独来独往的猫(插图·中文导读英文版)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)


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作者:(英)吉卜林(Kipling, J. R.)

出版社:清华大学出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

独来独往的猫(插图·中文导读英文版)

独来独往的猫(插图·中文导读英文版)试读:

前言

罗德亚德·吉卜林(Rudyard Kipling,1865—1936),英国著名诗人、散文家、小说家,诺贝尔文学奖获得者。

1865年12月30日,吉卜林出生于印度孟买。他的父亲当时在孟买艺术学校担任建筑雕塑学教授。吉卜林在印度度过了美好的幼年时光,1871年和妹妹一起被送回英国寄养。1882年,中学毕业后,吉卜林离开英国返回印度,担任印度拉合尔市《军民报》副编辑,并开始文学创作。

1884年9月,吉卜林发表了他的首部短篇小说《百愁门》。1888年,出版了《山中的平凡故事》、《三个士兵》、《加兹比一家的故事》等七部引人注目的短篇小说集。吉卜林一生创作十分丰富,有长篇小说、短篇小说、诗歌、游记、儿童文学、随笔、回忆录等等。其中,儿童文学作品的成就最为突出,例如,《丛林之书》、《丛林之书二集》、《献给孩子们的故事》、《正是如此故事集》、《勇敢的船长》、《普克山的帕克》、《奖赏和仙人》等,都是享誉世界的儿童文学作品。

在吉卜林众多的童话小说中,《献给孩子们的故事》(英文书名为Just So Stories for Little Children)是他最重要的童话集之一,这是一部“讲给孩子们的故事书”,是世界儿童文学的瑰宝,受到全世界各国人民的喜爱。该书自出版以来,已被译成数十种语言,传遍全世界,它不仅博得无数青少年的喜爱,同时也使成年读者得到无穷的乐趣,把他们带回到童年时代金色的美妙幻想世界。正像美国著名作家马克·吐温说的那样:“我了解吉卜林的书……它们对于我从来不会变得苍白,它们保持着缤纷的色彩,它们永远是新鲜的。”

在中国,《献给孩子们的故事》同样是最受广大青少年读者欢迎的经典童话作品之一。作为世界文学宝库中的传世经典之作,它影响了一代又一代中国人的美丽童年、少年直至成年。目前,在国内数量众多的《献给孩子们的故事》书籍中,主要的出版形式有两种。一种是中文翻译版,另一种是中英文对照版。其中的中英文对照读本比较受读者的欢迎,这主要是得益于中国人热衷于学习英文的大环境。从英文学习的角度来看,直接使用纯英文的学习资料更有利于英语学习。考虑到对英文内容背景的了解有助于英文阅读,使用中文导读应该是一种比较好的方式,也可以说是该类型书的第三种版本形式。采用中文导读而非中英文对照的方式进行编排,这样有利于国内读者摆脱对英文阅读依赖中文注释的习惯。基于以上原因,我们决定编译《献给孩子们的故事》,用其中最著名的故事《独来独往的猫》作为书名,并采用中文导读英文版的形式出版。在中文导读中,我们尽力使其贴近原作的精髓,也尽可能保留原作的风格。我们希望能够编出为当代中国读者所喜爱的经典读本。读者在阅读英文故事之前,可以先阅读中文导读部分,这样有利于了解故事背景,从而加快阅读速度。我们相信,该经典著作的引进对加强当代中国读者,特别是青少年读者的人文修养是非常有帮助的。

本书主要内容由王勋、纪飞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、熊金玉、李丽秀、熊红华、王婷婷、孟宪行、胡国平、李晓红、贡东兴、陈楠、邵舒丽、冯洁、王业伟、徐鑫、王晓旭、周丽萍、熊建国、徐平国、肖洁、王小红等。限于我们的科学、人文素养和英语水平,书中难免会有不当之处,衷心希望读者朋友批评指正。第一章 鲸鱼为什么长喉咙 Chapter 1 How the Whale Got His Throat导读

很久以前,大海里有一条鲸鱼,它以鱼类为食,吃掉了能找到的所有鱼。最后,大海里只剩下一条小鬼头鱼。小鬼头鱼问鲸鱼吃过人肉没有,鲸鱼说没有。小鬼头鱼告诉鲸鱼在北纬50度、西经40度的大海中央,有一个带着折刀、穿着蓝色帆布背带裤的水手坐在木筏上。鲸鱼游到那里,果然看到了小鬼头鱼说的水手,它张大嘴把水手和木筏一口吞下。聪明的水手在鲸鱼湿暖、黢黑的肚子里蹦跳打闹,鲸鱼难受极了。它请水手出来,水手说鲸鱼必须把他送回故乡英格兰的岸边,他才可能出来。鲸鱼游到了英格兰的海滩上,把嘴张大,水手走出来了,回家过上了幸福的生活。聪明的水手在鱼腹内用折刀把木筏劈开,制成篦子,用背带扎好,拖进鲸鱼的喉管,卡在那里。他说道:“通过一个篦子,制止你的贪吃。”从此以后鲸鱼只能吃很小的鱼,再不能吃人了。小鬼头鱼怕鲸鱼生气,躲到赤道上的淤泥里。鲸鱼吞食水手鲸鱼寻找小鬼头鱼舱外海水汹涌澎湃,舷窗昏暗泛着绿光;船身颠簸又摇摆,水手跌入汤盘里,箱子纷纷滑起来;保姆蜷缩在地上,妈妈叫你催她入睡,但你无法醒来,没洗脸也没换衣,你应该猜到了,北纬50度,西经40度,你就在那里,这是一个奇迹!N the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the Icrab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel.All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so!Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear, so as to be out of harm's way.Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said,‘I'm hungry.'And the small‘Stute Fish said in a small‘stute voice,‘Noble and generousCetacean, have you ever tasted Man?'‘No,'said the Whale.‘What is it like?'‘Nice,'said the small‘Stute Fish.‘Nice but nubbly.'‘Then fetch me some,'said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up with his tail.‘One at a time is enough,'said the‘Stute Fish.‘If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West(that is magic),you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders(you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved),and a jack-knife, one ship-wrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.'

