我是梅米麗

從前，有一個奇妙的地方叫作茉莉叢林。這裏的空氣甜絲絲的，生活著各種神奇的動物，他們的歡聲笑語在林中回**。這裏有獵豹的小寶寶學著跳躍，有或大或小的大象用長鼻子吸著水，在林中噴出細細的水霧，在一縷縷陽光下映出小小的彩虹。茉莉叢林就是這樣一個地方。

There was a land; a marvelous, sweet-smelling land called the Jasmine Jungle. A land brimming with all the mystery of life and filled with the raucous sounds of all the creatures who lived within. It was here that baby leopards leaped. It was here that elephants of all sizes spritzed and sprayed the jungle with a fine watery mist, causing rainbows to dance from sunbeam to sunbeam. This was the Jasmine Jungle.

叢林的最中間是一片草地。在這片芳香的青草地上，一隻小小的長頸鹿寶寶出生了，她的名字叫作梅米麗。一般來說，小寶寶出生不是什麽特別的事情，但是，當梅米麗降生的時候，整個叢林裏隻剩下兩隻長頸鹿了——一隻是梅米麗的爸爸，另一隻當然就是梅米麗的媽媽。叢林裏的所有動物都來看新出生的寶寶，驚奇地直喊著“哦！”或者“哇！”。

In the middle of this land was a meadow, and in this fragrant meadow a small knobby-kneed giraffe was born, called Memily. Normally, this would not have been such a special event, but until Memily was born there were only two other giraffes in the jungle: Memily’s father and, of course, Memily’s mother. All the other creatures of the jungle gathered around and “oohhed” and “ahhed” at the newborn baby.

在生命的最初幾個禮拜裏，梅米麗一直在磕磕絆絆地學走路。我們都知道，長頸鹿的腿又細又長，而梅米麗的腿也是這樣。她花了好長時間，才學會用這四條長長的腿走路。她在草地上搖搖晃晃地走著，努力想要保持平衡，卻總是一會兒撞上一棵大樹，一會兒又撞上小樹叢。

Memily spent the first few weeks of life in the Jasmine Jungle awkwardly learning how to walk about. As we all know, giraffes have long,lanky legs, and Memily was no exception. It took her a long time to learn to walk on legs so long. She would wobble about the meadow bouncing off a tree here and a bush there as she struggled to gain her balance.

梅米麗有一件煩心事。她知道自己是一隻長頸鹿，這並沒有什麽問題。她也知道叢林中有很多危險，因為媽媽把她教得很好。梅米麗的煩惱就是沒有個子像她一樣大的小夥伴一起玩。

有一天，梅米麗和一群小兔子一塊兒玩起了傻乎乎的“鬼抓人”遊戲。她暗暗想著：“真好玩啊！我真喜歡玩鬼抓人！”很快，小兔子們就讓梅米麗當抓人的“鬼”。她拔腿跑了起來，開始在草地上到處追著這些靈活的小家夥。

梅米麗感覺自己就像一隻普通的小兔子……隻是個子稍微高了一點兒。

Memily had a problem of sorts. She knew that she was a giraffe,there was no problem with that. She knew about all the dangers of the jungle, for her mother had taught her well. Memily’s problem was that she didn’t have anybody to play with who was her own size.

One day she joined a bunch of bunnies in playing some silly forest games. She thought to herself, “What fun! I just love to play tag.”Soon the bunnies tagged her “it,” and she was off chasing the elusive creatures all over the meadow.

Memily felt just like a regular bunny... only a lot taller than the rest.

這場遊戲開始的時候一切正常，沒想到最後卻是一團糟。梅米麗上一秒還在追小兔子們，下一秒就被小兔子們跳過去的樹根絆了一跤。她滾了好幾圈，最後正好一下子砸到了所有小兔子身上。

The game started innocently, then ended in disaster. One minute,Memily was chasing the bunnies, and the next minute she tripped on a root that the others had jumped over. She flipped, she flopped, and landed in a heap right on top of all the little baby bunnies.

小兔子們一個接一個掙紮著跳了起來，一個接一個蹦到了一邊，隻有梅米麗還稀裏糊塗地趴在地上。

“哎呀，哎呀，梅米麗！”小兔子們七嘴八舌地喊道，“這樣下去我們會受傷的！你應該和像你一樣大的夥伴一起玩呀！”

說完，小兔子們就蹦蹦跳跳地走開了，把糾結又迷惑的梅米麗孤零零地留在那裏。“好吧，”梅米麗想，“那我就去找個子大一點兒的夥伴一起玩吧。”

她費勁地站起身來，笨拙地一路小跑著去找新朋友玩新遊戲了。

One by one, the bunnies popped to their feet out of this jumble in the jungle, until the only one left in the pile of confusion was Memily.

