19.一只窝囊的大老虎

Lesson Nineteen

A Big, Cowardly Tiger

1.The primary school I attended held weekly meetings every Saturday afternoon, at which there were always performances.

2.Twelve classes take turns to perform, and each class has to perform at most twice in each semester.

3.I have never performed on stage, because the head teacher always forgot me when it was our class’s turn, and the roles were assigned to the cleverest children in the class.

4.When the children in the same class sang and danced on the stage, they gestured as they spoke.I was absolutely envious.

5.I really wanted to perform on stage, and to feel what it’s like for everyone to look at me and applaud me.

6.Once again, it was our class’s turn.When the teacher assigned roles, my long-awaited eyes might have caught her attention.

7.At the end of the assignment, she looked at me for a long time before making up her mind and said, “Ok, you play the role of tiger,”

8.This time, we would play The Adventures of Willy and Nilly.There was an episode in the middle part: Willy and Nilly lost their way in the forest and met a tiger.

9.I’d play the tiger and not have to talk.

10.Then began rehearse.

11.I put on the costume, which was a yellow cloth jumpsuit with black stripes painted on it.My face, hands and feet were covered, and I didn’t think I could show my face on stage.

12.The child who played the brother Willy asked me, “Can you jump like a tiger?”

13.“No, I can’t.”

14.I had to tell the truth.

15.“You can’t jump like a tiger, so what kind of tiger are you?”

16.He curled his lip.

17.I didn’t think there would be a crisis at the last moment.

18.I look at the teacher’s face for fear that she would change her mind.

19.The teacher was really a reasonable and good teacher.

20.She said, “It doesn’t matter.You don’t have to jump to be a tiger.

21.You climb to the stage on four feet, stand up when you see the brother and sister, scream and jump at them, and you chase them when they escape.

22.When the hunter comes on stage and shoots you twice, you will lie down and die.Remember?”

23.“Yes, Madam!”

24.I quickly promised.

25.I was very confident.

26.“Now, let’s start our rehearsal.”

27.You take the cloth and hood.”

28.The hood was a tiger’s head made of paper.The paper was yellow with black stripes and there was a word “king” in the middle of the frontal eminence.

29.When I put it on my head, the smell of paste came to me.

30.Luckily, two small holes were dug in the eyes, or I could see nothing.

31.I bent down and climbed forward.The teacher kept telling me, “move forward, go, go, stand up quickly.Can’t you see them?

32.Run for them!

33.Alas, why don’t you call out, Wow? Louder.

34.Don’t forget that you are a tiger, not a kitty, ok.”

35.I thought it was the easiest thing to play a tiger, and I never expect it to be so hard without talking or showing my face.

36.It seems that the teacher was not satisfied with my performance, but she didn’t say anything.

37.The kid who played the brother was talkative.

38.He said that the tiger I played was awful.I couldn’t jump, but only climbed on the ground.

39.He also said that he had never seen a tiger that could not jump.

40.Let him go.I, this supporting role, although was not good enough for him, the teacher didn’t replace me, so he could do not nothing but accept it.

41.Finally, it was Saturday afternoon, the time for our class to perform.

42.I put on the tiger skin and hood, and waited nervously at the backstage entrance.

43.Suddenly someone behind me gave me a gentle push.

44.I knew it was the teacher who pushed me, so I immediately bent down and climbed onto the stage, screaming like a tiger.

45.I only heard a burst of laughter from the audience, which made me very embarrassed.

46.I knew it was my clumsy performance that amused all the teachers and classmates, who had never seen such a cowardly tiger.

47.I finally got to the end.The tiger lay down and died.

48.I can’t remember how it was finished, but the laughter in my ears.

49.When the curtain came down, I stood up and took off my hood, with sweat all over my face.

50.The teacher said nothing.

51.The child who played the brother sighed and said to me, “It’s much better if you jump a few times like a tiger as soon as you come out.”

52.I didn’t answer him, but I thought to myself, Yes, if I could jump, the play wouldn’t be ruined.

53.What happened afterwards?

54.After that, when I went to the zoo, I always went to see the tigers, and wanted to see how they jumped.

55.However, tigers either dozed off or walked up and down dejectedly in their cages.I had never seen any tigers jump.

56.Why can’t I play the tiger if you can’t jump?

57.Why audience laughed because I didn’t jump like a tiger?

58.I still don’t understand that.