So the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West, as fast as he could swim, and on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders(you must particularly remember the suspenders, Best Beloved),and a jack-knife, he found one single, solitary shipwrecked Mariner, trailing his toes in the water.(He had his mummy's leave to paddle, or else he would never have done it, because he was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.)

Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders(which you must not forget),and the jack-knife—He swallowed them all down into his warm, dark, inside cup-boards, and then he smacked his lips—so, and turned round three times on his tail.

But as soon as the Mariner, who was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, found himself truly inside the Whale's warm, dark, inside cup-boards, he stumped and he jumped and he thumped and he bumped, and he pranced and he danced, and he banged and he clanged, and he hit and he bit, and he leaped and he creeped, and he prowled and he howled, and he hopped and he dropped, and he cried and he sighed, and he crawled and he bawled, and he stepped and he lepped, and he danced hornpipes where he shouldn't, and the Whale felt most unhappy indeed.(Have you forgotten the suspenders?)

So he said to the‘Stute Fish,‘This man is very nubbly, and besides he is making me hiccough. What shall I do?'‘Tell him to come out,'said the‘Stute Fish.

So the Whale called down his own throat to the shipwrecked Mariner,‘Come out and behave yourself. I've got the hiccoughs.'‘Nay, nay!'said the Mariner.‘Not so, but far otherwise. Take me to my natal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and I'll think about it.'And he began to dance more than ever.‘You had better take him home,'said the‘Stute Fish to the Whale.‘I ought to have warned you that he is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.'

So the Whale swam and swam and swam, with both flippers and his tail, as hard as he could for the hiccoughs;and at last he saw the Mariner's natal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and he rushed half-way up the beach, and opened his mouth wide and wide and wide, and said,‘Change here for Winchester, Ashuelot, Nashua, Keene, and stations on the Fitchburg Road;'and just as he said‘Fitch'the Mariner walked out of his mouth. But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner, who was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his jack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running criss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders(now, you know why you were not to forget the suspenders!),and he dragged that grating good and tight into the Whale's throat, and there it stuck!Then he recited the following Sloka, which, as you have not heard it, I will now proceed to relate—

By means of a grating

I have stopped your ating.

For the Mariner he was also an Hi-ber-ni-an. And he stepped out on the shingle, and went home to his mother, who had given him leave to trail his toes in the water;and he married and lived happily ever afterward.So did the Whale.But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish;and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boysor little girls.

The small‘Stute Fish went and hid himself in the mud under the Door-sills of the Equator. He was afraid that the Whale might be angry with him.

The Sailor took the jack-knife home. He was wearing the blue canvas breeches when he walked out on the shingle.The suspenders were left behind, you see, to tie the grating with;and that is the end of that tale.

WHEN the cabin port-holes are dark and green

Because of the seas outside;

When the ship goes wop(with a wiggle between)

And the steward falls into the soup-tureen,

And the trunks begin to slide;

When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,

And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,

And you aren't waked or washed or dressed,

Why, then you will know(if you haven't guessed)

You're‘Fifty North and Forty West!'第二章 骆驼为什么长驼峰 Chapter 2 How the Camel Got His Hump导读

