我是羽毛芬

憂鬱而明亮的月亮高高地掛在夜空中，溫柔地牽引著起起落落的潮水。月光灑滿海麵，光芒在一層層的波濤之間跳躍。

The moon of many moods lighted the night sky as it pulled and pushed the waters of the ocean, creating swells that gently washed against the shore. The moonlight skipped across the waves, casting its glow and shadows far out to sea.

波光粼粼的海麵下，大海依然平靜。光線曲曲折折地穿過藍水晶似的海水，繞著飄**的水草打著轉兒。

在這片靜謐的海裏，許多五顏六色的魚兒生活在龐大的珊瑚柱之間。

Beneath the surface of waves the movement of the water was stilled.The sights of light and bright were subdued in the crystal blue waters that swirled in and around the seawater ferns.

All the fish of the sea, colored yellow to blue, red to green, swam about the pillars of coral, swirling around the serene water.

在所有魚兒之中，最新奇、最美麗的魚要數小小的孔雀鰻了。這些小魚兒的魚鰭就像羽毛一樣，當他們靈巧地遊來遊去時，輕薄透明的鰭隨著水流左右搖擺。年紀大一些的孔雀鰻貼著海底覓食，而年齡小一些的鰻魚更喜歡在沙地上的珊瑚城堡中嬉戲玩耍。

Amidst all the fish of the sea lived beautiful but strange little creatures called Peacock Eels. Their fins, like feathers, swished gently back and forth as they swam effortlessly in the tides and eddies of the atoll. The older eels searched about the bottom for tidbits and morsels to eat while the young played in and about the underwater castles of coral and sand.

不過，有一條色彩格外鮮豔的小鰻魚不是那麽喜歡這種詩意又平靜的生活。他最喜歡的就是靜靜地仰起頭，望向頭頂波濤翻滾的海麵，以及浪花之間折射出各種顏色的陽光。

這條小鰻魚是從一顆象牙色的蛋裏孵出來的，大家都叫他“羽毛芬”。

As the creatures moved about in poetic ease, one little eel, more brightly colored than all the rest, stayed still within the waters and looked up. He watched as the movement of the waves high above caused the light to shift and dance on the water like a rainbow of color.

He was born in an ivory-colored egg and all the other fish called him Feather-Fin.

Feather Fin spent all of his days looking for beautiful, colorful things.He floated for hours and hours, watching the light playing upon the facets of diamond coral. The other eels would swim around him, begging him to play. They would surround him as he lay motionless in the water, blowing bubbles at him or flipping their tails; but no matter—he just wouldn’t budge.

The other eels would soon tire of their games and swim away, leaving Feather Fin to gaze at the beauty around him. When he was sure that he was all alone he would turn his eyes up to the surface of the sea. For, you see, Feather Fin had only one dream in the whole world—and that was to visit the mysterious land of High Above.

羽毛芬每天都在用眼睛尋找五彩斑斕的漂亮玩意兒。他會在水裏一動不動地漂著，盯著晶瑩的珊瑚上的點點光斑看上好幾個小時。其他的小鰻魚會圍著他遊來遊去，對著他吐出一串串水泡，或者拍打著他們的尾巴，纏著他想一起玩。但羽毛芬總是不為所動。

很快，其他小鰻魚就無聊地遊開了，留下羽毛芬自己看著身邊的美景發呆。等其他魚兒都走了，羽毛芬就會抬起頭看向頭頂的海麵。因為羽毛芬一直有一個最大的願望——到海麵上那個被稱為“岸上”的地方去看一看。

有一天，他忍不住對媽媽講起了那些來自海麵的美麗顏色。“我想，如果真的能到岸上去一趟，看看那裏都有什麽，那該多好玩呀！”羽毛芬說道，好奇地把眼睛睜得大大的。

“這可不行！這可不行！”媽媽嚴厲地告訴他，“你永遠都不應該到岸上去，那裏可不適合咱們這樣的魚類。”

“真沒意思！”他嘟囔著遊走了，“媽媽知道什麽！總有一天，我要到上麵去，好好看看那裏是怎麽回事兒。”

Once he had asked his mother-eel about the beautiful colors that played upon the surface. “It would be such fun to go there and see all there is to see,” he said in wide-eyed wonder.

“Never! Never!” his mother bubbled back at him. “You must never go to the land of High Above. It’s not made for fish like you or me.”

“Oh, pooh and seaweed!” he burbled as he swam away. “What do mothers know? Someday I will go there and see what I must see.”

