English Original
It was Mary's birthday. She received a letter from her uncle, a farmer.
"Dear Mary," the letter said. "Happy Birthday. I am sending you some chickens. They will arrive tomorrow. I hope you like them. Best wishes, Uncle Toby."
Mary was very pleased. She liked eating eggs and chicken. "I can keep the chickens for their eggs or eat them," she thought.
The next day, the chickens arrived in a box. Mary was excited. She took the box off the truck and began carrying it into her garden.
However, the box was heavy and she dropped it. It fell to the ground and broke open. All the chickens ran out.
They ran everywhere—into neighbors' gardens, into the road, into shops, even into the next street. Mary spent hours trying to find them and bring them back.
A few days later, her uncle came to visit.
"Did the chickens arrive safely?" he asked.
"Yes, Uncle Toby," Mary said. "But I had trouble. I dropped the box, it broke, and the chickens ran everywhere. I spent the whole morning looking for them."
"Did you find them all?" her uncle asked.
"I hope so," Mary replied. "I caught eleven of them."
"That's very interesting," her uncle said with a smile, "because I only sent you six."
中文翻译
那天是玛丽的生日。她收到了她的农民叔叔的来信。
信上写着：“亲爱的玛丽，生日快乐。我送你几只小鸡，它们明天就到。希望你喜欢。祝好，托比叔叔。”
玛丽非常高兴。她喜欢吃鸡蛋和鸡肉。“我可以养着它们下蛋，或者吃掉它们，”她想。
第二天，小鸡们装在一个箱子里送到了。玛丽很兴奋。她把箱子从卡车上搬下来，开始往花园里搬。
然而，箱子太重了，她失手把它掉在了地上。箱子摔破了，所有的小鸡都跑了出来。
它们到处乱跑——跑进了邻居的花园，跑到了路上，跑进了商店，甚至跑到了下一条街。玛丽花了几个小时想把它们找回来。
几天后，她的叔叔来看她。
“小鸡们都安全送到了吗？”他问。
“送到了，托比叔叔，”玛丽说。“但我遇到了麻烦。我把箱子掉地上了，箱子破了，小鸡们到处乱跑。我花了整整一个早上找它们。”
“你都找回来了吗？”叔叔问。
“希望是吧，”玛丽回答。“我抓到了十一只。”
“这可真有意思，”叔叔微笑着说，“因为我只送了你六只。”