, do you think I should tell jokes after the tricks?”
“Only if they go wrong,” said Deidre. “Then tell a joke—fast.”
On the night of the show, the tricks weren’t the only things going wrong. Curtains went down when they should have gone up. Props ) disappeared. No one had time to find out why; they were all too busy getting ready to go on. Then Mrs. Vandernost announced to the audience that the twirling baton girls, Kavita and Maisie, would be going on after Marty the Magician, not before as it said in the program. So Marty had to race onto the stage. The card he was supposed to hide up his sleeve was missing, and his scarfs seemed to be attached to the inside of his pocket as if someone had sewn them there. He ended up telling a lot of jokes. Fast.
“Don’t worry,” he said under his breath to Deidre. “Just bring out the hat and Fluffy for the big finale ).”
Deidre ran to get the hat. Kavita had just come running backstage with it and handed it to her.
“Abracadabra )!” said Marty. “I now pull out of my hat … COMMANDER LAPIN?” he shrieked in amazement.
“What are you doing here?”
The audience laughed uproariously ), and the applause sounded like thunder. Everyone thought it was part of the act. Marty took a quick bow and hurried backstage. “Where’s Fluffy?” he asked frantically ). “And what is Commander Lapin doing here?”
Maisie and Kavita ran onstage and began twirling, and Deidre took Marty back to Mrs. Vandernost’s art closet, where Fluffy sat safely in his cage.
“I guess you gotta hand it to ) Maisie and Kavita,” Deidre explained. “They didn’t like the way Bob and Rob kept hanging around Fluffy’s cage all week. So Maisie brought Commander Lapin and put his cage in Mrs. Vandernost’s art closet, just in case. Then they asked Mrs. Vandernost to switch the order of the acts so they could keep an eye on the twins. Sure enough, as soon as you went onstage, the boys stole Fluffy and hid him in the janitor’s ) closet. Maisie followed them while Kavita ran for Commander Lapin and got him onstage just in time. Then Maisie rescued Fluffy and hid him in Mrs. Vandernost’s closet—hi, guys!”
Kavita and Maisie had come running up, a little out of breath from all of their twirling.
“Hey, Marty!” Kavita said. “If you think you were surprised to pull the wrong rabbit out of the hat, you should have seen Bob’s and Rob’s faces when they found Fluffy missing from the janitor’s closet!”
Marty laughed. “They must have thought that Fluffy is magic after all,” he said. “Thank goodness for Fluffy the Magnificent, Magical, Disappearing Bunny and his beautiful assistants, Kavita and Maisie!”
They all laughed and were still laughing as they went onstage to take their final bows at the end of the talent show.
文章摘自：《新东方英语·中学生》杂志2016年6月号
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