我還是利奧

在濃霧籠罩的暮光森林裏，每當夜幕降臨，溫柔的月光在樹木的枝杈間緩緩遊移時，森林裏的小動物們都會迷迷糊糊地睡覺去。

In the mist of twilight wonder, when evening shadows gently glided from branch to branch, all of the creatures of the forest softly began to fall asleep.

鬆鼠們把毛蓬蓬的大尾巴裹在身上，暖暖和和地打著盹兒。在草地上蹦蹦跳跳地玩了一天的小鹿們早就累壞了，這時候依偎在爸爸媽媽身邊睡得正香。各種鳥兒都落在了樹枝上，困得腦袋一點一點的，在夢境裏展翅飛翔。

Squirrels dozed, warmly wrapped in their soft, furry tails. Fawns,exhausted after frolicking in the meadows, slept contentedly, nestled near their parents. Birds of all feathers nodded gently on the branches of the trees, eyes blinking, hoping to dream of beautiful flight.

在鬆樹下的地洞裏，一群毛色各異的小兔子正擠成一團，舒舒服服地打著小呼嚕。

但是，一隻長著下垂的大耳朵的小兔子沒有睡，這隻小兔子的名字叫利奧。他扭來扭去，來回翻著身，努力想要入睡，但是，一想到那件事，他就睡不著。什麽事情讓他這麽心煩呢？那就是，他不過是一隻小小的、可愛的小兔子而已。

“為什麽我不是一隻大老虎呢？”利奧嘟囔著翻了第一百次身，“為什麽我不能是一隻大熊呢？哪怕是做一隻凶巴巴的麝鼠也好啊。什麽都比一隻不起眼的小兔子強。”

利奧就這麽想啊想啊，長長地嗚咽了一聲後，終於睡著了。

In a burrow beneath a twisted pine, fluffy bunnies of all sorts snored and sniffed quietly in their slumber.

All of the rabbits, that is, except one lop-eared rabbit called Leo, who just couldn’t fall asleep. He would twitch and pitch trying desperately to fall asleep, but no matter how he tried he couldn’t forget the one thing that kept him awake: he was a tiny cute rabbit.

“Why couldn’t I have been born a tough tiger?” he muttered, as he rolled over for the hundredth time. “A bad bear? A mean muskrat?Anything but an itty bitty fluffy bunny!”

Finally, with a sob, Leo rolled over and fell into a troubled sleep.

當太陽升起來的時候，利奧感覺自己隻睡了一小會兒。新的一天開始了。利奧慢慢地揉了揉眼睛，打了一個大哈欠，又伸了兩次懶腰，才從軟軟的苔蘚小**爬起來。

“唉，我應該怎麽辦呢？”他盯著鏡子嘟囔道，“我不想做個可愛的小家夥了，我想變得又大又凶又勇敢！”他一邊想著，一邊努力地眯起眼睛、皺起鼻子，盡量做出一副凶狠的樣子。看到自己的模樣顯得沒那麽可愛了，利奧才稍微滿意了一點兒，連忙刷牙洗臉去學校了。

It seemed to Leo that he had been dreaming for just a moment when,like the crash of a cymbal, the sun brought the beginning of a new day. He slowly rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawned once, stretched twice, and finally tumbled from his soft bed of moss.

“Oh, what am I going to do?” he mumbled, as he looked into the mirror. “I don’t want to be cute any more. I want to be rough and rugged and brave!” With that he squinted his eyes, scrunched his nose,and looked just as tough as he could. Satisfied that he didn’t look quite as cute, Leo brushed his teeth, and hurried off to creature school.

利奧用最快的速度沿著彎彎曲曲的小路跑著，一直跑到當教室用的那片小空地上。就像往常一樣，今天利奧也遲到了一小會兒。

他匆匆忙忙地跑到位置上坐好，小鳥們被他逗得嘰嘰喳喳地直笑，小鬆鼠們也咯咯地笑出了聲，其他同學都忍不住笑了起來，因為利奧還是那副努力讓自己顯得凶巴巴的模樣。

除了坐在教室前頭的貓頭鷹老師，教室裏的所有小動物都笑個不停。

Leo ran just as fast as his little legs would carry him, through the twisted trail, until he reached the clearing in the wood that served as the classroom. As usual, he was just a little bit late.

As he hurried to sit down, the squirrels giggled, the little birds twittered, and all the creatures smiled because Leo was still trying to look rough, tough, and mean.

All the creatures were laughing, except the old grey owl who sat on a branch at the head of the class.

