“Don’t eat your cake so fast,” said Arthur’s mother. “You’ll get the—”“Hic,” said Arthur. “Hic, hic.”

D.W. giggled.

“Arthur’s got the hic!cups! Arthur’s got the hiccups!” she laughed.

“It’s not—hic—funny,” said Arthur.

“别吃这么快！”妈妈对亚瑟说，“当心—”“嗝儿，”亚瑟打起嗝儿来，“嗝儿，嗝儿。”朵拉咯咯地笑出声来。

“哥哥打嗝儿啦！哥哥打嗝儿啦！”朵拉大声笑着说。

“有什么—嗝儿—好笑的？”亚瑟嘟囔。

“Drink a glass of water,” said his mother.So he did. But still he had the hiccups.

“喝杯水吧。”妈妈说。

亚瑟喝了一点水，可他还是打嗝儿。

“Hold your breath and count to twenty,”said his father.

So he did. But still he had the hiccups.

“憋住气，数二十下。”爸爸说。

亚瑟试了一下，可他还是打嗝儿。

“I know how to get rid of your hiccups,”said D.W.

“I don’t—hic—need your help,”said Arthur.“My friend the Brain will—hic—know.”

Arthur ran to the telephone and called the Brain.

“我知道怎么样能让你不再打嗝儿。”朵拉说。

“我不需要—嗝儿—你帮忙，”亚瑟回应，

“小灵通一定—嗝儿—知道该怎么办。”亚瑟跑到电话机旁拨通了小灵通的电话。

“Hiccups can be serious,” the Brain told Arthur.

“I read in my Book of Records about an old man who had hiccups for three years.”

“打嗝儿可能会持续很长时间，”小灵通对亚瑟说，“我在《世界纪录大全》那本书里看到一个老爷爷，他整整打了三年嗝儿。”

“Three years!” said Arthur. “Wow, what happened to him?”

“He died,” said the Brain.

“三年！”亚瑟惊讶地说，“那他后来怎么样了？”“他死啦。”小灵通回答。

Key points: giggle 咯咯笑 hiccup打嗝

breath气息 count 数 get rid of 除掉；摆脱serious 严重的 die 死亡

“But don’t worry,” said the Brain.

“You can get rid of them by standing on your head for fi ve minutes.”

“不过你不要担心，”小灵通又说，

“只要你能头朝下倒立五分钟，就可以不

再打嗝儿了。”

So Arthur stood on his head. But every time

he hiccuped, he fell over.

“This is more fun than television!” laughed D.W.“Maybe Buster can help,” said Arthur.

亚瑟马上开始倒立，可是他每次一打嗝儿，就会不小心摔下来。

“这比看电视好玩儿多了！”朵拉捧腹大笑。“说不定巴斯特能帮我。”亚瑟说。

Buster came right away to Arthur’s house.He brought his Big Joke Book. “A good laugh can cure anything, ” said Buster.

“Here’s a funny one: ‘What’s smaller

than an elephant, more annoying than a

mosquito, and never goes away? ’ ”

“I—hic—don’t know,” said Arthur.

“'Your sister!'” said Buster.

这时候巴斯特正好来找亚瑟。

他带来一本《笑话大全》，边翻边说：“笑一笑，百病消。嗯，这儿正好有个好笑的：‘什么比大象小，比蚊子烦人，总是甩不开？’”

“我—嗝儿—不知道。”亚瑟回答。

“你妹妹！”巴斯特说。

Key points: minute分钟 television电视joke笑话 cure 治愈 annoying恼人的mosquito 蚊子