14 Scarecrow

Scarecrow written by Pam Holden illustrated by Jim Storey

稻草人由帕姆·霍尔顿创作，吉姆·斯托里绘制

Grandpa was unhappy and worried because his garden was being visited by hungry birds. Every day they flew over his strawberry patch and watched as the berries slowly began to change from green to pink. As soon as they saw any strawberries turning pink, they quickly flew down to peck holes in them. Grandpa asked the children to help him keep the birds away, so that the strawberries had a chance to turn red and become ripe and sweet. "Put your thinking caps on," he told them. "Who can think of a good way to get rid of these birds?"

爷爷很不高兴，很担心，因为他的花园有很多饿鸟飞来。 每天他们都飞过他的草莓地，看着浆果慢慢地从绿色变成粉红色。 它们一看到草莓变成粉红色，就迅速飞下来啄草莓上的洞。 爷爷让孩子们帮他把鸟赶走，这样草莓才有机会变红，变熟，变甜。 “好好想想，”他告诉他们。 “谁能想出一个消灭这些鸟的好办法?”

James and Molly thought hard all day until they had an excellent idea. "Let's make a scarecrow," they suggested. "It's name means that it scares crows, so it will scare these birds, too." Grandpa was pleased with their idea. "We will get busy right away," he said. "What will we use to make this scarecrow?" Grandma gave them a paper bag to make the head. "Can we have a pair of Grandpa's old trousers and that torn shirt, please?" the children asked. "We'll use newspaper to stuff the body." James put a stick through the shirt to look like arms. Then he put two longer sticks through the body and stuck them into the ground. Molly found an old hat and a pair of yellow gloves.

詹姆斯和莫莉苦思冥想了一整天，终于想出了一个绝妙的主意。 “我们做一个稻草人吧，”他们建议。 “它的名字意味着它会吓到乌鸦，所以它也会吓到这些鸟。” 爷爷对他们的主意很满意。 “我们马上就会忙起来，”他说。 “我们用什么来做这个稻草人呢?”奶奶给了他们一个纸袋做头像。 “能给我们一条爷爷的旧裤子和那件破衬衫吗?”孩子们问道。 “我们用报纸填塞尸体。” 詹姆斯在衬衫上插了一根棍子，看起来像胳膊。 然后他把两根更长的棍子穿过尸体，插进地里。 莫莉找到了一顶旧帽子和一副黄手套。

When the scarecrow was standing in the garden, the family watched from a window to see what happened. After a while, one bird came flying down near the scarecrow. Then four more birds flew down and began to peck at the strawberries, while one even sat on the scarecrow's head!

当稻草人站在花园里时，一家人从窗户里看着发生了什么事。 过了一会儿，一只鸟飞到稻草人附近。 接着，又有四只鸟飞下来，开始啄草莓，其中一只甚至坐到了稻草人的头上!

The children knew they had to think of another idea. "We must make our scarecrow scarier!" they decided. "He stands too still to frighten the birds." James suggested, "We could add long hair that will blow in the wind." Grandma found some knitting wool that looked like real hair. Before long, the scarecrow had wild hair blowing around his shoulders. At first the birds didn't come near it, but they quickly got used to the blowing hair. Nothing bad happened to them when they came back to peck at the strawberries.

孩子们知道他们必须想出另一个主意。 “我们必须让我们的稻草人更可怕!”他们决定。 “他站得太稳了，吓不到鸟。” 詹姆斯建议说:“我们可以加上随风飘动的长发。” 奶奶找到了一些看起来像真头发的毛线。 没过多久，稻草人的头发就披散在肩膀上了。 起初，鸟儿们没有靠近它，但它们很快就习惯了吹来的头发。 当它们回来啄草莓的时候，没有发生什么坏事。

"Our scarecrow is too quiet to frighten the birds," said Molly. "Let's add some noise. We could ask Grandma for some tin cans that will rattle in the wind." Grandpa made holes in the tin cans and helped the children tie them onto strings. Soon the scarecrow looked like a tin man with cans hanging from his arms. For a short time, the birds kept away because of the rattling noise from the swinging tins. But before long they got used to it and came flying back.

“我们的稻草人太安静了，不会吓到鸟，”莫利说。 “让我们加入一些噪音。我们可以向奶奶要些能在风中发出嘎嘎声的锡罐。” 爷爷在锡罐上打洞，帮孩子们把它们系在绳子上。 很快，稻草人看起来就像一个胳膊上挂着罐头的铁皮人。 有一小段时间，鸟儿们因为摇晃的铁罐发出的嘎嘎声而远离了它们。 但没过多久，它们就习惯了，飞回来了。