“咳咳！”貓頭鷹老師清了清嗓子掩飾笑容，“既然所有同學都到了，咱們就開始上課吧！今天咱們來造句，每個同學想一句話，說說自己看起來是什麽樣子的。”

每個小動物都認真地想了想，然後一個接一個地從座位上站起來，對貓頭鷹老師說了自己想出來的句子。小鳥們嘰嘰喳喳地說：“我們看起來長滿了羽毛。”大棕熊用低低的聲音說：“我看起來是棕色的。”所有小動物都用一句話說出了自己的模樣，很快就輪到利奧發言了。

利奧深深地吸了一口氣，看了看身邊的同學們，飛快地回答：“我看起來非常勇敢！”

“Ahem!” muttered the old owl as he covered a smile. “Now that everyone is here we’ll begin the lesson for today. I would like each of you to think of a word that best describes the way you look this morning.”

All the creatures thought and thought. Then, one by one, they each stood and told the old owl the word they had thought of:“We look feathery,” chirped the birds. “I look brawny,” rumbled the bear. And on they went, describing how they looked in a single word. They finally came to Leo.

Leo took a deep breath, looked carefully about him and then blurted out quickly:“I look brave!”

教室裏安靜了一小會兒，接著，整個森林裏都回**著響亮的笑聲。就連貓頭鷹老師也藏不住臉上的笑意了。“我不知道‘我看起來非常勇敢’這樣的話有什麽好笑的！”利奧又傷心又生氣地喊了出來。

“利奧，是這樣的，”貓頭鷹老師笑嗬嗬地解釋，“可能你用‘我看起來毛茸茸的’或者‘我看起來很可愛’這樣的話來描述自己比較合適。”

“可是我不想再看上去又小又可愛了！”利奧擦了擦眼淚，“我想顯得又凶又強悍！”所有動物又哄笑起來。利奧的眼淚止不住地往下淌，他在原地站了一小會兒，接著頭也不回地跑進森林裏去了。

There was a moment of silence. Then the forest glade rang with laughter. Even the owl couldn’t hide his smile. “I don’t see anything funny about my being brave,” cried a very hurt and angry Leo.

“Well, Leo,” the old owl chuckled, “perhaps fluffy or cute would have better described how you look.”

Leo wiped at a furry tear as he shouted, “I don’t want to be fluffy or little anymore. I want to be tough and rugged!” Once again all the creatures broke into fits of laughter. Leo stood for just a moment, tears streaming from his eyes, and then rushed into the forest.

利奧在森林裏溜達了好幾個小時。“我該怎麽辦呢？”他自言自語，“也許我應該把身上的毛剃一剃，或者開始練練舉重什麽的……”

他俯身看著鏡子一樣的溪水，又努力地擠出了一個難看、凶狠的表情。可是他一點兒也開心不起來，因為“可愛”“毛茸茸”這些詞還在他的腦子裏不住地打著轉兒。不知不覺地，利奧在森林中越走越遠了。

He wandered the forest for hours and hours. “What do I have to do?”he asked himself. “Maybe if I shaved off all my fur, or lifted weights or something...”

Leo gazed into the calm waters of a stream and made ugly, tough faces,but even these couldn’t make him forget the words “cute” and “fluffy”. So he kept wandering farther and farther into the forest.

森林裏的其他動物忙忙碌碌地做著每天的活計，誰也沒留意到一棵大樹的樹幹裏緩緩地鑽出了一縷煙霧。一隻灰鬆鼠正從這棵大樹的枝杈間路過，他抬頭聞了聞。“這好像是煙味呀，可能是誰生了一堆篝火吧。”鬆鼠一邊這麽想著，一邊毫不在意地繼續趕路了。

可是，到了太陽快要落山的時候，那一點點的煙霧已經變成了成團的煙雲。很快，小空地就被衝天高的火苗包圍了。

As the other creatures frisked about the forest glade, doing their daily chores, a wisp of smoke snaked about the boughs of a tree and climbed toward the sky. A brown squirrel sat on his haunches, sniffing at the afternoon air. “I smell smoke, but it’s probably just a campfire,”he thought as he continued on his way.

By dusk, though, the wisps of smoke had turned into billowing clouds. Suddenly, all around the clearing ,flames shot high into the air.