鸿蒙初辟时,动物刚刚被人驯服。有一只骆驼不愿为人类干活,住在“嚎叫沙漠”中。马儿、狗、牛分别来找骆驼,请他像大家一样干活,骆驼都拒绝了。三只动物把这件事告诉了人,人说:“你们必须加倍干活,弥补骆驼不干活的损失。”三只动物非常生气,在一起抱怨连连。掌管沙漠的精灵来了,三只动物告诉精灵有一只游手好闲的骆驼,不肯跑路、搬运和犁地。精灵找到了正在欣赏自己倒影的骆驼,谴责它不干活。骆驼傲慢地“哼”了一声,优美的脊背上隆起一个臃肿的驼峰,这是精灵施魔法对它的惩罚。骆驼三天里无所事事,所以精灵要它不吃东西连干三天活儿,靠背上的“峰”来补充体力。从此以后,骆驼的身上就有了驼峰。动物园里看骆驼,驼峰臃肿真丑陋,如果我们变懒惰,同样也会把背驼。小孩大人要记住,精灵正在施展魔法如果我们不劳动,也像骆驼会驼背,阴郁沮丧的驼背!起床头发乱糟糟,嘴里抱怨念叨叨,洗漱穿鞋不称意,暴跳如雷发脾气。找个角落藏起来?这样或许适合你。背负一峰像骆驼,臃肿丑陋把背驼。闲坐不能把病疗,炉边读书也无效,辛勤劳动洒汗水,拿起锄头和铁锹。阳光和煦微风吹,花园精灵帮助你,移走臃肿的驼峰,从此笔直真欢喜。如果我们都懒惰,谁都难免把背驼,精灵用神扇施展魔法让骆驼背上长“峰”大人小孩要牢记,勤劳才能不驼背。OW this is the next tale, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.N

In the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, and the Animals were just beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel, and he lived in the middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work;and besides, he was a Howler himself. So he ate sticks and thorns and tamarisks and milkweed and prickles, most‘scruciating idle;and when anybody spoke to him he said‘Humph!'Just‘Humph!'and no more.

Presently the Horse came to him on Monday morning, with a saddle on his back and a bit in his mouth, and said,‘Camel, O Camel, come out and trot like the rest of us.'‘Humph!'said the Camel;and the Horse went away and told the Man.

Presently the Dog came to him, with a stick in his mouth, and said,‘Camel, O Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us.'‘Humph!'said the Camel;and the Dog went away and told the Man.

Presently the Ox came to him, with the yoke on his neck and said,‘Camel, O Camel, come and plough like the rest of us.'‘Humph!'said the Camel;and the Ox went away and told the Man.

At the end of the day the Man called the Horse and the Dog and the Ox together, and said,‘Three, O Three, I'm very sorry for you(with the world so new-and-all);but that Humph-thing in the Desert can't work, or he would have been here by now, so I am going to leave him alone, and you must work double-time to make up for it.'

That made the Three very angry(with the world so new-and-all),and they held a palaver, and an indaba, and a punchayet, and a pow-wow on the edge of the Desert;and the Camel came chewing on milkweed most‘scruciating idle, and laughed at them. Then he said‘Humph!'and went away again.

Presently there came along the Djinn in charge of All Deserts, rolling in a cloud of dust(Djinns always travel that way because it is Magic),and he stopped to palaver and pow-pow with the Three.‘Djinn of All Deserts,'said the Horse,‘is it right for any one to be idle, with the world so new-and-all?'‘Certainly not,'said the Djinn.‘Well,'said the Horse,‘there's a thing in the middle of your Howling Desert(and he's a Howler himself)with a long neck and long legs, and he hasn't done a stroke of work since Monday morning. He won't trot.’‘Whew!'said the Djinn, whistling,‘that's my Camel, for all thegold in Arabia!What does he say about it?'‘He says“Humph!”'said the Dog;‘and he won't fetch and carry.'‘Does he say anything else?'‘Only“Humph!”;and he won't plough,'said the Ox.‘Very good,'said the Djinn.‘I'll humph him if you will kindly wait a minute.'

The Djinn rolled himself up in his dust-cloak, and took a bearing across the desert, and found the Camel most‘scruciatingly idle, looking at his own reflection in a pool of water.‘My long and bubbling friend,'said the Djinn,‘what's this I hear of your doing no work, with the world so new-and-all?'‘Humph!'said the Camel.

The Djinn sat down, with his chin in his hand, and began to think a Great Magic, while the Camel looked at his own reflection in the pool of water.‘You've given the Three extra work ever since Monday morning, all on account of your‘scruciating idleness,'said the Djinn;and he went on thinking Magics, with his chin in his hand.‘Humph!'said the Camel.‘I shouldn't say that again if I were you,'said the Djinn;you might say it once too often. Bubbles, I want you to work.'

And the Camel said‘Humph!'again;but no sooner had he said it than he saw his back, that he was so proud of, puffing up andpuffing up into a great big lolloping humph.‘Do you see that?'said the Djinn.‘That's your very own humph that you've brought upon your very own self by not working. To-day is Thursday, and you've done no work since Monday, when the work began.Now you are going to work.'‘How can I,'said the Camel,‘with this humph on my back?'‘That's made a-purpose,'said the Djinn,‘all because you missed those three days. You will be able to work now for three days without eating, because you can live on your humph;and don't you ever say I never did anything for you.Come out of the Desert and go to the Three, and behave.Humph yourself!'

And the Camel humphed himself, humph and all, and went away to join the Three. And from that day to this the Camel always wears a humph(we call it‘hump'now, not to hurt his feelings);but he has never yet caught up with the three days that he missed at the beginning of the world, and he has never yet learned how to behave.

THE Camel's hump is an ugly lump

Which well you may see at the Zoo;

But uglier yet is the hump we get

From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown-ups too-oo-oo,

If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,

We get the hump—

Cameelious hump—

The hump that is black and blue!

