第二篇原文：
Noisy Neighbours
1Mr Flinch
In a grim, grey house in a grim, grey town lived an unhappy man.
It was not his grey house that made Mr Flinch unhappy. It was not that he was poor, because he was not. Mr Flinch was a miser. He never gave away a penny. ( He never gave away a smile either. ) He was a mean and miserable man.
Mr Flinch was miserable because of his neighbours.
On one side of Mr Flinch’s grim, grey house stood a jolly red one. It belonged to Carl Clutch who mended cars.
Carl loved cars –and motorbikes and vans and lorries. Every morning, Mr Flinch woke up to hear hammers banging, spanners clanging and engines revving. The whole street shook with the noise.
On the other side, in a bright blue house, lived a music teacher called Poppy Plink. Each morning, Poppy sat down and played grand tunes on her grand piano. After breakfast, her students started to arrive.
Violins screeched, drums thundered and bassoons bellowed. Mr Flinch shut his window, but the noise still came through the wall. Brum – brum, tootle – toot, bang! His whole house shook and shivered.
He put his fingers in his ears.
He rapped on the wall … but his neighbours did not hear.
They were far too happy. They were mending cars and making music, and they loved their work.
Brum – brum, tootle – toot, bang!
Mr Flinch rap rapped until he made holes in his wallpaper. It did no good.
Mr Flinch locked himself in a cupboard. He wound old towels round his head.
He wrote angry letters, but tore them all up. ‘ Stamps cost far too much money!’ he said.
Even in bed, he wore a hat to keep out the noise.
But the cars still revved and the music still jangled.
Mr Flinch was the grey filling in a noise sandwich.
‘This can’t go on,’ Flinch thought to himself. He even shouted it out loud:
2Nasty Tricks
Mr Flinch went next door to Carl’s house. Carl was mending cars. It was easy to sneak into his kitchen and put a dead rat in the fridge.
‘That will get rid of him!’ said Flinch, and smiled a nasty smile. ‘Nobody wants to live in a house wi th rats!’
At midnight, Mr Flinch climbed on to his roof and –carefully, carefully –crawled across the tiles. He put his head down Poppy’s chimney and gave a long, loud, ‘Hooowooowoooo!’
‘That will get ride of her,’ he said with a grim grin. ‘Nobody want s to live in a house with ghosts!’
Then he climbed back into bed.
Next morning, Mr Flinch woke to a HUGE noise. Cars and lorries were stopping outside. He looked out of his window.
Carl was sitting outside in the rood, with a table, a kettle, a loaf of bread and a bottle of tomato sauce.
Carl called to Mr Flinch, ‘Can’t use my kitchen today! Rays, urgh! My mum is cleaning up. She told me to eat my breakfast outside. That’s how I got this great idea! Take –away breakfast! Drivers can stop here and buy breakfast.’
Just then, Poppy P link came running out of her blue front door. ‘Oh, Mr Flinch! Oh, Carl! Guess what happened last night!’
‘I give up,’ said Mr Flinch, with a sumg smirk. ‘Do tell.’
Poppy beamed with joy. ‘Last night, angles sang down my chimney! They did, I promise!’ She frowned. ‘But the music wasn’t very good! I think they want some new songs to sing! I’m sure they want me to write them, and I shall! Oh I shall!’She did.
Poppy still had to teach music all day.
But at night she wrote angle music. She made it nice and loud, with lots of cymbals and trumpets.
It was all too much for Mr Flinch.
3Mr Flinch has a Plan
Mr Flinch went next door to Carl’s house.
He showed Carl a fistful of money. ‘The day you move house, all this is yours!’ he said.
‘Anything you say, chief,’ said Carl, wiping his dirty hands on a rag.
‘As long as I can mend cars, I’ll be happy anywhere.’ Carl went on, ‘I’ll move out
as soon as I can sell the house!’
