Chapter 114

　　He tried the straw, but, as he chewed away at it, henoticed to hisgreat disappointment that it tasted neitherlike rice nor like macaroni.

　　"Patience!" he repeated as he chewed. "If onlymymisfortune might serve as a lesson to disobedient boyswho refuse to study!Patience! Have patience!""Patience indeed!" shouted his masterjust then, as hecame into the stable. "Do you think, perhaps, mylittleDonkey, that I have brought you here only to give youfood and drink? Oh,no! You are to help me earn somefine gold pieces, do you hear? Come along, now.I amgoing to teach you to jump and bow, to dance a waltz anda polka, and evento stand on your head."Poor Pinocchio, whether he liked it or not, had tolearnall these wonderful things; but it took him three longmonths and cost himmany, many lashings before he waspronounced perfect.

　　The day came at last when Pinocchio's master wasable to announce anextraordinary performance. Theannouncements, posted all around the town, andwrittenin large letters, read thus:

　　GREAT SPECTACLE TONIGHTLEAPS AND EXERCISES BY THE GREAT ARTISTSANDTHE FAMOUS HORSESof theCOMPANYFirst Public Appearanceof theFAMOUSDONKEYcalledPINOCCHIOTHE STAR OF THE DANCEThe Theater will be as Light asDayThat night, as you can well imagine, the theater was filledto overflowing11 one hour before the show wasscheduled to start.

　　“这干草还不坏。”他心里说，“可我要是继续读书，我就好得多了！……这时候我就不是吃干草，可以吃新鲜的面包头，吃一大片香肠了！……没法子，只好忍耐着！……”
　　第二天早晨他醒来，马上在槽里找干草，可是找不到，因为昨天夜里都吃光了。
　　于是他吃一小口切碎的麦秸。他嚼着嚼着，觉得切碎麦秸的味道既完全不像米兰式炒饭，又根本不像那不勒斯式通心粉。
　　“没法子，只好忍耐着！”他又说了一遍，继续嚼，“我的不幸要是能给所有不听话和不想读书的孩子作为教训，那就好了。没法子，只好忍耐着！……真没法子，只好忍耐着！……”
　　“忍耐一点吧！”主人这时候正好进畜栏，叫着说，“我的宝贝小驴子，你以为我把你买来，只是为了给你吃给你喝吗？我把你买来是为了让你干活，是为了让你给我挣一大笔钱。好好干吧！你跟我到马戏场去，我来教你跳圈，用头撞破纸桶，跳圆舞和波尔卡舞，用后腿直立起来，”
　　可怜的皮诺乔不管高兴还是被迫，只好学各种了不起的玩意儿，可为了学会这种玩意儿，他得学上三个月，身上挨了无数下皮鞭。
　　终于到了这一天，他的主人可以宣布演出—场真正惊人的节目了，五颜六色的海报贴满大街小巷各个角落，海报上写着：

　　盛大演出

　　今夜
　　本团全体演员
　　还有双双的骏马
　　演出素负有盛誉的跳跃等等
　　各种精彩节目
　　著名演员
　　舞蹈明星
　　驴子皮诺乔
　　首次登台
　　演出
　　戏院通亮如同白昼

诸位可以想象到，这天晚上开场前一小时，戏院就满座了。

11 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

·The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。

·The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。