The Boy And The Cabbage
男孩和空心菜
There was once a boy who - although very good and obedient - hated eating cabbage. Whenever he had to eat it he would complain and get extremely angry. One day, his mother decided to send him to the market to buy... a cabbage! So the boy was, of course, disgusted at this turn of events.
從前有個小男孩，盡管很乖很聽話，但他十分討厭吃空心菜。每當他不得不吃空心菜時，他就會抱怨，并非常憤怒。有一天，男孩的媽媽決定讓他去市場買空心菜。結(jié)果毫無懸念，小男孩對此十分反感。
At the market, the boy reluctantly purchased one, but this wasn't just any old cabbage. It happened to be a cabbage which hated children. After an enormous argument, the boy and the cabbage set off for home, in silence, their anger barely below the surface the whole time. On the way, while crossing the river, the boy slipped and both of them fell into the rapids and were pulled under by the current. With great effort, they managed to come to the surface, grab onto a plank of wood, and stay afloat.
到了市場，男孩不情不愿地買了一顆空心菜。但是，這并不是一顆普通的空心菜。恰好這顆空心菜也不喜歡小孩子。一番激烈的爭執(zhí)之后，小男孩和空心菜都勉強壓下怒火，一言不發(fā)地往家走去。路上，穿過一條河流時，男孩滑了一下，然后他們都掉進了湍急的河流里被沖走了。費了很大的勁他們才浮出水面，抓住了一塊木板，浮在水面上。
They had to spend so much time together, adrift on that plank, that after becoming mightily bored, they ended up conversing. They got to know each other, and became friends. They played many bizarre games, like the fish without a rod, the tiny hiding place, and the King of the mountain.
無奈，他們在那塊木板上漂泊了很長時間，在極度厭煩之后，最終還是聊了起來。他們開始了解彼此，成了朋友，還玩了很多稀奇古怪的游戲，像沒有釣竿的魚，小小的藏身之處，還有山之王。
Chatting with his new friend, the boy understood the importance, at his young age, of vegetables like the cabbage, and how wrong it is to always be bad-mouthing them. The cabbage, for his part, realized that sometimes his flavour was a touch strong, and strange to children. So they agreed that when they reached home, the boy would treat the cabbage with great respect, and the cabbage would do its best to taste like spaghetti.
在和新朋友聊天時，這個男孩意識到，空心菜這樣的蔬菜對于小孩子的重要性，也意識到總是說他們壞話是多么錯誤?？招牟艘舱J識到自己的味道有點重，對孩子們來說很怪。于是他們約定，當回到家時，男孩會對空心菜改觀，而卷心菜會盡量吃起來像意大利面條。
Their agreement was nothing if not a great success. The boy's mother was greatly surprised at how willingly he ate the cabbage, and the boy prepared the best hiding place in his tummy for the cabbage, shouting "Mmm! What great spaghetti!"
如果沒有做到的話，他們的約定將毫無意義。男孩的媽媽對于男孩愿意吃空心菜十分驚訝，小男孩將空心菜吃進肚子里，高呼：“嗯...... 意大利面太棒了！
