寵物商店

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One day， George is at a pet store. Because his birthday is coming soon， his parents promised1 to buy a pet for him as his birthday gift. He is looking at what kind of pet he might want to get. George has asked his parents if he could have a horse before. But his parents said no， because horses are too big to live in their house.

一天，喬治在一家寵物店里。因為他的生日快到了，父母答應給他買一只寵物作為生日禮物。他正在找他想要的那種寵物。喬治曾經問過父母他可不可以養一匹馬。但是父母說不行，因為馬太大了，不能住在他們家的房子里。

First， he sees dogs and cats. Baby dogs are called puppies， and baby cats are called kittens. George likes them because they are very easy to take care of and they can play a lot. But they will grow bigger someday. George likes small pets.

開始的時候，他看到了狗和貓。狗寶寶叫小狗，貓寶寶叫小貓。喬治喜歡它們，因為它們很容易照顧，還可以經常和它們玩。但它們總有一天會長大，喬治喜歡小寵物。

Then George sees some other animals， but they have to live in a cage2. He sees rabbits， guinea pigs3， and mice. Mice are what we call more than one mouse. He likes this kind of animals because they are small. Birds live in cages， too. George sees a parrot and a canary4. He likes them all， but the cage will always get dirty， and he doesnt want to clean it.

然后喬治看到了其他的動物，但是它們必須住在籠子里。他看到兔子、天竺鼠和老鼠。“Mice”就是當我們想表達不止一只老鼠時用的詞。他喜歡這種動物，因為它們很小。鳥也住在籠子里，喬治看見一只鸚鵡和一只金絲雀。他喜歡它們，但是籠子總是會臟，他不想打掃。

George sees the animals in tanks5. The tanks are full of water. And there are fish and tortoises6 in them. He thinks about a goldfish， but he thinks he likes the tortoises more. There are also tanks with rocks and sand. There are snakes， spiders7， and scorpions8， but George is quite afraid of them. George likes the tortoises best， but they cant live in the little fishbowls. Tortoises need bigger tanks， so they can swim sometimes.

喬治看到了水箱里的動物。水箱里裝滿了水，里面有魚和烏龜。雖然他考慮了一下金魚，但他認為自己更喜歡烏龜。還有裝滿石頭和沙子的罐子，里面有蛇、蜘蛛和蝎子，但是喬治非常怕它們。喬治最喜歡烏龜，但它們不能住在小魚缸里。烏龜需要更大的水箱，這樣它們就可以時常游泳。

Last， George decides9 that he wants to get a tortoise for his birthday. And then he asks for a list of what types of tortoises the store has. He also buys a book on how to take care of a tortoise.

最后，喬治決定了，他想要一只烏龜作為他的生日禮物。然后他要了一份商店里烏龜種類的清單，還買了一本關于如何照顧烏龜的書。

（英語原文選自：lingua.com）