犀牛的皮膚是如何變粗糙的？

高鶯嘉

Long long ago， in Africa there was a rhino named Rhys. He was a cheeky2 rhino and loved to eat cookies. Of course， man cant find cookies in the wild， so Rhys had got a really bad habit of stealing cookies from African tribes3. Whenever Rhys wanted cookies， he would never ask politely for it or even ask！Instead， he would just steal them. Not just one. He stole all of them. When the tribes went hungry， they blamed it on Rhys. Well， Rhys didnt care at all， as long as he had got his cookies.

很久很久以前，在非洲有一只名叫瑞斯的犀牛。它臉皮很厚，喜歡吃餅干。當(dāng)然，人們是無法在野外找到餅干的。于是瑞斯養(yǎng)成了從非洲部落偷餅干的壞毛病。只要瑞斯想吃餅干了，它從不向人們討要餅干，更不用說禮貌的請求了，而是直接偷餅干。不是一塊，它把所有的餅干都偷走了。當(dāng)非洲部落的人們挨餓的時候，他們就會罵瑞斯。瑞斯壓根不在乎，只要它有餅干吃就行。

One day， Rhys had a vision of the African God. The God warned him that stealing cookies was not allowed， and asked him to stop doing that. Or he would pay a price. Well， Rhys didnt care， but said：“Mind your own business.”

有一天，瑞斯看見了非洲之神。神警告它不許偷餅干，要求它停止偷竊，否則要付出代價。但瑞斯毫不在意，它說：“管好你自己的事吧！”

So， the African people had a great meeting， to discuss about what they would do. A little boy named Carl spoke up， “We can play a trick on him.” “What trick？” People asked curiously4. “We all know that Rhys likes to take baths in the pond next to a huge bread tree. He leaves his coat on the bank. And I can climb up the tree and hide there. When Rhys takes off his coat， I am going to put cookie crumbs5 in his coat and glue6 the buttons with melted amber7. Once he puts on the coat after bath， the buttons and coat will stick together. Then he wont be able to take it off again.” Carl said. The tribes all agreed.

因此，非洲人召開了一個會議，討論該怎么辦。一個名叫卡爾的小男孩說：“我們可以捉弄一下瑞斯。”“怎么捉弄？”人們好奇地問?！按蠹叶贾?，瑞斯喜歡在一棵巨大的面包樹旁的水塘里洗澡。它會把衣服脫了放在岸上。我可以爬到樹上藏起來。等瑞斯脫下衣服后，我就把餅干屑撒在它的衣服里，然后在扣子上粘上融化的琥珀。等瑞斯洗完澡后一穿上衣服，扣子和衣服就會粘在一起，它就再也沒法脫下衣服啦?！笨栒f。大家紛紛贊同。

Then， on a very hot day， when Rhys went to the pond as usual， Carl hid in the tree. He had a bag of cookie crumbs with him， and put all into Rhys coat and poured melted amber all over the buttons. Rhys didnt realize that at all. When he came out of the pond and put on his coat， he felt itchy8 everywhere. He tried to put off the coat. But it was stuck！Rhys had to scrape9 himself against the bread tree again and again till the coat was torn to pieces and his beautiful smooth skin became rough and wrinkled10.

于是，在一個炎炎烈日里，當(dāng)瑞斯和往常一樣去水塘里洗澡時，卡爾藏到了樹上。他把帶來的滿滿一袋餅干屑全部撒在瑞斯的衣服里，并把融化的琥珀澆在扣子上。瑞斯對此毫無察覺，在出了水塘穿上衣服之后，它感到全身都癢。它想把衣服脫下來，衣服卻牢牢地粘在了身上！瑞斯只得使勁在面包樹上一遍一遍地蹭，直到衣服碎成一片片，而它光滑的皮膚也從此被磨得粗糙起皺紋了。

Now， Rhys understood that “Good will be rewarded with good， and evil with evil”.

此時，瑞斯才終于明白了那句話：“善有善報，惡有惡報！”