We climb out of bed with a frouzly head

And a snarly-yarly voice.

We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl

At our bath and our boots and our toys;

And there ought to be a corner for me(And I know there is one for you)

When we get the hump—

Cameelious hump—

The hump that is black and blue!

The cure for this ill is not to sit still,

Or frowst with a book by the fire;

But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,

And dig till you gently perspire;

And then you will find that the sun and the wind.

And the Djinn of the Garden too,

Have lifted the hump—

The horrible hump—

The hump that is black and blue!

I get it as well as you-oo-oo—

If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo—

We all get hump—

Cameelious hump—

Kiddies and grown-ups too!第三章 犀牛为什么长厚皮 Chapter 3 How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin导读

很久以前,红海的荒岛上住着一个帕西人。一天,他为自己做了一个两英尺宽、三英尺厚的蛋糕。烤蛋糕的香味引来了一只犀牛,那时犀牛的皮紧绷光滑。它把帕西人吓得爬到了树上,用鼻子上的角插起蛋糕吃掉了,然后返回荒无人烟的腹地。帕西人下了树,念了一句“抢去帕西人的蛋糕,便犯下了严重的错误。”

五个星期后,红海热浪滚滚。帕西人摘下一直戴在头上的折射太阳光的帽子,犀牛脱下身上的皮,丢在海滩上,大摇大摆下水游泳,并不为吃掉蛋糕感到抱歉。帕西人经过海滩,看到犀牛皮笑了笑,用帽子装了一帽壳蛋糕屑洒在犀牛皮上,于是上面沾满了让人发痒的蛋糕屑。帕西人爬上棕榈树,犀牛上岸披上皮,系上皮上的纽扣,感到痒痒的,越搔越痒,便躺在沙滩上打滚,又在棕榈树干上蹭来蹭去。由于用力很大,皮肤上渐渐出现褶皱。犀牛又痒又生气。从此以后,所有的犀牛都皮肤粗糙,脾气暴躁,这全都因为犀牛皮里有蛋糕屑。帕西人烤的蛋糕吸引来了一只犀牛嘉德夫角近处,有座荒凉的岛屿,毗邻索克泰拉,还有粉红色的海洋;你我登上轮船,从苏伊士起航,我们要去拜访,爱吃蛋糕的霸王,不料那个岛屿如此炎热非常。NCE upon a time, on an uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea, there lived a Parsee from whose hat the rays of the sun Owere reflected in more-than-oriental splendour. And the Parsee lived by the Red Sea with nothing but his hat and his knife and a cooking-stove of the kind that you must particularly never touch.And one day he took flour and water and currants and plums and sugar and things, and made himself one cake which was two feet across and three feet thick.It was indeed a Superior Comestible(that's magic),and he put it on stove because he was allowed to cook on the stove, and he baked it and he baked it till it was all done brown and smelt most sentimental.But just as he was going to eat it there came down to the beach from the Altogether Uninhabited Interior one Rhinoceros with a horn on his nose, two piggy eyes, and few manners.In those days the Rhinoceros's skin fitted him quite tight.There were no wrinkles in it anywhere.He looked exactly like a Noah's Ark Rhinoceros, but of course much bigger.All the same, he had no manners then, and he has no manners now, and he never will have any manners.He said,‘How!'and the Parsee left that cake and climbed to the top of a palm tree with nothing on but his hat, from which the rays of the sun were always reflected in more-than-oriental splendour.And the Rhinoceros upset the oil-stove with his nose, and the cake rolled on the sand, and he spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he ate it, and he went away, waving his tail, to the desolate and Exclusively Uninhabited Interior which abuts on the islands of Mazanderan, Socotra, and Promontories of the Larger Equinox.Then the Parsee came down from his palm-tree and put the stove on its legs and recited the following Sloka, which, as you have not heard, I will now proceed to relate:—帕西人爬上棕榈树,犀牛脱下皮下水游泳

Them that takes cakes

Which the Parsee-man bakes

Makes dreadful mistakes.

And there was a great deal more in that than you would think.

Because, five weeks later, there was a heat wave in the Red Sea, and everybody took off all the clothes they had. The Parsee took off his hat;but the Rhinoceros took off his skin and carried it over hisshoulder as he came down to the beach to bathe.In those days it buttoned underneath with three buttons and looked like a waterproof.He said nothing whatever about the Parsee's cake, because he had eaten it all;and he never had any manners, then, since, or henceforward.He waddled straight into the water and blew bubbles through his nose, leaving his skin on the beach.

Presently the Parsee came by and found the skin, and he smiled one smile that ran all round his face two times. Then he danced three times round the skin and rubbed his hands.Then he went to his camp and filled his hat with cake-crumbs, for the Parsee never ate anything but cake, and never swept out his camp.He took that skin, and he shook that skin, and he scrubbed that skin, and he rubbed that skin just as full of old, dry, stale, tickly cake-crumbs and some burned currants as ever it could possibly hold.Then he climbed to the top of his palm-tree and waited for the Rhinoceros to come out of the water and put it on.

