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The Cat That Rang the Bell

敲钟的猫

The cat lived in a nunnery. She had noticed that when a certain bell was rung, a group of nuns would come for their meals. and she also received her food.

这只猫住在一家女修道院里。她注意到当某个钟敲响时，一群修女就会来吃饭，她也可以得到她的食物。

One day she was shut up in a room by herself when she heard the bell ring.

有一天她把自己关闭在一间屋子里，那时她听到钟声响了。

But she couldn't open the door, the window was too high to reach, and the glass was too strong to break. At last, after some hours, the door was opened.

但她无法打开门，窗户太高了够不着，玻璃太结实了无法打破。最后，几个小时后，门终于被打开了。

She hurried to the place where she expected to find her dinner, but no dinner there.

她匆忙赶到她期盼可以找到午餐的地方，但那里却没有午餐。

She was very hungry, and hunger made her clever. She knew where the rope hung which pulled the bell.

她太饿了，饥饿让她变得聪明。她知道拉响钟声的绳子悬挂在哪儿。

"Now, when that bell rings I generally get my supper," she thought as she ran towards the rope.

“现在，要是那挂钟响了，一般我就可以得到我的晚餐了。”当她朝绳子跑去时，她这样想着。

That was a thick rope. It was easy for her to reach the rope. She jumped upon it.

那是一根粗绳子。她可以很容易地够到绳子。她一跃而起跳上了绳子。

It gave a pleasant sound. As she was swinging, she thought, "Now I shall get my supper, though I have lost my dinner." The bell rang louder and louder.

绳子响起了悦耳的声音。在她摇摆时，她想，“现在我将要得到我的晚餐了，尽管我没有吃上午餐。”钟声越来越响了。

The nuns hearing the bell ring at so unusual an hour, and came hurrying to the bell.

修女们听到钟声在这不寻常的时间内响起，便匆匆赶到钟所在的地方。

They wondered what was wrong. To their great surprise, they saw it was the cat which rang the bell!

她们想知道到底发生什么事了。让她们非常惊奇的是，她们看到敲响钟的竟是那只猫。

They couldn't understand and thought for some time, till the sister who gave the cat her meals remembered that she had not been present at dinner time, and then, she brought double meals to the cat immediately.

她们无法理解，还想了一段时间，后来，给这只猫喂食的那位修女想起这只猫在午饭时间不在场，然后，她就立即给这只猫拿来了双倍的食物。

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