Next, Mr Flinch went to Poppy’s house and offered her a hatful of money. ‘Th e day you move house, all this is yours!’ he said.
‘Of course! If that is what you want, dear heart! Cried Poppy.
She had never seen so much money in her life. ‘As long as I have my music, I can be happy anywhere! I will move out just as soon as I can sell my little house!’Mr Flinch went home a happy man – well, as happy as a man like Mr Flinch can ever be.
He felt in his empty pockets and gulped. ‘All that money gone! Ah, but soon those noisy neighbours will be gone, too!’
In a few days, Mr Flin ch’s neighbours had sold up their houses.
Now, at last, he would have peace and quiet –nothing but the noise of mice scratching in the empty cellar.
4 Moving Day
Mr Flinch watched as Poppy Plink moved out. Bo-jangle went the piano as she pushed and bumped it down the steps.
‘Going already are you, you pest?’ he mutted. ‘I pity the person who has to live next door to you!’
Seeing him, Poppy waved up at the window.
‘Such luck, Mr Flinch!’ she called. ‘Fancy! A few days ago, I met someone who wants to move house too! We agreed to swap houses!’
Just then, Carl came out of his front door carrying two heavy tool boxes. He saw
Poppy struggling with a harp and went to help her. ‘All set, Poppy? he said.
‘All set, Carl! Isn’t this fun!’ She replied.
Then Carl moved into Poppy’s bright house and Poppy moved into Carl’s jolly red one.
They helped each other to carry the big things, like tables and sofas.
Then Carl had a house-warming party. He and Poppy sang, because they were so happy: ‘There’s no place like home!’
Mr Flinch heard it right through the wall of his house … even inside his cupboard, even with a towel round his head.
第二篇翻译：
吵闹的邻居
1.Flinch先生
在一个阴森的，灰色的城镇中，有一座阴森的，灰色的房子，房子中又生活了一个不快乐的男人。不是因为他的灰色房子，使Flinch先生不快乐，也不是因为他很穷，因为并非如此。Flinch先生是一个吝啬鬼。他从未给过别人一个便士（他从未给过别人一个微笑），他是一个吝啬和凄惨的人。