And the Rhinoceros did. He buttoned it up with the three buttons, and it tickled like cake crumbs in bed.Then he wanted to scratch, but that made it worse;and then he lay down on the sands and rolled and rolled and rolled, and every time he rolled the cake crumbs tickled him worse and worse and worse.Then he ran to the palm-tree and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed himself against it.He rubbed so much and so hard that he rubbed his skin into a great fold over his shoulders, and another fold underneath, where the buttonsused to be(but he rubbed the buttons off),and he rubbed some more folds over his legs.And it spoiled his temper, but it didn't make the least difference to the cake-crumbs.They were inside his skin and they tickled.So he went home, very angry indeed and horribly scratchy;and from that day to this every rhinoceros has great folds in his skin and a very bad temper, all on account of the cake-crumbs inside.

But the Parsee came down from his palm-tree, wearing his hat, from which the rays of the sun were reflected in more-than-oriental splendour, packed up his cooking-stove, and went away in the direction of Orotavo, Amygdala, the Upland Meadows of Anantarivo, and the Marshes of Sonaput.

THIS Uninhabited Island

Is off Cape Gardafui,

By the Beaches of Socotra

And the Pink Arabian Sea:

But it's hot—too hot from Suez

For the likes of you and me

Ever to go

In a P. and O.

And call on the Cake-Parsee!第四章 豹子为什么长斑点 Chapter 4 How the Leopard Got His Spots导读

在人人平等的远古时候,豹子生活在高地草原。那里长着沙黄色的草,豹子的皮也是沙黄色的。豹子常常躲在沙黄色的石头或草丛里,和两个肤色暗黄的埃塞俄比亚人一起突袭路过的动物。

后来,动物们学会了躲藏。长颈鹿、斑马、羚羊都躲进大森林里。由于他们有时在树荫里,有时在树荫外,日晒不均匀,长颈鹿的身上长出了斑点,斑马的身上长出了条纹,羚羊的背上也有了细细的灰纹。

豹子和埃塞俄比亚人找不到食物,很苦恼。这时,他们遇上了狒狒巴伟安,他是南非最聪明的动物。他们问巴伟安动物跑到哪里去了,巴伟安心里知道,却故作神秘地说:“原生动物群和原生植物群已经融合在一起了,你们也该改变自己。”豹子和人迷惑着出发去找原生植物群了。很多天后,他们见到了树木参天的大森林,他们认为这就是原生植物群,他们闻见了动物们的气味,却不见其踪影。他们决定夜里再捕猎,天黑了,豹子听见有东西呼呼喘气,扑上去捉住了,闻起来像斑马,但是豹子看不见是什么。埃塞俄比亚人也捉住了一样闻着像长颈鹿但是看不见的东西。豹子告诉他们坐在那东西头上等到天亮就看到了。天亮后,他们看到像长颈鹿却长着栗色斑点、像斑马却又长着暗紫色条纹的动物,他们不明白两只动物是如何隐身的。长颈鹿和斑马说要给他们演示一下,刚被放开就跑进森林里躲在影影绰绰的林木间。他们相互抱怨了一下,意识到自己和环境不匹配,决定接受巴伟安的建议改变自己。埃塞俄比亚人决定改成暗褐色、紫色和蓝灰色融在一起的肤色,以便于藏身在凹地和树后,并且心想事成地改变了。豹子最后决定加一些小斑点,埃塞俄比亚人五指并拢用黑黑的指尖在豹子身上乱按,留下一簇簇五个紧凑的小斑点,卧在地上像一块石头,让人视若无睹。南非最聪明的动物——狒狒巴伟安他们又去寻找早餐了,从此过上了快活的日子。我是最最睿智的巴伟安:“你和我,让我们融合在环境中。”客人乘车来拜访,妈妈却在……如果你愿意带我,我就跟你走——嬷嬷说她不干涉。咱们一起看小猪,坐在农家栅栏上;咱们去哄小兔子,看它快乐摇尾巴。爸爸,只要你我在一起,可以去做任何事。咱们真正去探险,茶点时分再回家。穿靴戴帽拿手杖,装好烟斗和烟丝,走呀走呀就出发!豹子身上加了小斑点,埃塞俄比亚人更换了肤色N the days when everybody started fair, Best Beloved, the Leopard lived in a place called the High Veldt.‘Member it wasn't the Low IVeldt, or the Bush Veldt, or the Sour Veldt, but the‘sclusively bare, hot, shiny High Veldt, where there was sand and sandy-coloured rock and‘sclusively tufts of sandy-yellowish grass. The Giraffe and the Zebra and the Eland and the Koodoo and the Hartebeest lived there;and they were‘sclusively sandy-yellow-brownish all over;but the Leopard, he was the‘sclusivest sandiest-yellowish-brownest of them all—a greyish-yellowish catty-shaped kind of beast, and he matched the‘sclusively yellowish-greyish-brownish colour of the High Veldt to one hair.This was very bad for the Giraffe and the Zebra and the rest of them;for he would lie down by a‘sclusively yellowish-greyish-brownish stone or clump of grass, and when the Giraffe or the Zebra or the Eland or the Koodoo or the Bush-Buck or the Bonte-Buck came by he would surprise them out of their jumpsome lives.He would indeed!And, also, there was an Ethiopian with bows and arrows(a‘sclusively greyish-brownish-yellowish man he was then),who lived on the High Veldt with the Leopard;and the two used to hunt together—the Ethiopian with his bows and arrows, and the Leopard‘sclusively with his teeth and claws—till the Giraffe and the Eland and the Koodoo and the Quagga and all the rest of them didn't know which way to jump, Best Beloved.They didn't indeed!

