Who Took my Strawberries(谁拿走了我的草莓).doc

Who Took my Strawberries?

Once upon a time, deep in the heart of the beautiful Italian countryside, stood a small strawberry farm. It was the end of a long, hot summer, and on the farm the fruit was ripe for picking.
The countryside was full of activity. Neighbouring farmers were ploughing their fields and looking after their animals.
The strawberry farmer was happy as he looked over his own fields, thinking of the plentiful harvest. Then he saw some children from the nearby farms playing in his fields. Whenever they felt hungry, they ate a few of the delicious ripe strawberries.
很久很久以前，在義大利境內某一個鄉村裡有塊小小的草莓園。經過了漫長炎熱的夏天，果園裡的水果都熟透可以收成了。村子裡總是忙碌的，鄰近的農人不是在田裡耕種就是在照顧著他們養的牲畜。當種植草莓的農夫看著自己的果園並且想到今年的好收成時就開心的不得了。可是他看見了附近的一些小孩在果園裡玩，餓的時候就順手摘下美味的草莓放進嘴裡。

The farmer began to feel angry.
“The children are eating far too many of my strawberries,” he said to himself selfishly. “Those strawberries belong to me – I don’t want the children to steal any of them.”
He decided to build a fence around his farm to stop the children getting in. Sure enough, when the fence was in place, the children stopped coming to eat the strawberries.
But the birds came instead.
農夫開始覺得很生氣。
“那些小孩吃太多草莓了，那些草莓是我的，任何小孩都不能偷採。”他自私的自言自語。於是，他決定要在自己的果園四週立起圍牆來防止小孩再進來。想當然，圍牆搭建好後小孩們就不能再進來了。但是，鳥兒們取而代之的吃著果園裡的草莓。

The greedy farmer didn’t want to lose any of his strawberries to the birds either. He wanted to keep them all for himself. So he put a net over his strawberry fields to keep the birds eating the fruit.
“Now my strawberries are safe from the birds and the children,” he thought.
貪心的農夫也不願讓鳥兒吃掉任何一顆草莓，他想要把全部歸為自己所有。因此為了杜絕鳥兒到果園，他架起了一張網子在果園的上方。
That night, after he had gone to bed, the farmer couldn’t put his mind at rest.
“Thieves could sneak in and steal my strawberries by moonlight,” he thought anxiously.
The farmer lay awake for hours worrying about his crop. He decided that the very next morning he would pick the ripe fruit from the bushes and take it to the market to sell.
那天晚上，農夫躺在床上但是不能安心的入眠。
“小偷可能利用夜晚偷偷的跑去偷我的草莓啊，”他著急的想著。
經過了好幾個小時，農夫都一直擔心著他的農作物。他決定隔天一大早就把成熟的草莓都摘下載到市場買。

Bright and early the next morning, the farmer picked the juicy ripe strawberries and loaded them on to his hose and cart.
He set off through the forest, as fast as his horse could take him.
隔天早上，天亮時，農夫把熟透多汁的草莓摘下，裝上了他的馬車。他以馬車能夠負載的最快速度越過森林。

By the time the farmer reached the market town, the morning sun was shining brightly. Other countryfolk were also beginning to arrive to sell their goods.
The farmer drove his horse and cart through the gateway into the market place.
“First I’ll find a good spot,” he said to himself. “My sweet-smelling strawberries will sell quickly – every one of them.”
在他抵達市集時，早晨的陽光散發著耀眼的光芒。其他的村民也紛紛抵達開始叫賣了起來。農夫駕著馬車經過城門到市場。
“首先我要找個好地點，我的草苺香甜的味道一定很快就會賣的精光的。”他自言自語道。