一天傍晚，當夜幕隨著晚潮在海底緩緩降臨時，羽毛芬悄悄溜走，藏了起來。他遊啊遊啊，一直遊到了離家很遠很遠的地方。那裏的沙子更軟，珊瑚更高，海水也更淺。

他藏在一道石頭縫裏，看著其他魚兒急匆匆地遊回岩洞。他們將在岩洞裏睡覺，度過漫漫長夜。

Then, late one day as the darkness of the night curled in with the afternoon tide, Feather Fin slipped away to hide. He swam and swam away from his home to the higher corals and softer sands of the shallows of the sea.

In a small niche he hid and watched as the other eels and fish swam safely for their caves to sleep away the period of darkness.

羽毛芬在石頭縫裏等啊，等啊，一直等到第一縷陽光照進海裏的時候。他迎著銀亮亮的陽光向上遊，像展開羽毛似的揮動著魚鰭，努力朝海麵遊去。

He waited and when the nighttime was almost gone, just before the first light of dawn, he began swimming higher and higher. The silvery light of High Above beckoned to him as he fluttered his feathery fins,struggling to climb up to the surface.

羽毛芬穿過波浪，把小腦袋探出海麵，第一次看到了一片金燦燦的沙灘。

他正被眼前的景象驚得合不攏嘴，突然來了一個更大的浪頭，把他像葉子一樣卷起來推到了岸邊。

The waves broke about him as Feather Fin popped to the surface of the sea. There before him he saw, for the first time, the golden sands of a beach.

Then, just as he sighed in wonder at it all, a wave larger than all the rest picked him up like a leaf and gently washed him onto the shore.

周圍的美景讓羽毛芬驚訝極了：棕櫚樹寬大的葉子在溫柔的海風中沙沙響著，不斷搖擺，彩虹一樣色彩斑斕的花朵紛紛綻放。當然，羽毛芬從來沒有聽過風聲，也沒有聽到過海浪撞擊沙灘的響動，這些聲音在他聽來既新鮮又好聽。

Feather Fin was amazed at all the beauty around him. There were gently waving palm trees softly sighing in the off-shore breeze, and at the edge of the sand, brightly colored flowers in all the colors of the rainbow. Of course, he had never before heard the rustling of the wind, nor the bell-like crashing of waves on the shore, and the sound was like music to his ears.

然後，當羽毛芬準備深呼吸的時候，他突然發現了一件可怕的事情：他根本無法用魚鰓呼吸岸上的空氣。這時候羽毛芬才知道，原來媽媽說得沒錯，但是已經太晚了！他上氣不接下氣地掙紮起來，拚命地在地上扭著身子，想要回到海裏去。可是，不管他怎麽扭，都還是陷在沙灘上，一點兒也動不了。

羽毛芬快要喘不過氣來了，他多希望自己從來沒有離開過安全的大海呀。

Then, as he breathed deeply through his gills, he suddenly tasted what was to him the terrible unbreathable air of High Above. Feather Fin gasped and realized, too late, that his mother was right, that this place was not for fish to see. He struggled and flipped and flopped, trying to get back into the water, but to no avail.

There he lay on the sand, panting, wishing that he had never left the safety of the sea.

羽毛芬以為自己就要完蛋了，萬幸的是，海潮在這時終於漲了起來。海水漸漸地湧到他的身邊，羽毛芬立刻順著潮水遊回了大海。他在水裏遊了一圈又一圈，把從“岸上”沾來的沙子洗得幹幹淨淨，然後連忙遊向海洋深處的家。

Just as Feather Fin thought that all was lost, the last, large wave of an ebbing tide gently lapped about him and he quickly slipped back into the water. He swam around and around, washing all the sandy traces of High Above from his fins. Satisfied that he was clean at last, Feather Fin swam back to his home in the deep.

從那以後，羽毛芬願意在海底和其他魚兒一起玩了。他歡快地隨著一串串水泡上上下下，再也不夢想著到“岸上”去了。

From that day on and forever more, the little Peacock Eel stayed and played with the other fish at the bottom of the sea. He played bubble-up and bubble-down and never once did he dream of the land of High Above.

如果你想來個大冒險，而爸爸媽媽說“這可不行”，那就想想小孔雀鰻羽毛芬，還有他倒黴的旅行。

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE

AND YOUR PARENTS H**E TOLD YOU, “NO!”DREAM OF AN EEL

CALLED FEATHER FIN AND THE THINGS

HE CAME TO KNOW.