蟑螂 / Cockroach

现在，剩下的时间已经不多了。躺在病床上（唉，这哪里是什么病床嘛，垃圾道一隅而已，散发着阵阵的恶臭），回想自己的一生，不禁潸然泪下。从小家境贫寒，记忆中从来没有父亲，小的时候，每每问起，妈妈总是支支吾吾，后来长大一点才明白，原来一次爸爸出去打食，打回好多美味，好几天没吃过饱饭的他，美滋滋地大快朵颐了一番，哪想到那竟是主人家下的蟑螂饵，吃到一半他便一命呜呼了。幸亏那天妈妈不舒服，没怎么吃，才逃过了一劫。然而无论她怎么拼命努力，也无法养活一家人，就这样，兄弟姐妹们陆陆续续地要么饿死，要么被人打死，最后只剩下我和妈妈两人了。于是我便只能在孤独和贫困中度过了自己的童年。每每看到那些打扮得漂漂亮亮的小朋友，由家长领着，逛公园，下饭馆，真是羡慕极了，发誓来世再也不要做蟑螂啦。
长大后，生活仍未见好转，咋可能好转呢？都说过了，小时候家里穷，当然不可能有钱读书啦，不怕您见笑，俺连自己的名字也不认识嘞。可难道这是俺的过错么？俺曾经也偷偷躲在教室里想学点东西，可是差点没被打死，从此只好放弃了那个念头。自此以后，什么下水道啦，垃圾道啦便成了家。人们总嫌弃俺又脏又臭，可怎么能不脏不臭呢？如果俺也可以住进Hilton, 喷一身Chanel，当然不可能臭啦，可钱从哪儿来呢？这里要郑重声明，没钱不等于俺不勤劳，相反蟑螂是世界上最勤劳的一族之一，只是这个世界太不平等了，再加上高薪工作全要靠关系，今天的广告上还提到厦门公安局要找一名洗菜女，条件是大学毕业（中文系或新闻系），相貌姣好，身高在1.60m以上。没办法，只能凑合着混吧。
俺也喜欢美女，又一次，看到一群美女，个个年轻，身材魔鬼，常常的头发散发着阵阵香气，俺看得入了神。突然其中的一个美眉尖叫起来:“蟑螂啊。”仿佛见到了鬼，不，似乎比看见鬼还可怕。她们顿时慌了手脚，而俺不幸地被其中的一个美眉踩断了一只脚，从此成了残废。
这以后，生活便更加艰难了。经常是饱一顿，饿一顿的，真是受够了。加上现在吃错了东西，不停地拉肚子，还发着高烧，已经好几天了，没钱看病，已经奄奄一息了。这是我忽然看到了已故的爸爸妈妈，他们穿着高级的衣服，微笑地向我走来，说要带我去一个快乐的地方，那里没有疾病，没有忧伤，再也没有贫困，更不会饿肚子。太好了，你们来得正是时候，等等我，我马上到，马上。。。

