The Orange Kitten橘色小貓

游余

Rachel was feeling sad.She had just moved from Arizona to a new house in California， far away from her friends， neighbors and teachers that she had known for most of her life. Her mother and dad had explainedl to her that moving to this new school was actually a good thing， as it would give her a better life. Still， Rachel did not care about such things. She just wanted another friend to play with when she was sad.

瑞秋很傷心。她剛從亞利桑那州搬到加利福尼亞州的一所新房子，遠離了她人生中大部分時間里所認識的朋友、鄰居和老師。她的父母向她解釋說，搬到這所新學校實際上是件好事，因為這會給她一個更好的生活。盡管如此，瑞秋并不在乎這些，她只是想在難過的時候有一個朋友陪她一起玩。

Her first day at her new school only made her feel worse. The school was harder than her other school， and the other students did not talk to her at all. She also did not like the new house that her family had moved into. Rachel wished that she had someone she could talk to about her problems.

她在新學校的第一天只讓她感覺更糟。這所學校比她待過的其他學校更難待，其他學生根本不和她說話。她也不喜歡全家剛搬進來的新房子。瑞秋希望能有個人來討論自己的問題。

Rachels parents noticed that she had not seemed happy ever smce their move away from Arizona， but they were too busy with their new jobs to give her their full care. Every morning， Rachel would wake up and eat her breakfast quietly， nervous2 about the school day. After she was done eating， her mother would walk her to the bus station and tell her to have a good day.“That is easier said than done，”thought Rachel as she sat in the back of the bus. She looked out the window at the blue skies and green trees.

瑞秋的父母注意到自從他們搬離亞利桑那州后，她似乎一直悶悶不樂，但他們忙于新工作，無暇全心全意照顧她。每天早上，瑞秋醒來后會靜靜地吃早餐，對上學的日子感到緊張。她吃完飯后，媽媽會步行送她去公共汽車站，祝她這一天過得愉快。“說起來容易做起來難。”瑞秋坐在校車后座時想。她望向了窗外的藍天和綠樹。

Suddenly3， Rachel noticed something orange next to some trees. Even though she only saw the orange color for a few seconds， it made her sit up. After all， there were not that many orange things that could be found out on the ground. She thought about it all on the way to school. Could it be a group of flowers？ No， because the orange thing had seemed to be moving when she had seen it.It was a mystery4， she thought. She kept thinking about the orange thing as she went to her classes and had her lunch alone.

突然，瑞秋注意到幾棵樹旁邊有一個橙色的東西。盡管她只看到那個橙色幾秒鐘，但這還是讓她坐直了身體。畢竟，在地面上找不到那么多橙色的東西。上學的路上她一直在想這件事。會是一束花嗎？不是，因為當她看到那個橙色的東西時，它似乎在移動。這是一個謎，她覺得。無論是上課還是獨自吃午飯的時候，她都一直在想那個橙色的東西。

On the way back from school，Rachel sat in the same seat as she had before in the hopes of seeing the orange thing again. As she passed by the trees， she felt happy because she thought she would see it. But she was sad to not see anything that was orange.

在放學回家的路上，瑞秋坐在她以前坐的那個座位上，希望能再次看到那個橙色的東西。當她經過那些樹時，她感到很高興，因為她以為自己會看到它，但她很難過，因為她沒有看到任何橙色的東西。

The next morning， Rachel set out a plan to find out about the mystery. She decided to pretend to be sick so that her father would come and get her from the office at school.Letting people think that she was sick was easy. All she had to do was saying that her stomach hurt and she was about to throw up. Her plan worked， and her dad quickly came to the school to take her home for rest.

第二天早上，瑞秋制定了一個計劃來解開這個謎。她決定假裝生病，這樣她爸爸就可以來把她從學校的辦公室接走。讓人們認為她生病了很容易，她所要做的就是說她肚子疼，她想吐。她的計劃奏效了，她爸爸很快就來到學校帶她回家休息。

Rachel felt bad for lying to her dad， but as she passed the trees in her car， she told him to pull the car over because she was going to throw up. He let her out of the car， and she ran as fast as she could to the orange thing that she had seen across the field5. She had to know what it was. At last， she saw lt：a pretty， small kitten. As she picked it up， her dad appeared6 besides her. When he saw the kitten， he understood what she had done and why she had done it.He let her take the kitten home. He even bought a box and cat food for her new friend， who she named Whiskers.

瑞秋對爸爸撒謊后感到很難過，但當她坐車經過那些樹時，她叫爸爸把車停下來，因為她要嘔吐了。他讓她下車，她盡可能快地朝她在田野這頭看到的那個橙色東西跑過去。她必須知道那是什么東西。終于，她看到它了：一只漂亮的小貓咪。當她抱起它時，爸爸出現在她身邊。看到小貓時，他就明白了她做了什么以及為什么要這么做。他讓她把小貓帶回家，甚至為她的新朋友買了一個貓砂盆和貓食，她給小貓取名叫“絡腮胡”。

Rachel knew that all her problems were not over. Her school was still hard， and she still missed her old friends. But with her small kitten at her side， Rachel felt much happier. When she came to school the next day， she told her class about her new friend. Later， some of her classmates asked her if they could meet Whiskers. Rachel smiled， and knew that her life in California would be easier with Whiskers by her side.

瑞秋知道她的所有問題都還沒有結束。她在學校仍然過得艱難，她仍然想念她的老朋友。但有了小貓咪在身邊，瑞秋感到快樂多了。第二天當她來到學校時，她向全班同學講述了她這位新朋友的事。后來，她的一些同學問她可不可以認識“絡腮胡”。瑞秋笑了，她知道有了“絡腮胡”在身邊，她在加州的生活會更輕松。

（英語原文選自：er-central.com）