But when the farmer looked into his cart he had a terrible shock. His precious strawberries had disappeared. Almost every one of them had gone!
The farmer was horrified.
“What a catastrophe!” he exclaimed. “Who took my strawberries?”
In fact, no-one had taken the farmer’s strawberries. One by one, they had fallen through a hole at the back of his cart. The faster he had urged his horse to run, the faster the strawberries had fallen to the ground.
但是當農夫看往車後時嚇了一大跳！他寶貝的草莓不見了，幾乎全部都消失了！農夫大吃一驚。
“真是大災難啊！誰偷了我的草莓？”他驚呼。
其實，沒有人偷了農夫的草莓。草莓在途中一粒粒的從車上的一小洞掉出去了，農夫駕車的速度愈是快，草莓掉出車外的速度也愈快。

The dismayed farmer turned his horse and cart around and hurried back along the path through the woods.
“I must find them,” he repeated to himself. “I must get my strawberries back.”
But all along the way, the strawberries had disappeared.
沮喪不已的農夫駕著馬車沿著原路趕回森林。
“我一定要找到那些不見的草莓，我一定要找回來。”他不斷的對自己說道。但是一路上看不到半顆掉落的草莓。

Some of his strawberries had been found by a family of hungry foxes. The farmer saw them enjoying the tasty fruit.
In a nearby tree, a mother bird fed the fresh strawberries to her young ones. The farmer climbed the tree and watched as the little birds ate greedily.
部份散落的草莓已經被一窩子的孤狸家庭拾去吃了，農夫看見了他們興高采烈的吃著美味的水果。在鄰近的樹上，一隻鳥媽媽再在餵她的寶寶們新鮮的草莓。農夫爬上樹，看到鳥兒們狼吞虎嚥的吃著。

The farmer walked on sadly.
Passing a neighbour’s house, he watched a mother share a plateful of his strawberries with her children. They sat around a table and laughed happily as they ate the delicious fruit.
農夫垂頭喪氣的繼續走著。當他經過鄰居家旁時，他看到鄰居正和她的孩子們一起分享著一盤他種的草莓。他們圍坐在飯桌旁一面吃著草莓一面快樂的笑著。

As the farmer walked slowly back to his horse and cart, he thought about the happiness his strawberries had brought to the animals, the birds and his neighbours.
“It was lucky for them that there was a hole in my cart,” he thought. “Perhaps it was a good thing after all.”
Gradually, the farmer began to feel happier about the loss of his strawberries. He realized that he had been selfish not to want to share any of them.
農夫踱步回到馬車旁時，心中想到他的草莓帶給那些動物，鳥兒和鄰居幸福。
“哼，算他們走運，要不是我的車箱有個洞他們哪吃的到草莓！”他想著。但隔沒多久又覺得也許這是件很好的事。漸漸的，農夫不再為自己遺失的草莓感到難過。他終於明白之前自己不願跟別人分享是多麼的自私。

The next day, the farmer saw an unexpected sight in his fields. His neighbours, who had all enjoyed his strawberries the day before, were coming to his house, bringing gifts of food and herbs in return for the fruit.
“Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful strawberries,” they all said.
The farmer was so surprised that he hardly knew what to say.
He found himself inviting all the countryfolk to his house to share the gifts.
隔天，農夫在自己的果園中看到意想不到的景象。昨天吃了草莓的鄰居正帶著食物及草藥來到他家。
“謝謝你跟我們分享那些好吃的草莓。”他們說道。農夫感到很吃驚，他幾乎不知道該說些什麼好。等他回過神來時，他正在邀請他們進屋一起分享所有的禮物。

All the neighbours gathered around his big table. They laid out the different foods and sat down together to enjoy the feast.
“What a lovely party,” sad the farmer, feeling happy as he shared more of his freshly picked strawberries. “It’s so much fun to share.”
And they all agreed.
鄰居們圍坐在農夫的大桌子旁，他們在桌上擺滿各種食物要和農夫一起分享。
“喔，這真是很棒的派對！分享真是有趣多了。”農夫一面與大家吃著新鮮的草莓一面說道。而全部的人都同意農夫的說法。