鸚鵡和貓

張峰

A man once bought a brilliantly-coloured par- rot. Instead of locking it up in a cage or chaining it to a perch， he allowed it to fly free all over the house. Theparrotwas delighted atthisand flapped from room to room， shrieking and screaming withhappi- ness. At lasthe settled on the edge of a rich curtain.

“Whoonearthareyou？ ”saidacrossvoice from below.“Stop that terrible noise at once. ”

The parrotsawacatstaring upat himfrom the carpet.

“I ma parrot.I ve justarrivedandI mto make as much noise as I can， ”he said.

“Well， I ve lived here all my life， ”replied the cat.“I was born in this very house and I learned from my mother that it is best to keep quiet here. ”

“Keep quiet then，”said the parrot cheerfully. “Idon tknowwhatyoudoaroundhere，butI know my job. My master bought me for my voice ????????? and I m going to make sure he hears it. ”

從前，有人買了一只毛色鮮艷的鸚鵡。他沒有把鸚鵡關在籠子里，也沒有用鏈條把他拴在棲木上，而是讓他在家里自由自在地飛來飛去。鸚鵡對此非常高興，撲動翅膀，從一間屋子飛到另一間屋子，愉快地尖聲叫著，最后停在華麗的帷幔的邊上。

“你到底是誰？”從下面傳來怒氣沖沖的說話聲，“馬上住嘴，別發出那難聽的聲音。”

鸚鵡看見地毯上有一只貓抬頭看著他。

“我是鸚鵡。我剛到，我要使勁地吵吵。”他說。

“嗯，我在這已經住了一輩子了。”貓說，“我生在這個屋子里，并且媽媽告訴我在這里最好保持安靜。”

“那你就一聲不響吧，”鸚鵡歡快地說，“我不知道你在這兒干什么，可我知道我的活兒。主人為了我的聲音才買我，我一定得讓他聽到。”