After a long time—things lived for ever so long in those days—they learned to avoid anything that looked like a Leopard or an Ethiopian;and bit by bit—the Giraffe began it, because his legs were the longest—they went away from the High Veldt. They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great forest,‘sclusively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows, and there they hid:and after another long time, what with standing half in the shade and half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidy shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew stripy, and the Eland and the Koodoo grew darker, with little wavy grey lines on their backs like bark on a tree trunk;and so, though you could hear them and smell them, you could very seldom see them, and then only when you knew precisely where to look.They had a beautiful time in the‘sclusively speckly-spickly shadows of the forest, while the Leopard and the Ethiopian ran about over the‘sclusively greyish-yellowish-reddish High Veldt outside, wondering where all their breakfasts and their dinners and their teas had gone.At last they were so hungry that they ate rats and beetles and rock-rabbits, the Leopard and the Ethiopian, and then they had the Big Tummy-ache, both together;and then they met Baviaan—the dog-headed, barking Baboon, who is Quite the Wisest Animal inAll South Africa.

Said Leopard to Baviaan(and it was a very hot day),‘Where has all the game gone?'

And Baviaan winked. He knew.

Said the Ethiopian to Baviaan,‘Can you tell me the present habitat of the aboriginal Fauna?'(That meant just the same thing, but the Ethiopian always used long words. He was a grown-up.)

And Baviaan winked. He knew.

Then said Baviaan,‘The game has gone into other spots;and my advice to you, Leopard, is to go into other spots as soon as you can.'

And the Ethiopian said,‘That is all very fine, but I wish to know whither the aboriginal Fauna has migrated.'

Then said Baviaan,‘The aboriginal Fauna has joined the aboriginal Flora because it was high time for a change;and my advice to you, Ethiopian, is to change as soon as you can.'

That puzzled the Leopard and the Ethiopian, but they set off to look for the aboriginal Flora, and presently, after ever so many days, they saw a great, high, tall forest full of tree trunks all‘sclusively speckled and sprottled and spottled, dotted and splashed and slashed and hatched and cross-hatched with shadows.(Say that quickly aloud, and you will see how very shadowy the forest must have been.)‘What is this,'said the Leopard,‘that is so‘sclusively dark, and yet so full of little pieces of light?'‘I don't know, said the Ethiopian,‘but it ought to be the aboriginal Flora. I can smell Giraffe, and I can hear Giraffe, but I can't see Giraffe.'‘That's curious,'said the Leopard.‘I suppose it is because we have just come in out of the sunshine. I can smell Zebra, and I can hear Zebra, but I can't see Zebra.'‘Wait a bit, said the Ethiopian.‘It's a long time since we've hunted'em. Perhaps we've forgotten what they were like.'‘Fiddle!'said the Leopard.‘I remember them perfectly on the High Veldt, especially their marrow-bones. Giraffe is about seventeen feet high, of a‘sclusively fulvous golden-yellow from head to heel;and Zebra is about four and a half feet high, of a'sclusively grey-fawn colour from head to heel.'‘Umm, said the Ethiopian, looking into the speckly-spickly shadows of the aboriginal Flora-forest.‘Then they ought to show up in this dark place like ripe bananas in a smokehouse.'

But they didn't. The Leopard and the Ethiopian hunted all day;and though they could smell them and hear them, they never saw one of them.‘For goodness'sake,'said the Leopard at tea-time,‘let us wait till it gets dark. This daylight hunting is a perfect scandal.'

So they waited till dark, and then the Leopard heard something breathing sniffily in the starlight that fell all stripy through thebranches, and he jumped at the noise, and it smelt like Zebra, and it felt like Zebra, and when he knocked it down it kicked like Zebra, but he couldn't see it. So he said,‘Be quiet, O you person without any form.I am going to sit on your head till morning, because there is something about you that I don't understand.'

Presently he heard a grunt and a crash and a scramble, and the Ethiopian called out,‘I've caught a thing that I can't see. It smells like Giraffe, and it kicks like Giraffe, but it hasn't any form.'‘Don't you trust it,'said the Leopard.‘Sit on its head till the morning—same as me. They haven't any form—any of'em.'

So they sat down on them hard till bright morning-time, and then Leopard said,‘What have you at your end of the table, Brother?'

The Ethiopian scratched his head and said,‘It ought to be‘sclusively a rich fulvous orange-tawny from head to heel, and it ought to be Giraffe;but it is covered all over with chestnut blotches. What have you at your end of the table, Brother?'