動物們紛紛驚慌起來，他們一邊喊著“著火啦！著火啦！”，一邊驚恐地收拾起小窩中的東西準備逃跑。

貓頭鷹老師飛到森林正中間的空地上，對著大家高喊起來：“大家慢一點兒，千萬不要慌！”動物們聽了貓頭鷹老師的話，紛紛逐漸聚到他身邊。貓頭鷹老師繼續說道：“咱們必須鎮定下來，這樣驚慌失措的話會受傷的！趕緊看一看，大家都在嗎？”

所有動物都在身邊數了又數，突然，不知道是誰喊了起來：“大家都在！就是小兔子利奧不知跑到哪裏去了！”

貓頭鷹老師想了一會兒才說：“我們也隻能希望他不在著火的這片林子裏了。咱們必須馬上轉移到安全的地方去。”

可是，這時候的煙霧實在是太濃了，他們左看右看，怎麽也看不清楚應該往哪邊走。

All of the creatures began running about, packing up their nests,dashing here and there in absolute pandemonium. “Fire! Fire!” they shouted.

The old grey owl fluttered to the ground in the center of the glade and shouted, “Now everybody just slow down and don’t panic!” The animals gathered around as the owl continued, “We must all be as calm as possible or someone will get hurt. Now, is everyone here?”

They all looked around and then someone shouted, “Yes, it looks like we’re all here. All of us, that is, except that little rabbit, Leo!”

The owl thought for a moment and then said, “We’ll just have to hope that he’s outside the fire area. Now we must leave and move to safety.”

They all looked about the clearing but the smoke was so thick that no one could see which way to go.

利奧都快要溜達到森林的另一頭了，才遠遠地看見了滾滾升起的濃煙。“不好！著火的地方看起來好像是我家附近的那片空地呀！”他想了想該怎麽辦，然後立刻朝著起火的方向跑了過去。

他跑呀跑呀，雖然累得上氣不接下氣，卻沒有停下來。利奧一直跑到被濃煙和大火包圍的林地外邊，卻沒有看到自己的朋友們。“糟糕啦！”他想，“他們一定是被困在裏麵了！”

想到這裏，利奧把自己的安危拋在腦後，毫不猶豫地壓低身子貼著地麵，穿過厚厚的濃煙，沿著一條沒有火的小道鑽進了空地。

Leo had been moping at the far edge of the forest when he first saw the columns of smoke. “Oh no!” he said. “That fire looks like it’s burning right in the middle of the clearing where I live.” He wondered for a moment about what he should do, then rushed off towards the fire.

He ran and ran until he ran out of breath and then he ran some more.Finally he reached the edge of the smoke and flames that enclosed the clearing where he lived. To his dismay he could find none of his friends. “Oh dear!” he thought, “they must be trapped inside.”

Without a second thought for his own safety he crouched real low to the ground and began to follow the path into the clearing, through the thick grey smoke.

利奧終於爬進了林地中間，在那裏看到了正在尋找逃生之路的其他動物。“快跟我來！”利奧大聲喊道，“大家手拉著手，千萬別走丟了！”

這時候的利奧看起來自信極了，一點兒也不害怕，其他動物就放心地跟了過去。在利奧的帶領下，他們小心翼翼地穿過濃煙，逃向了安全的地方。

Leo finally reached the center of the clearing where all the creatures were searching for a way out of the inferno. “Quickly,” shouted Leo,“everybody hold hands and follow me.”

Leo looked so sure of himself and so unafraid that everyone followed him without question and they were led carefully through the heavy smoke towards safety.

最後，所有的動物都安全地逃離了可怕的森林大火，跑到了森林外的小山上。他們歡呼著把利奧圍在中間，連聲稱讚他的勇敢。

貓頭鷹老師說：“利奧，我說你描述自己的句子造得不對，那可真是大錯特錯了，因為你今天非常非常勇敢。”

“不是這樣的。”利奧的臉紅了，“如果我的個子不是這麽小，我就不能貼到地麵上，找到安全逃出來的路了。我想我現在明白了，哪怕你長得又小又可愛，甚至毛茸茸的，你也可以表現得很勇敢。”聽到利奧這麽說，動物們的喝彩聲更響亮了，歡呼聲在夜幕中久久地回**。勇敢的利奧就這樣得到了“獅心小兔”這個美名。

Finally they reached the safety of a hill on the far side of the forest,away from the fire. All the animals gathered around Leo, cheering and shouting.

“Well,” said the owl, “I certainly was wrong about you and your chosen word. For today you were certainly brave.”

“No,” said Leo blushing deeply, “if it had not been for the fact that I was small, I would never have been low enough to the ground to see the trail into the clearing. I guess being cute and furry doesn’t mean you can’t be brave.” With that the other animals cheered Leo the brave and Leo the lion-hearted and continued their cheering far into the night.

不管你又小又可愛，還是又大又強壯，獅心小兔利奧的故事都是有意義的一課。

SO IF YOU’RE CUTE AND FURRY,OR EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT,

REMEBER LEO THE LION-HEARTED

AND THE LESSON THAT HE GOT.