我是貝利

那是一個明媚的春日清晨，在黑莓小蟲們的小村莊裏，一隻名叫貝利的小蟲子出生了。貝利是一隻普普通通的小蟲子，他天性快活，喜歡到處玩耍，和其他小蟲子沒什麽不一樣。

在出生後的頭幾個月裏，貝利整天和村子裏的小夥伴們一起做遊戲。他們不是玩抓人遊戲，就是捉迷藏，有時候還玩“官兵捉強盜”。

On a bright spring morning, in a small village of Hucklebugs, in someone’s backyard, Berry Hucklebug was born. There was nothing different about Berry. He was ordinary and fun-loving.

For months and months after Berry was born, he played with the other bugs of the village. They would play hide-and-go-seek, and“hucks” and robbers.

有一天清晨，小村莊的村長把貝利叫到自己麵前。他對貝利說：“你的年紀已經夠大啦，貝利，你該和其他小蟲一樣在村子裏幹活兒了。為了讓村子裏的大家都有吃的，咱們所有村民都得努力找食物。”

“我嗎？”貝利難以置信地問，“可是我不想幹活兒。我想和朋友們一起在太陽底下玩。”

村長的表情突然嚴肅起來：“村子裏所有小蟲都得幹活兒，你也不例外。請你明天就開始吧！現在沒有別的事了，你可以走啦。”

Early one day Berry was called before the mayor of the little village.“Berry, ” he said, “you are of age now and you must work as the others of the village do. Food for all must be gathered by all.”

“Me?” said an unbelieving Berry. “But I don’t want to. I want to stay with my friends. I want to run and play in the sunshine.”

Sternly, the mayor looked down at Berry and said, “Everyone must work in this village, and you are no exception. Please start tomorrow morning. That is all. You may go now.”

小蟲貝利垂頭喪氣地回到了夥伴們身邊。村長的話讓他很難過，他沒心情和朋友們一起玩了。於是，貝利在角落裏坐了下來，噘起嘴巴嘟囔著：“我該怎麽辦呢？村長肯定是看我小才找我麻煩。”

突然，他想出了一個主意：“我還是離家出走，自己一個人過日子吧，那樣就沒人煩我了。”貝利一邊這樣想著，一邊直接回到了自己的房間。他在自己收集的蝴蝶翅膀和黃蜂尾巴之間翻了半天，終於找到了一塊黃色的大包袱皮。他小心翼翼地把包袱皮鋪在地上，開始收拾行李。

他帶上了一副手工織成的毛線觸角套，這樣他的觸角在冬天寒冷的早晨就不會凍著了。他裝上了自己最喜歡的紅T恤，T恤上印著一個大大的“B”。最後，他還裝上了一雙特殊場合穿的、嶄新的橙色運動鞋。收拾好後，他仔仔細細地給包袱皮打了一個大大的結，背起包袱從村子裏悄悄溜出去了。

Sadly, little Hucklebug walked back to his playmates. But since the mayor’s news, he didn’t feel like joining his friends. So Berry sat in a corner and pouted. “What am I going to do?” he said. “The mayor is picking on me because I’m small.”

Suddenly an idea came to him. “I’ll run away and live by myself.Nobody will bother me then.” With that, Berry went straight to his room. He rummaged through his butterfly wings and old bumblebee tails until he found his yellow bandana. Carefully he laid it on the floor and began packing.

He packed his hand-knitted antenna warmers for cold winter mornings. He packed his favorite red T-shirt with the big bold gold “B”.And last but not least, he packed his new orange sneakers for special occasions. Then Berry tied his bandana into a big careful knot, threw it over his shoulder and slipped away from the village.

貝利越走越遠，心情也越來越好。他身邊到處都是漂亮的鮮花，森林中的青草泛著銀色的光芒，頭頂上的天空更是藍極了。貝利開心地笑了起來：“我幹嗎要待在黑莓小蟲村裏呢，外麵不是什麽都有嗎？”他想了想，又壞笑著補充說，“而且，沒有人會叫我幹這幹那了！”

他偶爾會碰上一兩隻村子裏的小蟲，大家都在忙著為村子收集食物。貝利一看到他們走近，就馬上跳到高高的草葉背後躲起來，在那裏偷偷地笑話這些笨蛋——他們怎麽就想不到離家出走呢！

The farther he went, the happier Berry became. There were beautiful flowers all around him. He saw forests of silver-blue grass, and a blue sky overhead. “What do I need of that old Hucklebug Village?” he laughed brightly. “Out here I have everything I need.” And, snickering,he added:“There’s no one to tell me what to do.”