“Gee whiz, Memily!” the bunnies cried. “You could have hurt us that way! You have got to play with someone your own size!”

With that, the bunnies hopped away, leaving Memily tangled and confused in the middle of the path. “Well,” she thought, “I’ll just have to find someone taller to play with.”

She struggled to her feet and galloped clumsily on her way, in search of new friends and new games to play.

梅米麗開始找和自己一樣大的新夥伴，但現在唯一的問題是，她還在不斷地長個子呢。每過一天，她都會長高一點兒。她試過和獅子一起玩，可是他們對她來說太矮了，也太粗野了。她也試過找猴子一起玩，可是梅米麗連路都走不利索，更別提和他們一起爬樹了。

最後，梅米麗遇到了一隻小象和兩匹斑馬，他們正熱熱鬧鬧地玩著捉迷藏。他們歡迎梅米麗一起玩，因為大家都知道，捉迷藏當然是人越多越好玩了！

Now Memily’s only problem with finding someone her own size was the fact that Memily was still growing. Day by day she was growing taller and taller. She tried to play with the lions, but they were too short and much too rough. She tried to play with the monkeys, but Memily had trouble walking on the ground, let alone climbing the trees.

Finally, Memily befriended two zebras and an elephant who were playing a rousing game of hide-and-go-seek. They had no objections to letting Memily play. For, as you know, the more the merrier when you are playing hide-and-go-seek.

一匹斑馬開始從一到十地數了起來，其他動物悄悄地藏了起來。小象藏到水底下，隻把長鼻子的尖兒像蘆葦一樣伸出水麵。另外一匹斑馬鑽進草叢，她的一身條紋剛好是最棒的保護色。

梅米麗到處亂跑，想要找一個能躲進去的地方。她想像小象一樣躲進水裏，可是她個子太高了，也沒有能伸出水麵呼吸的長鼻子。她又想像斑馬一樣藏在草叢裏，但是她長長的脖子總是會像雜草一樣斜伸出來。

最後，她終於找到了一個能藏起來的地方——至少她覺得自己藏好了。但是斑馬一數完十個數，就立刻找到了躲在空地上一堆石頭後麵的梅米麗。像她這麽高大的一隻長頸鹿，還能躲到什麽地方去呢？

One of the zebras counted to ten while the others slipped away to hide.the elephant hid in the river, with only his trunk sticking out like a reed.The other zebra hid in the bush where her stripes disguised her.

Memily dashed this way and that looking for somewhere to hide. She tried to hide in the water with the elephant, but she was much too tall, and besides, she didn’t have a trunk to breathe through. She tried to hide in the bush with the zebra, but her neck stuck out like a weed in the willows.

Finally, she found a place to hide—or at least she thought she was hiding. But when the other zebra finished counting to ten he instantly spied Memily behind a pile of rocks in the clearing. Just where can a very tall giraffe hide?

她一會兒藏在這兒，一會兒又藏在那兒。雖然她以為自己藏好了，但其他動物不是能看見她的四條長腿，就是能看到她的長脖子。

最後，斑馬和小象失望地說：“這樣可不行呀，梅米麗！你實在是太高了，得找和你一樣大的夥伴一起玩。也許你應該試試和大樹玩。”說完，他們就把傷心的梅米麗孤零零地丟在一邊，笑嘻嘻地一路跑進叢林裏去了。

梅米麗到處找啊找啊，想要找一個和她一樣高的小夥伴，卻怎麽也找不到。到了最後，梅米麗終於認定，並沒有像她一樣高大的動物。所以，梅米麗再也不找叢林裏的其他小動物一起玩了。

She hid here. She hid there. Every time she thought she was hidden the other animals would see her gangly legs or her neck sticking out.

Finally, the zebras and the elephant sadly said, “It’s just not going to work, Memily! You are just too tall. You have to find someone your own size. Maybe you should just play with the trees.” Then, giggling,the three of them dashed deep into the Jasmine Jungle, leaving a sad Memily all alone with no one to play with.

She searched high and low for someone her own size, but she could find no one. Finally, resolved that there was no one as tall as she was,Memily stopped trying to play games with any of the other creatures of the forest.