And the Leopard scratched his head and said,‘It ought to be‘sclusively a delicate greyish-fawn, and it ought to be Zebra;but it is covered all over with black and purple stripes. What in the world have you been doing to yourself, Zebra?Don't you know that if you were on the High Veldt I could see you ten miles off?You haven't any form.'‘Yes,'said the Zebra,‘but this isn't the High Veldt. Can't yousee?'‘I can now,'said the Leopard.‘But I couldn't all yesterday. How is it done?'‘Let us up,'said the Zebra,‘and we will show you.

They let the Zebra and the Giraffe get up;and Zebra moved away to some little thorn-bushes where the sunlight fell all stripy, and Giraffe moved off to some tallish trees where the shadows fell all blotchy.‘Now watch,'said the Zebra and the Giraffe.‘This is the way it's done. One—two—three!And where's your breakfast?'

Leopard stared, and Ethiopian stared, but all they could see were stripy shadows and blotched shadows in the forest, but never a sign of Zebra and Giraffe. They had just walked off and hidden themselves in the shadowy forest.‘Hi!Hi!'said the Ethiopian.‘That's a trick worth learning. Take a lesson by it, Leopard.You show up in this dark place like a bar of soap in a coal-scuttle.'‘Ho!Ho!'said the Leopard.‘Would it surprise you very much to know that you show up in this dark place like a mustard-plaster on a sack of coals?'‘Well, calling names won't catch dinner, said the Ethiopian.‘The long and the little of it is that we don't match our backgrounds. I'm going to take Baviaan's advice.He told me I ought to change;and as I've nothing to change except my skin I’m going to changethat.’‘What to?'said the Leopard, tremendously excited.‘To a nice working blackish-brownish colour, with a little purple in it, and touches of slaty-blue. It will be the very thing for hiding in hollows and behind trees.'

So he changed his skin then and there, and the Leopard was more excited than ever;he had never seen a man change his skin before.‘But what about me?'he said, when the Ethiopian had worked his last little finger into his fine new black skin.‘You take Baviaan's advice too. He told you to go into spots.'‘So I did,'said the Leopard. I went into other spots as fast as I could.I went into this spot with you, and a lot of good it has done me.'‘Oh,'said the Ethiopian,‘Baviaan didn't mean spots in South Africa. He meant spots on your skin.'‘What's the use of that?'said the Leopard.‘Think of Giraffe,'said the Ethiopian.‘Or if you prefer stripes, think of Zebra. They find their spots and stripes give them per-feet satisfaction.'‘Umm,'said the Leopard.‘I wouldn't look like Zebra—not for ever so.'‘Well, make up your mind,'said the Ethiopian,‘because I'd hate to go hunting without you, but I must if you insist on lookinglike a sun-flower against a tarred fence.'‘I'll take spots, then,'said the Leopard;‘but don't make'em too vulgar-big. I wouldn't look like Giraffe—not for ever so.’‘I'll make'em with the tips of my fingers,'said the Ethiopian.‘There's plenty of black left on my skin still. Stand over!'

Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together(there was plenty of black left on his new skin still)and pressed them all over the Leopard, and wherever the five fingers touched they left five little black marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopard's skin you like, Best Beloved.Sometimes the fingers slipped and the marks got a little blurred;but if you look closely at any Leopard now you will see that there are always five spots—off five fat black finger-tips.‘Now you are a beauty!'said the Ethiopian.‘You can lie out on the bare ground and look like a heap of pebbles. You can lie out on the naked rocks and look like a piece of pudding-stone.You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves;and you can lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in particular.Think of that and purr!'‘But if I'm all this,'said the Leopard,‘why didn't you go spotty too?'‘Oh, plain black's best for a nigger,'said the Ethiopian.‘Now come along and we'll see if we can't get even with Mr. One-Two-Three Where's your Breakfast!’

So they went away and lived happily ever afterward, Best Beloved. That is all.

Oh, now and then you will hear grown-ups say,‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots?'I don't think even grown-ups would keep on saying such a silly thing if the Leopard and the Ethiopian hadn't done it once—do you?But they will never do it again, Best Beloved. They are quite contented as they are.

I AM the Most Wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones,‘Let us melt into the landscape—just us two by our lones.'

People have come—in a carriage—calling. But Mummy is there……

Yes, I can go if you take me—Nurse says she don't care.

Let's go up to the pig-sties and sit on the farmyard rails!

Let's say things to the bunnies, and watch'em skitter their tails!

Let's—oh, anything, daddy, so long as it's you and me,

And going truly exploring, and not being in till tea!