Once or twice he came upon some of his fellow bugs gathering food for the village. As soon as he saw them, he would quickly jump behind a tall weed. From there he laughed and sneered at them, for they had not thought to run away.

又走了一會兒，貝利腳下的路開始有坡度了。他慢慢地往上爬著，突然發現身邊走著一條毛茸茸的毛毛蟲，而山坡底下有一座巨大的房子。“哇哦！”貝利驚歎道，“我敢說那邊一定有意思極了！”

這時候，毛毛蟲轉過身來，皺著眉頭打量眼前的逃家小蟲：“如果你是想到房子那邊去，那你最好還是再考慮考慮。”

貝利壞笑著把毛毛蟲的兩根觸角擰成了一團，然後頭也不回地向著山坡下的大房子跑了過去。“那條笨毛毛蟲說的都是什麽話呀，”他說，“誰也不能告訴我該幹什麽、不該幹什麽！”

After a time, Berry came to a rise in the path. Creeping slowly to the top, he discovered a furry caterpillar crawling along. Down below him he saw a giant’s house. “WOW!” exclaimed Berry. “I bet it would be a lot of fun to go down there!”

Just then the caterpillar turned and frowned at the runaway. “If you’re thinking of going down there,” he grumbled, “I’d think again.”

Laughingly, Berry twisted the caterpillar’s antennae together. Then he raced down the hill to the huge house below. “That dumb caterpillar didn’t know what he was talking about,” he said. “Nobody can tell me what to do!”

貝利咯咯笑著，蹦蹦跳跳地跑進大房子前麵的草坪。那裏有他這輩子見過的最棒的玩具：巨型水槍、大得能讓他住進去的棒球手套以及看起來至少有一百米高的沙灘球。貝利覺得，自己一定是到了黑莓小蟲的天堂。

He ran, jumped and giggled onto the lawn, and there he found the most amazing toys that he’d ever seen in his entire life. There were gigantic squirt guns, and mammoth baseball gloves which were large enough to live in if he wanted. He saw a beach ball that was at least 100 miles high. Berry felt as though he had found Hucklebug heaven.

貝利爬到那個巨大的沙灘球頂上，開始在上麵彈來彈去。他跳得很高很高，還在半空中翻著跟頭，完全沒注意到大房子的門是開著的。幾個巨人孩子從房子裏出來玩了。

Berry climbed to the top of the beach ball and began bouncing up and down. He was doing flips and jumping so high he didn’t notice that the door of the house was open. Some giant kids were coming out to play.

沙灘球突然飛了起來！貝利也從球上飛了出去！原來是巨人孩子們在踢球玩。貝利從涼涼的草坪上爬起來，自言自語道：“這是怎麽回事呀？”他緩緩地轉過身去，第一次看見了那些巨人，“哎呀！他們可真大啊！不過，我應該能一起玩吧。”

他一邊這樣想著，一邊跑了過去，想要和巨人們一起玩。但巨人們根本沒有看見他。貝利隻能不斷地躲閃，好讓自己不被巨人們的大鞋子踩扁了，那些鞋子簡直和他在村子裏住的小屋一樣大。

The beach ball went flying! Berry went flying! The kids were playing kickball. Berry picked himself up from the cool grass. “What was that?”he asked. Slowly he turned, and for the first time, saw the giants. “WOW!They are big, but maybe I can play anyway.”

With that he ran over to join in their fun, but the giants didn’t see him.Berry dodged from side to side. He managed to avoid being squashed by shoes as big as his house in the Hucklebug village.

“嘿，孩子們！”貝利喊道，“我能和你們一起玩嗎？”但是有說有笑的巨人們根本聽不見他的聲音。

一個巨人男孩終於偶然看到了站在草叢裏的貝利，他小心翼翼地彎下身去，直直地與貝利對視。“這隻蟲子長得可真好玩！”巨人男孩說，招呼朋友們一起來看貝利。

現在貝利有點兒害怕了，實際上，不是有點兒害怕，而是非常害怕。他想要馬上逃跑，但是巨人們擋住了他的路。

“Hey kids,” he shouted, “can I play too?” The giants were so busy laughing and giggling that they didn’t hear him.

