Amy the Hedgehogs Girl Miserable Mr Peck
Her mum was in the kitchen when Amy rushed in.
‘How was school?’ asked Mrs Harris, expecting the usual answer, ‘OK.’
‘It was great,’ cried Amy. ‘A lady gave us a talk on wildlife and she showed us a hedgehog expert.’
‘A what?’ said Mrs Harris.
‘A hedgehog expert. Someone who knows all about hedgehogs.’
‘That’s good,’ said Mrs Harris. ‘You’ll need to go the library and see if you can find some books.’
‘Oh dear,’ Amy groaned. ‘I’ll have to see Mr Peck.’
Mr Peck was the children’s librarian. He was a mean and miserable sort of person. He also lived next door to Amy.
The library was almost empty when Amy arrived. She looked along the shelves, trying to find a book on hedgehogs.
‘What are you doing?’ snapped a voice behind her. Amy nearly jumped out of her socks. It was Mr Peck. ‘I was looking for a book about animals.’
‘Animals, indeed,’ sniffed Mr Peck. ‘What sort of animals? Tame animals? Wild animals? Animals from Africa? India? Britain?’
‘Hedgehogs,’ said Amy.
‘Hedgehogs!’ bawled Mr Peck. ‘The very worst animals there are. They dig up vegetables and bite lumps out of them.’
He pulled a book from the shelves.
‘If you must study the horrid things, this is the best I can do.’ ‘Thank you, said Amy politely.
‘Make sure you bring it back on time. And don’t you dare bring hedgehogs into your garden. Your garden is next to mine, don’t forget. If I see a hedgehog near my carrots, do you know what I am going to do?’
‘No,’ said Amy.
‘I’m going to squirt it with my spray gun.’
At home, Amy read the book on hedgehogs. She found out that they ate slugs and snails. The book didn’t say anything about vegetables.
The next day she took the book back to the library.
‘What’s this?’ said Mr Peck. ‘This book is not due back for another twenty days.’ ‘But I’ve read it,’ said Amy. ‘Have you got any more books about hedgehogs?’ ‘Over there,’ snapped Mr Peck, pointing with his nose.
Amy walked slowly along the shelves. Where were the books about animals? She was just about to risk asking Mr Peck, when she saw something. It was an old cassette tape, called ‘Calls of the Wild’. It looked as if nobody had ever played it.
Amy took it down from the shelf. It was part of a set of animal noises. This was tape number 12 and it was called Hedgehogs.
Amy asked Mr Peck if she could borrow the cassette.
‘Of course you can,’ he said rudely. ‘Though anybody who wants to listen to horrid animal noises must be mad.’
He stamped the cassette box.
‘And don’t forget to rewind the tape.’
Hedgehog talk
Amy sat in her room listening to the sounds of hedgehogs on her personal stereo, over and over again. Amy repeated the sounds herself.
‘I’m talking hedgehog,’ thought Amy. ‘I wish I knew what I was saying. I really need a hedgehog to help me. I’m sure there’s one in the garden. If I make hedgehog noises, perhaps it will hear me.’
Amy ran down into the garden and made hedgehog noises as loudly as she could.
She stopped and listened, but no hedgehogs answered. Amy tried again. But only a cat came into the garden.
‘I’m going to keep trying,’ said Amy. ‘I’m sure I can do it.’ At last she got cold and she went indoors.
The next night Amy tried again. She tried every night for a week. ‘What are you doing out there?’ asked Mrs Harris. ‘Wait and see,’ said Amy.
Just then the door bell rang. It was Mr Peck. He stood at the door in his dressing gown. Amy noticed that his hair was wet.
典范英语81 刺猬女孩艾蜜