Now my days are numbered. Lying on my death 'bed' (ay, it's not at all a bed, but just a corner by a rubbish chute with a foul smell), thinking of my past, tears can not be controlled. I was from a poor family, and there was no father in my memory. Each time when I asked about him, mama always faltered. I found out the truth after I became a teen. One time, he brought back lots of food after his routine hunting. But who would have known that these 'delicacies' were the chemicals that the house owner had left there in order to kill us. Our family was desperate and had endured a severe food shortage at that time. That was the only time he could ever 'enjoy' a 'gourmet' meal. He died half way while he was swallowing his meal. Mama was lucky. She was not feeling well, therefore she didn't eat much. Since then, we became poorer. No matter how hard she worked, it was not enough to feed the whole family. Lots of my siblings died of hunger. Some were killed. In the end only myself and mama remained. I spent my childhood in severe poverty and loneliness. I would always envy those kids whose parents could afford to dress them nicely and take them to parks and restaurants. I swear that in the next life I will never want to become a cockroach again.
After I had grown up, our life still remained the same. How could we change? Just now I have already mentioned that we were extremely poor when I was young. My parents had no money to send me to school. I did not even know how to write my name. But was that my fault? I also secretly hid inside the classroom and tried to learn something more. But then I was almost beaten to death. After such a narrow escape I gave up and since then have made the streets my home, beside the drains and garbage bins. People always complain that I smell bad. How can I be good? If I could stay at the Hilton and wear Chanel fragrance, of course I would not smell bad. But where on earth will the money come from? Let me declare here that although I’m poor, it doesn’t mean that I’m also lazy. In fact, according to the scientific research, we have proof, that the cockroach is one the most hardworking species in the world. But this is such an unfair world and it depends entirely on having the right connections to find highly paid jobs. There is a vacancy in today’s classified section seeking a female to work as a cleaner for the Xiamen Police department. Even that position requires a university graduate (degree in Chinese language or media), who must be good looking as well as being taller than 160cm. Ay, what can I do? Just let it be.
I also like beautiful girls. There was one time, I saw a crowd of beautiful girls. They were very young, attractive and smelled sooo good. I was fascinated. Suddenly there’s one of them screamed “Cockroach..”.They saw me as if seeing a ghost. No, even worse than that. They were in a great panic and one of them stepped on my leg. Since then, I have been permanently crippled.
After that incident, my life became more difficult. Often I do not have enough to eat. Now I really have had enough. I recently ate some contaminated food which caused me to have non-stop diarrhea and high fever. I have no money to see a doctor. I can do nothing besides lying on this death bed. Suddenly I can see my parents who passed away a long time ago. They are walking towards me with the sweetest smile. They are wearing fancy clothes. They tell that they will bring me to a wonderful place where there’s no sickness, no worries, no poverty, no hunger. Great! It’s just the right time. Wait for me. I’m coming immediately, immediately….

Lioness / 狮子

别人都认为你最有勇气，称你为万兽之王，不过只有你自己才明白你是多么的脆弱。因为自己光明磊落，绝想不到别人背后的动作，唯有独自哭泣。-- 有感于数年前的一则报道--某年广西发大水，连动物园也无法幸免，狮子的家园亦遭遇水漫金山，动物园的工作人员为了拯救狮子，把她的笼子吊高，然而惊恐万状的她却死于心脏病发，落得了万兽之王被吓死的悲惨结局。

You are considered as the most courageous in the world. You are respected as the queen of the animal kingdom. But only you yourself know how fragile you are. Because you are an honest, open and straight forward person, you will never be able to imagine that someone might stab you from behind. Until this happens, the only thing you can do is cry to yourself. You hate to be betrayed. Unfortunately this is something that always happens to you -- a lonely lioness.
Inspired by the momument in Lucerne in Switzerland which I visited in 2001.

