小朋友們喜歡的故事來了！惠言童話——蝴蝶和小貓

編輯寄語

受疫情影響，自3月16日起，大紐約地區學校陸續關閉，孩子們在家，除了上網課外，各種活動受到限制。如何幫助孩子們度過這個非常時期的枯燥生活，讓家長們十分操心。惠言先生在徵得參與創作者和組織者同意後，主動向我們編輯部提議，把他正在籌划出版的《惠言童話》18篇繪畫本稿子贈給我們網站連載，可以讓孩子們在網上看到和聽到這些故事，有助於提高他們的中文閱讀和聽力水平。

故事文稿是基於惠言先生前幾年在《世界日報》上發表的故事修改的，中美兩地34個孩子們參加了插畫稿創作，上海五里橋文化中心張煒瑋主任組織「音之魅」誦讀沙龍的語言藝術家們創作了9個朗誦作品。希望這些生動有趣的故事、童趣洋溢的圖畫和美妙的朗誦藝術作品，能伴隨孩子們度過新冠疫情這個困難時期。對此，我們向惠言先生；英文稿的校閱者Jason Kenny先生和趙蒙皓女士；上海五里橋文化中心及「音之魅」誦讀沙龍語言藝術家們；參與畫稿創作的孩子們及其家長表示衷心感謝！

本網站將於5月4日（周一）起，每逢周一、三、五連載推出，每次一篇《惠言童話》故事，大約持續六周，歡迎大家下載收看收聽。

1 蝴蝶和小貓

文：惠言  

畫：沈樂佳（9歲）丁博睿（9歲）

英文校閱：Jason Kenny & 趙蒙皓

朗誦：童國雄

春天來了，風和日麗，花園裡鮮花盛開。一隻長著黑白相間絨毛的小貓，聞著花香、眯著眼，懶洋洋地躺在草地上曬太陽。

Spring was here. The sun was bright, and the wind was calm. Flowers were in full bloom in the garden. A fluffy kitten with black and white fur was lying down lazily on the grass under the sun with her eyes half closed, smelling the fragrant air.

這時候，飛來一隻漂亮的紅色黑斑紋蝴蝶，小貓看到了，立刻興奮起來。等蝴蝶停在花朵上采蜜時，小貓躡手躡腳地接近，正待撲向蝴蝶時，蝴蝶警覺地飛了起來，生氣地責備小貓：「你為什麼要抓我？」

All of a sudden, the kitten saw a beautiful red butterfly with black stripes flying into the garden. The kitten became very excited. When the butterfly settled on a flower to drink some nectar, the kitten crept up close to the butterfly. Just when the kitten was about to pounce on her, the butterfly became alarmed and started to fly up. She chided the kitten angrily, “Why do you try to catch me?”

小貓嘻皮笑臉地說：「沒有啊，我只是想要和你玩玩。」蝴蝶轉怒為喜，問小貓：「你想玩什麼呢？」小貓說：「玩躲貓貓吧，比誰的眼力好。」蝴蝶說：「行呀，既然是你提出來，那我先躲起來。你把眼閉上，數到五時來找我。」

The kitten responded with a playful smile, “No, I just wanted to play with you.” The butterfly』s anger turned to delight. “What do you want to play?” the butterfly asked. “Let』s play hide and seek, to see who has better eyesight.” the kitten replied. The butterfly said, “Ok, since it is your idea, I get to hide first. Close your eyes, count to 10, and then come look for me.”

蝴蝶趁小貓閉眼的時候，立馬飛向一株盛開的紅牡丹，藏到碩大的紅色花朵的花瓣里。小貓先在地面費力尋找，不見蝴蝶；又爬到樹上，只見滿園色彩斑斕，不見紅蝴蝶的蹤影，小貓泄氣地回到地面。

While the kitten closed his eyes, the butterfly quickly flew to a red peony flower, and hid inside the big red flower petals. The kitten looked for the butterfly on the ground first, but could not find her. Then she climbed up the tree. She saw the colorful garden, but still could not find the red butterfly.

在花草樹叢中尋覓久了，小貓覺得身上有點癢，看到身邊有一棵粗壯的牡丹花柱，順勢靠在上面蹭癢，搖動了上面的花朵；躲在花朵里的蝴蝶誤以為小貓發現了自己，就飛了出來。小貓看到，高興地說：「原來你躲在這裡，讓我找得好苦，我贏了。」蝴蝶懊惱自已沒有沉住氣，只好認輸。

The kitten was discouraged and got back down to the ground. After searching for a long time in the trees and flowers, the kitten got a bit of an itch on her back. She saw a thick trunk of peony nearby so she leaned against the trunk and used it to rub her back, shaking the flowers. The butterfly thought that the kitten had found her and flew out. The kitten saw the butterfly and exclaimed, “Wow, you were hiding here? It』s so hard for me to find you, but I won.” The butterfly regretted not having patience and losing the game.

小貓說：「這回該輪到你找我了。」趁蝴蝶閉眼的時候，小貓一溜煙地躲進一塊大石頭底下的空洞里。

The kitten then said, “Now it’s your turn to find me.” While the butterfly closed her eyes, the kitten hid in a cave under a big rock.

蝴蝶飛上天空，往下細細觀察，很快發現了小貓露在洞外頻頻擺動的長尾巴，於是悄無聲息地飛到小貓的尾巴尖上，用它的觸角輕輕撥動貓尾巴上的絨毛，小貓感到尾巴發癢，扭頭一看，蝴蝶停在尾巴上為自己撓癢呢，只好認輸。

The butterfly flew up into the sky and looked down. She quickly found the kitten』s tail swishing outside the cave. She quietly flew to the tip of the kitten’s tail, and gently touched its hair. The kitten felt an itch on her tail, turned her head and saw the butterfly sitting on her tail. She had to admit defeat.

一比一，打成平局，蝴蝶說：「又該輪到我躲起來了。」小貓趕緊討饒：「蝴蝶姑娘，不用比了，我能找到你，不是我眼力好，全憑僥倖。你飛得高，看得遠，眼力好，是真本事。」

One to one, it was a tie. The butterfly announced, “It』s my turn to hide again.” The kitten immediately offered, “Oh no, there is no need for more contests, beautiful butterfly. I found you because of sheer luck, not because I saw you with good eyesight. You can fly high and see far. That is real ability.”

蝴蝶則搖搖頭，對小貓道出了內中的奧秘：「你沒看到我，不是你眼力不夠，是我利用了保護色。我能找到你，要怪你太粗心大意，誰讓你學鴕鳥，顧頭不顧尾？你要是鑽在洞里，夾緊尾巴，那我眼力再好，也無法在天空看到你。」

The butterfly shook her head and told the kitten the secret, “You didn’t find me because I used camouflage, not because you cannot see well. I found you because you were careless. You are just like the ostrich; you hid your head in the cave, but kept the tail exposed. If you hid in the cave, and tucked in your tail, I would not be able to see you from the sky even if my eyesight was superior.”