Monday, April 6, 2009

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.