日子一周又一周地過去，梅米麗一天天地長大，卻一天比一天傷心。她很害羞，而且因為自己的高個子而感覺非常不好意思。每當別的動物從她身邊經過，梅米麗都會別過臉去，因為她知道，如果想看著她的眼睛說話，那他們都得抬起頭往上看才行。

梅米麗越長越大，越長越高。她開始把脖子垂得低低的，把四個膝蓋都彎起來，好讓自己顯得矮一些。但是她做什麽都沒有用，因為她把脖子垂得再低，把膝蓋壓得再彎，也非常非常高。

Week after week Memily grew, and she became sadder and sadder.She was shy and embarrassed by her height, and whenever any of the other creatures walked by she would turn her head, knowing that they had to look up just to look her in the eye.

Memily grew and grew. She began to bow her neck and bend her knees, trying desperately to make herself shorter. Everything she tried was to no avail, for no matter how much she bowed her neck or bent her knees, she was still very tall indeed.

個子太高讓梅米麗羞得不得了，她隻好整天藏在茉莉叢林邊緣的樹林裏，在那裏一站就是好幾個小時。她一邊嚼著樹梢上甜甜的嫩葉，一邊偶爾抖抖耳朵，這樣小鳥就不會在她的頭上築巢了。

但小鳥們還是會來煩她。他們嘰嘰喳喳地又叫又笑，有時還站在梅米麗的頭上，一邊彎下身子看著她的眼睛，一邊唱著沒頭沒腦的小曲兒：

“是誰比大樹還要高？是梅米麗……是梅米麗……”

而梅米麗隻是搖搖頭，小鳥們就撲棱棱地笑著飛走了。

Memily was so embarrassed about being tall that she began spending all of her days hiding amidst the trees that grew at the edge of the Jasmine Jungle. She would stand for hours, munching on sweet leaves and twitching her ears so that the birds wouldn’t build a nest on her head.

But the birds would come anyway, twittering and giggling and, while standing on Memily’s head, they would bend over, look her in the eye and sing a silly song,“Who can you see...Taller than a tree?

It’s Memily...

It’s Memily!”

Memily would just shake her head and the birds would laughingly flutter away.

有一天，梅米麗把腦袋穿過一棵大樹最高的一層枝葉。眼前的景象可把她嚇了一大跳——旁邊的樹冠裏居然探出了另外一顆腦袋，也正盯著她看呢。梅米麗看了一遍又一遍，毫無疑問，那就是一隻和她一樣高的長頸鹿！

“你好啊！”她害羞地說，“你也不得不藏在樹林裏嗎？”

One day, as Memily was rustling through the uppermost branches of a very tall tree, she was shocked nearly out of her wits by the appearance of another head looking back at her from another tree. She looked once, she looked twice, and sure enough there was another giraffe just as tall as she.

“Hello there,” she said shyly. “Do you have to hide in the trees, too?”

那隻長頸鹿哈哈大笑，踏著優美的步子走近梅米麗藏身的大樹。“不是啊，我可沒有藏起來。”他低低的聲音非常溫和，“我在吃隻有樹梢兒上才有的甜葉子呢。我的名字叫赫歇爾，你呢？”“梅米麗。”她一邊說，一邊從樹後麵走了出來，彎著膝蓋，脖子壓得低低的。

赫歇爾看見梅米麗那稀奇古怪的姿勢，又忍不住笑了起來：“你為什麽要這樣走路呀？”“我必須這樣走路呀，”梅米麗害羞地說，“不這樣走的話，我就比其他動物高太多了！”“可是，你本來就應該比其他動物高呀！”赫歇爾說，“這是大自然的規律，有些動物高，有些動物矮，但他們都在茉莉叢林裏有自己的位置。”

時間一天天地過去，赫歇爾教了梅米麗很多東西。現在她已經明白了，個子高並不是壞事情，因為在大自然中，每種動物都擁有自己的獨特之處。

The other giraffe laughed and laughed, and walked over to Memily’s tree in a graceful, swaying motion. “No!” he said in a gentle rumble. “I am not hiding in the tree. I am eating the sweet leaves that only grow at the very top. My name is Herschel. Who are you?”

“Memily,” she said as she stepped from behind the tree with her knees bent and her neck bowed.

Herschel looked and laughed as Memily walked in her awkward way.“Why are you walking like that?”

“I have to walk this way,” said Memily shyly. “Otherwise I would be much taller than the other creatures!”

“But you are supposed to be taller than the other creatures,” said Herschel. “It is the way of nature. Some creatures are tall, some are small,but all have their place in the Jasmine Jungle.”

With the passage of time, Herschel taught Memily that being tall is not bad, and that in nature all creatures are special in their own way.

矮就是矮，高就是高。你就是你，這樣最好！

SHORT IS SHORT AND TALL IS TALL.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE

THAT IS ALL!