介绍:
罗尔德·达尔（Roald Dahl，1916年9月13日—1990年11月23日），是挪威籍的英国杰出儿童文学作家、剧作家和短篇小说作家，作品流传于大人或小孩中，极为知名。
内容简介：
Hoppy先生的退休生活表面上挺平淡的，就是照料照料阳台上的花园，从家里闲逛到商店再逛回家。不过这些平静的表面下，他激情似火而又无可救药地暗恋 上了楼下邻居Silver太太.
退休的单身汉Hoppy先生对他的邻居Silver太太有好感，而Silver太太只对她的宠物乌龟有感情。
这是一个大人小孩都适合听的故事，有小孩的抱上你的小孩，没有小孩的抱着你的爱人，一起来戳一下下面绿色播放键来收听John给大家读的英文原版书吧！
Mr. Hoppy lived in a small flat (小公寓) high upin a tall concrete（混凝土） building. He lived alone. He had always been a lonely man and nowthat he was retired from（从…退休） work he was more lonely than ever.
There were two loves in Mr. Hoppy’s life.One was the flowers he grew on his balcony（阳台）. They grew inpots and tubs and baskets, and in summer the little balcony became a riot ofcolour（万紫千红）. Mr. Hoppy’s second love was a secret he kept entirely（完全地） tohimself.
The balcony immediately below（=right below） Mr. Hoppy’sjutted out(突出) a good bit further from the building than his own, so Mr. Hoppyalways had a fine（好的） view of what was going on down there. This balcony belonged to an attractive（吸引人的） middle-agedlady called Mrs Silver. Mrs Silver was a widow（寡妇） who also livedalone. And although she didn’t know it, it was she who was the object of Mr.Hoppy’s secret love. He had loved her from his balcony for many years, but hewas a very shy man and he had never been able to bring himself to（使自己做某事）give her even the smallest hint（暗示） of his love.
Every morning, Mr. Hoppy and Mrs Silverexchanged（交换） polite conversation, the one looking down from above, the otherlooking up, but that was as far as it ever went. The distance between their balconiesmight not have been more than a few yards, but to Mr. Hoppy it seemed like amillion miles. He longed to（渴望） invite MrsSilver up for a cup of tea and a biscuit, but every time he was about to form（形成） thewords on his lips, his courage（勇气） failed him. As I said, he was a very very shy man.
Oh, if only, he kept telling himself, ifonly he could do something tremendous（惊人的，极好的） like savingher life or rescuing her from a gang of armed thugs（暴徒）, if onlyhe could perform（执行） some great feat（功绩，壮举） that would make him a hero in her eyes. If only…
The trouble with Mrs Silver was that shegave all her love to somebody else, and that somebody was a small tortoise（龟） calledAlfie. Every day, when Mr. Hoppy looked over his balcony and saw Mrs Silverwhispering（低语） endearments（钟爱） to Alfie and stroking（按抚） his shell, he felt absurdly（荒谬地） jealous（嫉妒）. Hewouldn’t ever have minded becoming a tortoise himself if it meant Mrs Silverstroking his shell each morning and whispering endearments to him.
Alfie have been with Mrs. Silver for yearsand he lived on her balcony summer and winter. Planks（木板） had beenplaced around the sides of the balcony so that Alfie could walk about（走来走去）without toppling over（推翻）the edge, and in one corner there was a little house intowhich Alfie would crawl every night to keep warm.
When the colder weather came along inNovember, Mrs. Silver would fill Alfie’s house with dry hay（干草）, and thetortoise would crawl（爬行） in there and bury（埋） himself deep under the hay and go to sleep for months on end（连续地） withoutfood or water. This is called hibernating（冬眠）.
In early spring, when Alfie felt the warmerweather through his shell, he would wake up and crawl very slowly out of hishouse on to the balcony. And Mrs. Silver would clap her hands(拍掌) with joy and cry out, “Welcome back, my darling one! Oh, how I havemissed you!”
It was at times like these that Mr. Hoppywished more than ever that he could change places wish Alfie and become atortoise.
Now we come to a certain bright morning inMay when something happened that changed and indeed electrified（使…充电，使…震惊） Mr. Hoppy’slife. He was leaning over（倾身，俯身）hisbalcony-rail watching Mrs Silver serving his breakfast.
“Here’s the heart of the lettuce（生菜） for you,my lovely,” she was saying.” And here’s a slice of fresh tomoto and a piece ofcrispy celery（芹菜）.”
“ Good morning, Mrs Silver,” Mr. Hoppysaid.” Alfie’s looking well this morning.”
“Isn’t he gorgeous（华丽的）!”MrsSilver said, looking up and beaming at（对…微笑） him.
“Absolutely（绝对地） gorgeous,” MrHoppy said, not meaning it. And now, as he looked down at Mrs Silver’s smilingface gazing（凝望，凝视） up into his own, he thought for the thousandth time how pretty shewas, how sweet and gentle（文雅的，温和的） and full of kindness, and his heart ached（疼痛） withlove.
“I do so wish he would grow a littlefaster,” Mrs Silver was saying.” Every spring, when he wakes up from his wintersleep, I weight him on the kitchen scales（厨房称）. And do youknow that in all the eleven years I’ve have him he’s not gained more than threeounces（盎司）!That’s almost nothing!”
“What does he weight now?” Mr. Hoppy askedher.
“Just thirteen ounces,” Mrs Silveranswered. “About as much as a grapefruit.”
“ Yes, well, tortoises are very slow growers,”Mr Hoppy said solemnly（庄严地，严肃地）. “But they can live for a hundred years.”
“I know that,” Mrs Silver said. “But I doso wish he would grow just a little bit bigger. He’s such a tiny wee （一丁点）fellow.”
“He seems just fine as he is,” Mr Hoppysaid.
“ No, he’s not just fine!” Mrs Silver cried（喊叫）.” Try tothink how miserable（悲惨的） it must make him feel to be so titchy（非常小的）! Everyonewants to grow up.”
“You really would love him to grow bigger,wouldn’t you?” Mr. Hoppy said, and even as he said it his mind suddenly wentclick（灵机一动） and an amazing idea came rushing into（突然闯入）his head.
“Of course I would!” Mrs silver cried.” I’dgive anything to make it happen! Why, I’ve seen pictures of giant（巨大的） tortoisesthat are so huge people can ride（骑） on their backs! If Alfie were to see those he’d turn green withenvy（眼红）!”
Mr.Hoppy’s mind was spinning（旋转） like a fly- wheel（飞陀）. Here, surely, was his big chance! Grab（抓起） it, hetold himself. Grab it quick!
“ Mrs Silver,” he said. “ I do actuallyhappen to know how to make tortoises grow faster, if that’s really what youwant.”
“You do?” She cried. “Oh, please tell me!Am I feeding him the wrong things?”
“I worked in North Africa once,” Mr. Hoppysaid, “That’s where all these tortoises in England come from, and a Bedouin（贝多因人，流浪的） tribesman（部落首领） toldme the secret.”
“ Tell me!” cried Mrs Silver. “ I beg（乞求） you totell me, Mr. Hoppy! I’ll be your slave（奴隶） for life.”
When he heard the words your slave for life, a little shiver of（有点颤抖）excitement swept through Mr. Hoppy. “ Wait there,” he said. “I’llhave to go in and write something down for you.”
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