11 The Squirrels That Live in a House

CHAPTER 11 The Squirrels That Live in a House Once upon a time, an elderly gentleman went out into a great forest. He cut away the trees and built a very nice little retirement cottage for him and his wife. It had very large windows. The windows were so large that the gentleman could see through on every side and know what was going on in the forest. He could see the shadows of the fern leaves as they shifted over the ground. He

第十一章松鼠住在房子里从前，有一位老先生来到一片大森林里。 他砍掉树木，为他和他的妻子建造了一座非常漂亮的退休小屋。 它有非常大的窗户。 窗户是如此之大，以至于这位先生可以从四面八方看到森林里发生的事情。 当蕨类植物的叶子在地面上移动时，他可以看到它们的影子。 他

could see the red partridgeberries and wintergreen plums that fell to the ground beside the trees. He could see the bright spots of sunshine that fell through the branches. He could see the chirping sparrows, robins, and bluebirds building their nests. He watched them as they laid their eggs and hatched their young. He could also see the red squirrels, gray squirrels, and little striped chip-squirrels scampering around the forest. They raced one another from tree limb to tree limb. They chattered happily with one another all day long. Now, a house for a human was a strange thing for all the creatures in the wood. They were very curious about it. While it was being built, the older forest creatures felt very disturbed. Every creature had an opinion about what they thought was going on.

可以看到红色的鹧鸪浆果和落在树旁的冬青李子。 他能看见从树枝间射下来的阳光的亮点。 他能看到叽叽喳喳的麻雀、知更鸟和蓝知更鸟在筑巢。 他看着它们下蛋，孵出小鸡。 他还能看到红松鼠、灰松鼠和小条纹松鼠在森林里蹦蹦跳跳。 他们从一棵树跑到另一棵树。 他们整天愉快地聊天。 现在，一个人的房子对森林里的所有生物来说都是一件奇怪的事情。 他们对此非常好奇。 当它被建造时，老森林生物感到非常不安。 每一种生物都有自己的看法。

Old Mrs. Rabbit declared that the hammering and pounding made her nervous. She predicted evil times ahead. "Be sure of it, children," she warned her long-eared little ones. "No good will come to us from this cottage building. Wherever humans are, there is trouble for us rabbits." The squirrels that lived in the old chestnut tree were also quite sure that the new cottage spelled trouble for them all. "It's clear that the humans will spoil everything for us. They will take all the nuts from our tree and use them for themselves," warned old Father Gray Squirrel. Old Ground-Mole had to agree. "It will bring down the value of our homes in the forest," he declared. "Every decent-minded creature will want to move away now that the humans are here. I know that's what I will do."

兔子老夫人说，敲击声和砰砰声使她感到紧张。 她预言灾祸即将来临。 “一定要记住，孩子们，”她警告她的长耳朵的小家伙们。 “这栋小屋不会给我们带来什么好处。 人类在哪里，我们兔子就有麻烦。” 住在老栗树上的松鼠也很清楚，新小屋给它们带来了麻烦。 “很明显，人类会破坏我们的一切。 它们会把我们树上所有的坚果都拿走，占为己有。”老灰松鼠爸爸警告说。 老地鼹鼠不得不同意。 “这会降低我们在森林里的房子的价值，”他宣称。 “既然人类来了，每一个有良知的生物都会想要离开这里。 我知道这就是我要做的。”

The bluebirds and bobolink birds had more positive thoughts about the humans. But Old Mrs. Ground-Mole remarked that they were a silly bunch of birds. They flew here and there, and were not settled. They could not be expected to understand the forest creatures' attachment to their neighborhood and their opinions were not taken seriously. "Humans never stop in their war against Nature. They create ruin that would take hundreds of years to repair. Humans can destroy in a few hours what it has taken Nature ages to produce," complained the Old Chestnut Tree. "I'd like to see the best of the humans create anything as magnificent as the old oak tree," the Chestnut Tree continued. "Who among these foolish humans could make a tree? And the noise they make—it's ridiculous! In the forest, we do everything quietly. A tree would be ashamed if it made

蓝鸟和食米鸟对人类有更积极的看法。 可是地鼠老太太说他们是一群傻鸟。 他们飞来飞去，没有定居下来。 他们不可能理解森林生物对他们邻居的依恋，他们的意见也没有被认真对待。 “人类与自然的战争从未停止。 它们造成的破坏需要数百年才能修复。 大自然花了好几个世纪才创造出来的东西，人类可以在几个小时内就把它毁掉。”老栗树抱怨道。 “我希望看到人类最好的一面创造出像这棵老橡树一样壮丽的东西，”栗树继续说。 “这些愚蠢的人当中，谁能造一棵树？” 他们制造的噪音太荒谬了！在森林里，我们静静地做着一切。 如果一棵树做了错事，它会感到羞耻

even half the noise these humans do while it grew. Our manners are perfect. Humans are rude and selfish," the Chestnut Tree complained. The little cottage was finished, even with all the disagreement from the forest creatures. Its walls were covered with pretty paper. Its floors were laid with pretty carpets. Once it was all done, and the garden paths were paved and pretty flowers were planted, even the most doubtful forest creatures changed their minds. The cottage was not so bad after all. One day a black ant went in and explored the cottage. The ant crawled over chairs and tables. It crawled on walls and ceilings. The ant reported in The Crickets' Gazette that the cottage was like a palace on the inside. Several butterflies sailed through the windows and fluttered about. They said the cottage was delightful. Some bees buzzed

甚至是人类生长时发出的噪音的一半。 我们的礼仪是完美的。人类既粗鲁又自私。”栗树抱怨道。 小茅屋完工了，尽管森林里的动物们意见不一。 它的墙上贴满了漂亮的纸。 地板上铺着漂亮的地毯。 一旦一切都完成了，花园的小路被铺好了，美丽的花朵被种上了，即使是最怀疑的森林生物也改变了主意。 那间小屋还算不错。 一天，一只黑蚂蚁走进小屋，探索着。 蚂蚁爬过椅子和桌子。 它爬在墙上和天花板上。 蚂蚁在《蟋蟀公报》上报道说，小屋的里面就像一座宫殿。 几只蝴蝶从窗户飞了进来，扑腾着翅膀。 他们说小屋很漂亮。 一些蜜蜂嗡嗡地叫着

through and were enchanted by the cottage, especially by its garden. In fact, it became clear that the humans in this cottage loved Nature as much as the creatures did. The humans watched over and saved the wildflowers and weeds. They watched with great interest as the birds built their nests. They never allowed anything to threaten the creatures around them. Soon enough, every insect and bird and beast in the forest praised the humans. "Mama," asked Little Bit, a young and curious squirrel, "why won't you let Frisky and me go into that pretty new cottage to play?" "My dear," said old Mama Squirrel, "humans set many dangerous traps for us creatures. If you had wings like the butterflies and bees, you could safely enter the cottage and leave whenever you wanted.

穿过这幢小屋，我被它迷住了，尤其是它的花园。 事实上，很明显，这个小屋里的人类和动物一样热爱大自然。 人类守护并拯救了野花和野草。 他们饶有兴趣地看着鸟儿筑巢。 他们从不允许任何东西威胁到他们周围的生物。 很快，森林里的昆虫、鸟类和野兽都称赞人类。 “妈妈，”好奇的小松鼠点点问，“你为什么不让我和弗里斯基去那间漂亮的新小屋玩呢？”“亲爱的，”松鼠妈妈说，“人类给我们这些动物设了很多危险的陷阱。 如果你有像蝴蝶和蜜蜂那样的翅膀，你就可以安全地进入小屋，随时可以离开。