The Story of Dr Dolittle / История доктора Дулиттла. 5 класс - страница 3

“Certainly,” said the Doctor, “I’ll have the glasses for you next week. Come in again on Tuesday!” Then John Dolittle got a fine, big pair of green glasses; and the horse could see very well. And soon many farm-animals wore glasses in the country round Puddleby; and there were no blind horses.

Sick animals told the Doctor where the pain was and how they felt, and of course it was easy for him to cure them. Now all these animals went back and told their brothers and friends that there was a doctor in the little house with the big garden who really WAS a doctor. And all the sick animals wanted to see John Dolittle. So his big garden was always crowded and he had special doors for the different kinds. He wrote “HORSES” over the front door, “COWS” over the side door and “SHEEP” over the kitchen door. Each kind of animal had a separate door – even the mice had a tiny tunnel made for them into the cellar. And so, in a few years’ time, every living thing for miles and miles knew about John Dolittle, M.D. And the birds who flew to other countries in the winter told the animals in foreign lands of the wonderful doctor, who could understand their talk and help them in their troubles. In this way[1] he became famous among the animals – all over the world. And he was happy and liked his life very much.

And soon now the Doctor began to make money again; and his sister, Sarah, bought a new dress and was happy. Some of the animals who came to see him were so sick that they stayed at the Doctor’s house for a week. And often even after they got well, they did not want to go away – they liked the Doctor and his house so much. And he never refused them. So in this way he got more pets.

Once an Italian organ-grinder came with a monkey on a string. The Doctor saw that the monkey’s collar was too tight and that he was dirty and unhappy. So he took the monkey away from the Italian, gave the man some money and told him to go. The organ-grinder got angry and said that he wanted to keep the monkey. But the Doctor didn’t let him. John Dolittle was a strong man, though he wasn’t very tall. So the Italian didn’t want to fight with the Doctor, he went away and the monkey stayed with Doctor Dolittle and had a good home. The other animals in the house called him “Chee-Chee” – which is a common word in monkey-language, meaning “ginger.”