4 How the Leopard Got His Spots

CHAPTER 4 How the Leopard Got His Spots In the days when all creatures roamed the golden grassy fields of Africa, the Leopard and the Warrior-Man would hunt the Giraffe and the Zebra, and sometimes other animals, too. The Leopard and the Warrior were so good at hunting that the Giraffe and the Zebra never knew when they were there. They were so worried all the time that they could never sleep. One day, the Giraffe and the Zebra decided to leave the grassy fields. They went

当所有的动物都在非洲金色的草地上漫步的时候，豹子和勇士会猎食长颈鹿和斑马，有时也会猎食其他动物。 豹和战士是如此擅长狩猎，长颈鹿和斑马从不知道他们什么时候在那里。 他们整天担心得睡不着觉。 一天，长颈鹿和斑马决定离开这片草地。 他们去

to live in a great forest filled with trees and bushes that cast stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy shadows where they could hide. They lived there safely for many seasons, standing half in the shade and half in the sun. In fact, they stood for so long in the slipperyslidy shadows of the great forest that the Giraffe became spotted and the Zebra became striped. For a very long time they led beautiful lives in the speckly-spickly, uneven shadows of the forest. However, the Leopard and the Warrior were not having beautiful lives in the tall yellow-green grass fields. They were hungry because there were no more Giraffes and Zebras left to hunt. So they went to visit the Wisest Animal in all of South Africa, the dog-headed barking Baboon. "Where have the Giraffes and Zebras all gone?" asked the Leopard and the Warrior.

住在一个大森林里，到处是树木和灌木丛，投下斑驳、斑驳、斑驳的阴影，他们可以躲在那里。 他们在那里安全地生活了好几个季节，一半在阴凉处，一半在阳光下。 事实上，他们在大森林的阴暗处站了太久，长颈鹿身上长了斑点，斑马身上长了条纹。 在很长一段时间里，他们在斑驳、参差不齐的森林阴影中过着美丽的生活。 然而，在高大的黄绿色草地上，豹和勇士并没有过上美好的生活。 他们很饿，因为没有长颈鹿和斑马可以捕猎了。 于是他们去拜访了南非最聪明的动物——狗头吠狒狒。 “长颈鹿和斑马都到哪里去了？”豹和武士问。

"They have gone to other spots. My advice to you, Leopard, is to go to other spots as soon as you can," said the Baboon with a wink. And then he said no more. Puzzled, the Leopard and the Warrior set off in search of other spots. They came to the great, tall forest that was speckled and spotted, and slashed and splashed and hatched and thatched with shadows. "We are wasting our time here," said the Leopard. "There is nothing but shadows." "Wait a moment," said the Warrior. "I can smell the Giraffe. I can hear the Giraffe. I just can't see the Giraffe." The Leopard sniffed the shadowy air and listened to the breeze. "I can smell the Zebra. I can hear the Zebra. I just can't see the Zebra," he declared. So they hunted the Giraffe and the Zebra all day. Although they could smell them and

“他们去了其他地方。 我给你的建议是，豹，尽快到别的地方去。”狒狒眨了眨眼睛说。 然后他没再说什么。迷惑不解的豹和勇士开始寻找其他的地点。 他们来到了那片高大的大森林，森林里斑驳、斑驳、斑驳、水花飞溅、阴影密布、茅草丛生。 “我们在这里浪费时间。”豹子说。 “除了影子什么都没有。” “等一下。”勇士说。 “我能闻到长颈鹿的味道。我能听到长颈鹿的叫声。 我就是看不见长颈鹿。” 豹子嗅着朦胧的空气，听着微风。 “我能闻到斑马的味道。我能听到斑马的叫声。 我就是看不见斑马，”他宣称。 所以他们整天都在追捕长颈鹿和斑马。 虽然他们能闻到它们

hear them, they still couldn't see them. Then it grew dark. The Leopard heard something breathing heavily in the starlight. It smelled like the Zebra. It sounded like the Zebra. So he pounced and knocked it down to the ground. It kicked like the Zebra. But he still couldn't see what it was! "I am going to sit on your head until morning when I can see you," the Leopard growled. "Then I will know what you are." Just then, the Leopard heard a crash and a scramble. The Warrior called out, "I've caught something. It smells like the Giraffe. It sounds like the Giraffe, and it kicks like the Giraffe, but I can't see it!" "Sit on its head till morning," answered the Leopard. "Then we can sort it all out." In the morning when the light appeared, the Leopard and the Warrior still couldn't figure out what they had caught. Neither the

听到了，但还是看不见。 然后天黑了。豹子听到有什么东西在星光下沉重地呼吸。 闻起来像斑马。 听起来像斑马。 于是他猛扑过去，把它打倒在地。 它像斑马一样踢着。但他还是看不清那是什么！“我要坐在你的头上，直到早上我能看见你。”豹子咆哮道。 “那我就知道你是什么了。” 就在这时，豹子听到了撞击声和争抢声。 勇士喊道：“我抓到了什么东西。 闻起来像长颈鹿。 它的声音像长颈鹿的叫声，它的踢腿也像长颈鹿的叫声，但我看不见！”“坐在它的头上直到天亮。”豹回答说。 “然后我们就能把事情解决了。” 早晨，当曙光出现时，豹和武士仍然不知道他们抓到了什么。 无论是

Giraffe nor the Zebra looked the way they had when they lived in the tall, high yellow grass fields. "What kind of creatures are you?" the Leopard growled. "Let us up," the Zebra said. "Then we'll tell you," offered the Giraffe. So the Warrior and the Leopard released the creatures. "Now watch," said the Zebra and the

长颈鹿和斑马看起来都不像它们生活在又高又高的黄色草地上时的样子。 “你们是什么动物？”豹子咆哮道。 “我们上去吧，”斑马说。 “那我们就告诉你吧。”长颈鹿说。 于是，战士和豹子释放了这些动物。 “现在看，”斑马和斑马说

Giraffe. "One, two, three!" At once, the Zebra moved away into the thorn bushes where the shadows were stripy. The Giraffe moved off to some tall trees where the shadows fell on him in blotchy patterns. "And now where are we?" asked a voice from the shadows. The Leopard and the Warrior stared and stared. But they could see no signs of the Zebra and the Giraffe. The Warrior turned to the Leopard and said, "This is a trick worth learning. We will never catch our dinner again unless we hide ourselves in the stripy shadows of the forest." At once, the Warrior began to blacken his skin with blackish brown mud. "What about me?" asked the Leopard. "I'll give you spots," said the Warrior. He pressed his fingers into the blackish

长颈鹿。“一，二，三！”斑马立刻跑到阴影斑驳的荆棘树丛里去了。 长颈鹿走到一些高大的树上，那里的影子落在他身上，斑斑点点。 “现在我们在哪儿？”一个声音从阴影里传来。 豹和勇士盯着看啊看啊。 但是他们没有看到斑马和长颈鹿的踪迹。 武士转身对豹说：“这是一个值得学习的技巧。 除非我们把自己藏在森林的条纹阴影里，否则我们再也抓不到晚餐了。” 战士立刻开始用黑褐色的泥把皮肤涂黑。 “那我呢？”豹子问。 “我给你点。”勇士说。 他把手指按在黑色的地方