Specially presented to you - a leo!
写给狮子的你！

Cuckoo / 杜鹃

杜鹃妈妈以懒惰而臭名昭著。她生下宝宝后从来不要自己带，“太麻烦了”。她常常这么说。她一肚子坏水，她看到同样怀孕快要生产的喜鹊妈妈时，眼珠一转，便想出了一个能让她偷懒的馊主意。“既然喜鹊妈妈如此勤劳，再加上她家境殷实，心地善良，宝宝在那儿应该过得还不错”。就这么办了。想着，她就趁喜鹊妈妈不注意的时候，偷偷把自己的宝宝放进了喜鹊妈妈家。俗话说“有其母必有其女”。这杜鹃宝宝比她妈妈简直是有过之而无不及，她为了独霸喜鹊妈妈的爱，趁妈妈出外捕食之机，竟对连眼睛都还没张开的喜鹊宝宝们下了狠手。等喜鹊妈妈回来后，一切都晚了。可怜的喜鹊妈妈哭得眼睛都快瞎了。这是杜鹃宝宝假惺惺地对“妈妈”说，“不要难过，我今后会孝敬你的”。喜鹊妈妈好想把这个畜生赶出去，但看着她嗷嗷待哺的可怜样却无论如何也下不去这个狠心，无奈只得收留了她。这小家伙贪得无厌，很快地就把“妈妈”折磨得瘦小枯干，多年来的积蓄早已殆尽，家里能点的点，能当得当，不但家徒四壁，还欠了很多债。而自己却越来越肥。在“妈妈”的精心喂养下，终于有一天她出落成一位如花似玉的大姑娘。她跟随着有钱的夫婿头也不回地离去了。白发苍苍的喜鹊妈妈终于无法承受精神和病痛的打击，含恨离开了人世。
Mother cuckoo was infamous for her laziness. She did not want to make any effort to feed her baby after giving birth. "It's too troublesome". She always said. One day, she saw a pregnant magpie who was also about to give birth. An evil idea came to her mind. "Mother magpie is kind and hard working and her family is quite rich too. My baby should have a good life there". So she secretly left her baby at the mother magpie's house. As we always say, "like the mother, like the daughter". The baby cuckoo became even worse than her horrible mother. In order to get all her "mother's love, she, when her “mother” went out hunting, took advantage of any opportunity to kill all her younger siblings. It was too late when the mother magpie came back. The poor lady cried until her eyes almost blind. The baby cuckoo pretended to be caring and said to her, "don't worry, mother, I'll take care of you once I grow up". Mother magpie wanted to chase her out, but when she saw the poor little chick still could not survive on her own, she could not make up her mind and continued to be her surrogate mother. The little one was very greedy. She knew how to keep her "mother" busy. She ate a lot and wanted a lot. Her "mother" had been tortured until she became very skinny. All her savings were gone and she sold away whichever she could and she borrowed even more money just in order to feed her "child". She did whatever a loving mother could. Finally, the cuckoo became a pretty young girl. She married a rich husband and abandoned mother magpie. The poor old lady could no more bear with both the physical and mental torture and succumbed to death.

White Crow / 白乌鸦

人们常说天下乌鸦一般黑，很少有人听说过白乌鸦吧。如果你去到澳洲的柏斯，你一定要去看看，俺就是在那儿看到的。

她周身的羽毛成白色，两只眼睛红红的。一个人孤零零地走在海鸥堆中，不仔细看的话，你会以为她是海鸥。然而她毕竟不是海鸥，也正因为这样，没有海鸥愿意与她做朋友，即便有，也是很暂时，因为某些原因，那时海鸥找不到同类做朋友，临时拿她做个踏脚石。而她心里也很明白，但出于无奈，也只好如此，因为毕竟不是同类嘛。至于说黑乌鸦--- 还是算了吧，乌漆抹黑的，恶心死了。她多么希望有另一只白乌鸦呀！这样就不会孤独了。她远远美过她的同类，但她的美丽并没给她带来幸福，这一点，她眼中的忧郁和她脸上的孤寂讲述得清清楚楚。

People always say all crows are equally black. We seldom hear of white crows. If you have a chance to go to Perth Australia, don't miss out. I saw one there. Her whole body was covered by white feathers. Her eyes were red in color. She walked alone among the crowd of seagulls. If you didn't pay attention, you would also think she's one of them. But she's not. Because of this, no seagulls were willing to be her friends. One seagull at that time could not find a suitable friend among his people. So, he simply made a temporary friendship with the white crow. The white crow was very clear about the seagull’s intentions. But she had no choice, what could she do? They were not the same kind. As for the black crows, well forget it. They were so dark. How she wished there could be another white one like her. If there was, then she wouldn't be lonely any more. She's far prettier than her kind. Unfortunately her beauty did not bring happiness to her. The melancholy in her eyes and loneliness on her face confirmed that.