Flinch很悲惨，是因为他的邻居。Flinch先生那灰色的、阴森的房子的一侧，有一座红色的房子，那是属于Carl Clutch修理工的。Carl爱汽车，摩托车，面包车和卡车。每天早上,Flinch先生起床时，就不断的听到锤子声，扳手的叮当声和发动机加速运转起来的声音，整条街都被这声响晃动起来。在另一侧，一所明亮的蓝色的房子里，住着一位叫Poppy Pink的音乐教师。每天早上，Poppy坐下来，在她那架美妙的钢琴上弹奏美妙的乐曲。早餐后，她的学生就来了。小提琴发出了刺耳的声音，鼓发出了雷鸣般的声音，低音管在咆哮着，Flinch先生关上了窗子，但这声音还是穿透了墙壁。Brum-brum，totle-toot，bang！他的整个房子都在颤抖着。他用手塞住耳朵。他在墙上敲击以表示抗议……但邻居们听不到。他们实在是太快乐了。他们修理着汽车和做音乐，他们热爱他们的工作。Brum-brum ，totle-toot，bang！Flinch先生又砸墙又斥责，直到他在壁纸上敲出了洞，也没有用。Flinch先生把自己锁在壁橱里，他用毛巾把头包起来。他愤怒的写了许多信，但又把它们全都撕碎了，“邮票的花费太贵了！”他说。甚至到了床上，他戴着一顶帽子来阻止噪音。但是发动机还是在加速旋转，音乐还是在发出刺耳的声音。Flinch先生就像被夹在噪音三明治中间的灰色的馅。“不能再这样继续下去了！”Flinch对自己说。他甚至大声的吼了出来。
2、拙劣的伎俩
Flinch先生去敲Carl先生的房子，Carl在修汽车，他很容易的溜进了他的厨房，把一只死老鼠放在了他的冰箱里。“就要摆脱他了”Flinch说还贱兮兮的笑了一下。“没有人愿意住一间有老鼠的房子。”午夜，Flinch爬上了屋顶，小心翼翼的在瓦上爬过。他把他的头埋在Poppy家的烟囱，对着下面呜呜地学着鬼叫。“这也能把她搞定了”。他咧嘴一笑，“没有人愿意住一间有鬼的房子。”然后，他爬了下去，上床睡觉了。
第二天一早，Flinch被巨大的噪声吵醒了，很多的汽车和卡车停在外面。他看了看窗外，Carl坐在外面的马路上，面前放了一张桌子，桌上摆着有一个水壶，一条面包和一瓶番茄酱。Carl 对Flinch先生喊道：“今天不能用我的厨房了，呃，我妈妈正在打扫，她让我到外边来吃我的早饭。那就是我为什么想到这个好主意：外卖早餐，司机们可以在这里停车并且买早餐。”
就在这时，Poppy跑了过来，“噢Flinch ，噢，Carl，猜猜昨晚都发生了什么。”“我不猜”Flinch自鸣得意的假笑着：“你说吧。”Poppy高兴的眉开眼笑：“昨天晚上，天使在我的烟囱里唱歌了，他们唱了，我发誓”但她又皱皱眉，“但这音乐非常不好听，我想天使们想要有新歌来唱，我非常确定他们想让我给他们写歌，我一定会写，哦，我一定会写！”她确实这样做了。 Poppy虽然白天还得教音乐，但是夜里，她给天使写歌。她做的曲子非常好听又热闹，又是拍擦又是打鼓的，Flinch真受不了了。
3、Flinch的计划
Flinch去了隔壁Carl的家，他拿出一大把的钞票给Carl 看“你搬家的那天，这些钱就是你的了”他说。“都听你的”。Carl在抹布上擦了擦手。“只要我能修理汽车，我在哪里都是快乐的，我把房子一卖掉，就搬走”。
接下来Flinch又去了Poppy的家，给了她一帽子的钱：“你啥时候搬家，这钱就是你的了”“当然可以！如果你想要这样。亲爱的”。Poppy叫出声来。她从没见过这么
多钱，“只要有我的音乐，我在任何地方都会是快乐的。一旦我把房子卖了，我就马上搬走”
Flinch快乐的回了家。怎么说呢，Flinch先生这样的人还从来没有这么高兴过。他把手伸进空空的口袋里摸了摸，深吸一口气说：所有的钱都没了！但是很快的那些吵闹的邻居，也会离去的！
没有过几天，Flinch先生的邻居们，都卖掉了他们的房子。现在，他终于得到了平静与安宁，当然除了来自空地窖的老鼠的抓搔声。
4、搬家日
当Poppy 搬家时时，Flinch先生趴在窗口看着，她将钢琴的推下台阶，钢琴发出咣咣当当的撞击声。“你终于走了,你这个害虫”他嘀咕道。“我很同情住在你隔壁的人! ”。看见Flinch他在窗口，Poppy向他挥挥手。“运气真是太好了，Flinch先生！几天前,我遇到了一个人，他也想搬家，于是我们同意将房子互换了。”
就在这时,卡尔走出了他的前门，手里拿着两个沉重的工具箱。他看见Poppy正吃力的搬运着竖琴，便过去帮她，“一切都准备好了吗,Poppy?”他问道。“都准备好了,卡尔!这是不是很有趣？”她答道。
然后卡尔搬进了Poppy的明亮的蓝房子，Poppy搬进了卡尔的红房子。他们互相帮助搬运着大件的的东西，像桌子、沙发什么的。
然后卡尔办了个乔迁派对。他与Poppy唱着歌,因为他们都很高兴:“什么地方也比不上家!”
Flinch先生听到了穿墙而来的歌声，即使他在壁橱里,即使他用毛巾裹住了头。