Richard and Florence Atwater

波普先生去遛企鹅，当地人从前甚至没听说过这种生物，连新闻记者都来采访他和库克船长了。不过，意外的事情发生了，之前一直快活又淘气的库克船长忽然变得郁郁寡欢。慢慢地，它甚至不愿意进食了。这可着实让波普先生着急坏了！

All the Poppers had grown terribly fond of the funny， 1）solemn littlechap， and Mr. Popper’s heart was frozen with 2）terror. It seemed to himthat his life would be very empty if Captain Cook went away.

Surely someone would know what to do for a sick penguin. Hewished that there were some way of asking advice of Admiral Drake，away down at the South Pole， but there was not time.

In his despair， Mr. Popper had an idea. A letter had brought him hispet. He sat down and wrote another letter.

It was addressed to Dr. Smith， the Curator of the great Aquarium inMammoth City， the largest in the world. Surely if anyone anywhere hadany idea what could cure a dying penguin， this man would.

Two days later， there was an answer from the Curator.“Unfortunately，” he wrote， “it is not easy to cure a sick penguin. Perhapsyou do not know that we too have， in ouraquarium at Mammoth City， a penguin from the Antarctic. She is failing rapidly， in spite of everything we have done forher. I have wondered lately whether or not she is suffering from loneliness.Perhaps that is what ails your Captain Cook. I am， therefore， shippingyou， under separate cover， our penguin. You may keep her. There is just achance that the birds may get on better together.”

And that is how Greta came to live at 432 Proudfoot Avenue.

1） solemm adj. 表情嚴肃的 2） terror n. 惊恐；恐惧

波普一家都太爱这个好玩又严肃的小家伙了。现在波普先生的心被恐惧笼罩着。他觉得，如果库克船长走了，他的生活会变得很空虚。

一定有人知道怎样才能救活一只生病的企鹅。波普先生希望有什么方法可以问问南极的德雷克上将，但已经没时间了。

在绝望中，波普先生突然想到了一个主意： 是一封信给他带来了这只宠物，于是他坐下来，开始写另一封信。

这封信是写给史密斯博士的，他是世界上最大的水族馆——猛犸城大水族馆的馆长。如果真有人知道怎么救活一只快死的企鹅的话，那么这个人一定是他。

两天后，史密斯博士那儿传回了消息。“不幸的是，”他写道，“要救活一只生病的企鹅并不是一件容易的事。可能你不知道，在我们猛犸城的水族馆里也有一只生病的南极企鹅，我们也做了很多事来救她，但她依然病得很厉害。最近我在想，她是不是因为太孤独了。也许你的企鹅也是这个原因才生病的。所以，我把我们的企鹅也给你寄来了，在另一个包裹里，你把她留下吧。看看他们能不能一起好转。”

这就是格雷塔来到普劳福特432 号的原因。