Just by chance, one of the giant boys spied Berry standing in the grass. Carefully he leaned down and looked Berry right in the eye.“What a funny-looking bug,” he said. Then he called to his friends to come and look at Berry.

Now let me tell you, Berry was a little scared. In fact, he was a lot scared. He wanted to run away, but the giants blocked his path.

一個巨人男孩帶著一臉惡作劇般的笑容，舉起水槍瞄準了貝利，給他毛乎乎的臉上噴了滿滿一臉水。

現在貝利真的是害怕極了，他拔腿就跑。然而，不管貝利跑到哪裏，似乎都有巨人要抓他，或者想要一腳把他踩在腳底下。貝利眼淚汪汪地掀開樹葉，鑽到樹枝底下，才終於逃回了他來時的小路上。

With a mischievous grin, one of the giant boys pointed his squirt gun at Berry. Berry caught a full blast of water in his fuzzy face.

He was really scared now, and started to run away. Every place he turned there was a giant trying either to step on him or to catch him.Scrambling over a leaf and under a twig, Berry tearfully made his escape up the path.

貝利氣喘籲籲地沿著原來的路往回走，爬回了山坡頂上。那條毛毛蟲還在那裏，努力地解著自己被擰成麻花的觸角。貝利走過去幫他把觸角分開了。

“毛毛蟲先生，你說得一點兒也沒錯，”貝利說，“我確實不應該到那裏去。現在我不知道該怎麽辦才好了。我不應該離家出走，但是我也不好意思回去啦。”貝利靠在一朵毒傘菌上哭了起來，大顆大顆的紫色淚珠一連串地往下掉。

Puffing and panting, he found his way back up to the top of the hill. The old caterpillar was still trying to untie his antennae, so Berry untied them for him.

“You were right, Mr. Caterpillar,” said Berry. “I shouldn’t have gone down there. I’m confused, and I don’t know what to do. It was a mistake to run away from home. Now I am ashamed to go back.” Berry leaned against a toadstool and began to cry large, purple Hucklebug tears.

睿智的毛毛蟲微笑著對貝利說：“小黑莓蟲，如果你能從錯誤中學習，那你的錯誤就給你上了有意義的一課。隨著你的年紀變得越來越大，你可能還會犯下更多錯誤，但是千萬不要害怕承認錯誤。現在回家去做你應該做的事情吧。可別忘了你今天學到的這一課呀。”

貝利抹抹眼淚，對好心的毛毛蟲道了謝，然後就朝著黑莓小蟲村的方向走去。

The wise old caterpillar smiled a little smile and said, “Little Hucklebug, if you have learned from your mistake, it is not a mistake,but a lesson. As you grow older you will make other mistakes, but never be afraid to admit them. Go home now and do what needs to be done. Always remember the lesson you’ve learned today.”

Berry wiped a tear from his eye. Then, thanking the caterpillar for his kindness, he headed home to the Hucklebug village.

貝利穿過草葉泛著銀光的森林，走過漂亮的鮮花，最終走進了小蟲們的村莊。他鼓起勇氣走到村長麵前說：“村長先生，非常抱歉，我不應該離家出走的。這個錯誤給我好好地上了一課，我不會忘記今天學到的東西的。我向您保證，以後我再也不離家出走了。”

村長拍了拍貝利的腦袋，原諒了他的錯誤。不過，作為離家出走的懲罰，貝利必須多幹一天活兒。交代完這些安排後，善良的村長告訴貝利，他可以在這一天剩下的時間裏去玩了。

黑莓小蟲活蹦亂跳地回到了朋友們身邊，他終於到家了。

He walked through the beautiful flowers and the forests of silverblue grass. Entering the village, he bravely marched up to the mayor and said, “ Mr. Mayor, I’m really sorry for running away. I’ve learned from my mistake, and it is a lesson I will always remember. I promise that I’ll never run away again.”

The mayor patted Berry on the head and told him that he was forgiven. Since he had run away, though, he would have to work an extra day as punishment. Then the kind mayor smiled and told Berry to play for the rest of the day.

Berry Hucklebug gleefully skipped away to join his friends...at home.

常聽人說錯就是錯，錯誤也是寶貴一課。

MISTAKES ARE ALWAYS MISTAKES,

OR SO I’VE HEARD THEM SAY...

BUT IF IT TEACHES A LESSON,

THE MISTAKE WILL GO AWAY.