Here's your boots(I've brought'em),and here's your cap and stick,

And here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out of it—quick.第五章 小幼象 Chapter 5 The Elephant’s Child导读

很久以前,大象的鼻子只有靴子那么长。在非洲有一只充满好奇心的小幼象,总是缠着鸵鸟姑姑、长颈鹿叔叔、河马阿姨、狒狒伯伯问个不停。尽管叔叔阿姨们都会不耐烦地揍他,可是仍然无法阻止他的好奇心。

一天上午,小象问道:“鳄鱼用什么作晚餐?”长辈们一听便生气地揍了他一顿。只有克乐可乐鸟同情地指点他去林波波大河寻找答案。

第二天,小幼象带上香蕉、甘蔗和甜瓜,向亲人告别之后就出发去林波波大河了。他吃着甜瓜,因为不会拣皮,他把皮扔得到处都是。终于,他到了长满蓝桉树的林波波大河边。

小幼象从没见过鳄鱼。他首先问一条巨蟒:“你见过鳄鱼么?鳄鱼拿什么作晚餐?”巨蟒听了用尾巴重重击了小象一下。小象又上路了,依然把甜瓜皮扔了满地。最后,在林波波大河边他踩到了鳄鱼,可他并不认识,于是问:“你见过鳄鱼吗?”鳄鱼说:“我就是鳄鱼。”小象惊喜地说:“终于找到了,你拿什么作晚餐呢?”鳄鱼说:“你过来,我悄悄告诉你。”小象刚凑过去,鳄鱼就咬住了它的鼻子,从牙缝里挤出声音:“我今天就用小幼象作晚餐。”这时巨蟒来了,让小幼象拼命向后拽。小幼象拽呀拽,鼻子越来越长。巨蟒缠住小幼象的后腿帮助他往后拽,最后鳄鱼松开了小幼象的鼻子,整个林波波河都听到了扑通一声巨响。鳄鱼咬住了小幼象的鼻子

小幼象谢过巨蟒,把鼻子浸在河里想让它缩回去。三天之后,他的鼻子还是长长的,眼睛反而成斜视了。一只苍蝇叮在他肩上,他下意识地用鼻子打死了苍蝇。巨蟒说:“这是长鼻子的第一个优点,来吃饭吧。”小幼象下意识地用长鼻子卷起一捆草塞进嘴里。巨蟒说:“这算第二个优点。这里太晒了。”小幼象又下意识地用鼻子卷起泥巴敷在头上当做帽子。巨蟒说:“第三个优点,以前的短鼻子是做不到这些的。另外,你会发现新鼻子可以用来揍人。”小幼象说:“我想回家试一试。”

于是小幼象踏上了回家的路。一路上用鼻子卷水果和鲜草吃,还打苍蝇、做泥帽子、唱歌,又揍了一只陌生的河马,最后还捡起来时扔在路上的甜瓜皮。

一天傍晚他到家了。大家虽然高兴,但因为他的好奇心又要揍他。小幼象用长鼻子奋起反击,还不许任何动物碰克乐可乐。人们问他是从哪里得到长鼻子的。他说在林波波大河的鳄鱼那里,于是他们纷纷上路了。回来之后,他们再不欺负其他动物了。从那时起,大象都有了长鼻子。我有六个忠实的仆从,他们教给我一切;他们各有名字:“是什么”“在哪里”“在何时”“怎么样”“为什么”“谁”;我派他们跋山涉水,我派他们奔走东西,小幼象用鼻子摘香蕉当他们完成了工作,我也会让他们休息。朝九晚五,我在忙碌,那时他们在休憩;早餐、午餐和茶饮,饥肠辘辘的他们也在休息;仁者见仁,智者见智我认识一个吝啬的人,她的仆人有一千万个,没有一个可以休息;她一睁眼起,就驱遣他们为她效力,一百万个“怎么样”,两百万个“在哪里”,还有七百万个“为什么”!N the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk. He had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot, that he Icould wriggle about from side to side;but he couldn't pick up things with it.But there was one Elephant—a new Elephant—an Elephant's Child—who was full of‘satiable curtiosity, and that means he asked ever so many questions.And he lived in Africa, and he filled all Africa with his‘satiable curtiosities. He asked his tall aunt, the Ostrich, why her tail-feathers grew just so, and his tall aunt the Ostrich spanked him with her hard, hard claw.He asked his tall uncle, the Giraffe, what made his skin spotty, and his tall uncle, the Giraffe, spanked him with his hard, hard hoof.And still he was full of'satiable curtiosity!He asked his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, why her eyes were red, and his broad aunt, the Hippopotamus, spanked him with her broad, broad hoof;and he asked his hairy uncle, the Baboon, why melons tasted just so, and his hairy uncle, the Baboon, spanked him with his hairy, hairy paw.And still he was full of‘satiable curtiosity!He asked questions about everything that he saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or touched, and all his uncles and his aunts spanked him.And still he was full of'satiable curtiosity!

One fine morning in the middle of the Precession of the Equinoxes this‘satiable Elephant's Child asked a new fine question that he had never asked before. He asked,‘What does the Crocodile have for dinner?'Then everybody said,‘Hush!'in a loud and dretful tone, and they spanked him immediately and directly, without stopping, for a long time.

By and by, when that was finished, he came upon Kolokolo Bird sitting in the middle of a wait-a-bit thorn-bush, and he said,‘My father has spanked me, and my mother has spanked me;all my aunts and uncles have spanked me for my‘satiable curtiosity;and still I want to know what the Crocodile has for dinner!'

Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry,‘Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-

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