61: Watching a Show

The circus finally arrived in the town. Dad booked tickets for the first show on Thursday evening, which was the only show for which he could easily make himself free. The family arrived at the show and was in their seats in good time. Dad sat on a seat next to the aisle, with Mary two seats away next to Mother.

Then, with a blare of trumpets and a banging of drums, the show began. For the next two hours there were up-turned faces and gasps of astonishment, roars of laughter as water splashed about and balloons popped. People laughed and clapped their hands as the horses and the lion tamer performed. The show was over after two hours. "Which did you like best?"asked the mother as they made their way home. "Oh, the dogs"act,"cried Mary. "I had no idea that they could be so clever.

circus 馬戲團 aisle 走廊，過道 blare 大而刺耳的聲音

trumpet 喇叭 drum 鼓 up-turned 朝上的，翻過來的

gasp 喘氣，喘息 astonishment 驚訝 splash 使四處飛濺

pop 爆裂 clap 鼓掌，輕拍 tamer 馴服手 perform 表演

觀 看 演 出

馬戲團終于到鎮上了。爸爸預定了星期四晚上首場演出的票，這是他唯一能保證自己有空觀看的一場演出。一家子到了演出現場，迅速地在座位上坐好。爸爸坐在過道旁邊的位子上，瑪麗和他隔兩個位置，和媽媽挨著。

接著，隨著刺耳的喇叭聲和鼓的重擊聲，演出開始了。接下來的兩個小時里，那里有仰面大笑，驚訝的喘息聲，以及水花四濺和氣球爆裂時的哄堂大笑。當馴馬和馴獅者表演時，人們笑著拍手鼓掌。

兩個小時后表演結束了。“你最喜歡什么表演？”回家的路上，媽媽問。“哦，狗的表演。”瑪麗叫起來，“我以前從不知道它們會這么聰明。”