Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer - T.S.Eliot.mp3

[00:00.000] 作曲 : T.S.Eliot
[00:02.550]Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer
[00:07.305]Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were a very notorious couple of cats.
[00:13.728]As knockabout clown, quick-change comedians,
[00:16.801]tight-rope walkers and acrobats
[00:19.594]They had extensive reputation. They made their home in
[00:24.061]Victoria Grove—
[00:26.575]That was merely their centre of operation, for they were incurably given to rove.
[00:31.896]They were very well know in Cornwall Gardens, in Launceston Place
[00:36.089]and in Kensington Square—
[00:38.613]They had really a little more reputation than a couple of cats can very well bear.
[00:45.605]If the area window was found ajar
[00:48.401]And the basement looked like a field of war,
[00:51.482]If a tile or two came loose on the roof,
[00:53.992]Which presently ceased to be waterproof,
[00:56.513]If the drawers were pulled out from the bedroom chests,
[00:59.313]And you couldn’t find one of your winter vests,
[01:02.669]Or after supper one of the girls
[01:05.473]Suddenly missed her Woolworth pearls:
[01:08.275]Then the family would say: “It’s that horrible cat!
[01:13.868]It was Mungojerrie—or Rumpelteazer!”— And most of the time
[01:19.171]they left it at that.
[01:21.412]Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a very unusual gift of the gab.
[01:27.291]They were highly efficient cat-burglars as well, and
[01:30.654]remarkably smart at smash-and-grab.
[01:34.291]They made their home in Victoria Grove.
[01:37.639]They had no regular occupation.
[01:40.151]They were plausible fellows,
[01:42.108]and liked to engage a friendly policeman in conversation.
[01:46.589]When the family assembled for Sunday dinner,
[01:49.670]With their minds made up that they wouldn’t get thinner
[01:52.467]On Argentine joint, potatoes and greens,
[01:55.830]And the cook would appear from behind the scenes
[01:58.912]And say in a voice that was broken with sorrow:
[02:02.830]’I’m afraid you must wait and have dinner tomorrow!
[02:07.015]For the joint has gone from the oven-like that!‘
[02:10.925]Then the family would say: “It’s that horrible cat!
[02:15.693]It was Mungojerrie—or Rumpelteazer!”— And most of the time
[02:21.839]they left it at that.
[02:25.196]Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a wonderful way of
[02:29.389]working together.
[02:31.074]And some of the time you would say it was luck,
[02:33.873]and some of the time you would say it was weather.
[02:36.942]They would go through the house like a hurricane,
[02:39.468]and no sober person could take his oath
[02:42.825]Was it Mungojerrie—or Rumpelteazer?
[02:47.016]or could you have sworn that it mightn’t be both?
[02:50.654]And when you heard a dining-room smash
[02:54.300]Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
[02:57.671]Or down from the library came a loud ping
[03:01.303]From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming—
[03:04.662]Then the family would say: ‘Now which was which cat?
[03:09.706]It was Mungojerrie! AND Rumpelteazer!‘—
[03:13.906]And there’s nothing at all to be done about that!