One April day， after a long， soaking1rain， Cardinal poked2 his head out fromunder the green branches to see if hewould get wet or stay dry. When he didn’tfeel any rain， he jumped down to theground， using the tree branches like aspiral staircase3.

Cardinal usually liked to stay in thesafe cover of the trees. He was a brightred bird， and it was very easy to find himin the open field4. If a hawk5 saw him， hecould become someone else’s dinner.

So Cardinal jumped around theedge6 of the field to look for worms7 inthe grass. He didn’t walk too far fromhis safe trees.

At the same time， Robin flew downinto the middle of the grassy8 field andpecked9 at the ground. Robin was mostlybrown， but his belly10 was a prettyorange color. He was very proud11 of hiscolorful chest and always walked aroundin front of the other birds. Robin found abig， juicy12 worm and ate it up.

When he looked up， he saw abright red flash13 at the edge of thefield. Robin flew over to see what itwas. It was a red bird.

“Oh， hello！”he cried.“I’m Robin.I didn’t know there were any other redbirds here.”

Cardinal was a little surprised andthen looked up at Robin. Robin was a bitbigger than Cardinal， but he was not asbig as a hawk. Cardinal thought he wassafe to talk to.

“I don’t think you are a red bird，”said Cardinal.“Your belly is orange.”

Robin looked at Cardinal and thendown at his own belly. Compared14 to thered bird’s bright feathers15， his ownbelly didn’t seem very special anymore.The red bird’s feathers lookedmore beautiful than his.

“Well，”said Robin，“I guess that’s true. Butyou didn’t have to say itout loud.”Robin’s feelingswere a bit hurt.“Iwas going to tell you thatall the best worms are inthe middle of the field，not on the edges.”

Cardinal said，“I don’t feel safe all the wayout there. I need to stay under the tree branchesso hawks can’t see my feathers.”

Robin thought about this. Maybe havingsuch bright feathers wasn’t that fun after all， ifit meant16 that Cardinal had to hide17 them.Robin felt sorry for Cardinal and came up withan idea.

“Tell you what，”he said. “You stay hereand I’ll bring you a nice worm to eat.”

Robin flew off to the centerof the field and began to peck theground. Soon he had a big wormin his beak18. He jumped backover to Cardinal.

“Here you go！ ” he said.Robin dropped the worm on theground in front of Cardinal.

Cardinal was so happy andate the worm. “Thank you verymuch，”he said.“It’s delicious.”

“You’re welcome，” Robinsaid. He had a feeling that theywould become great friends. Andhe told Cardinal about it.

“Of course，” Cardinal said.“We are good friends now. And ifyou need help， I will do everythingI can to help you.”

四月的一天，一場(chǎng)漫長(zhǎng)的大雨過(guò)后，一只紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)從綠色的樹(shù)枝下探出頭來(lái)，看看自己是會(huì)淋濕還是會(huì)保持干爽。當(dāng)感覺(jué)不到雨水時(shí)，它就像下旋轉(zhuǎn)樓梯一樣利用樹(shù)枝跳到了地上。

紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)通常喜歡待在樹(shù)木的安全掩護(hù)中。它是一只鮮紅色的鳥(niǎo)，在野外很容易發(fā)現(xiàn)它。如果一只鷹看到它，它可能會(huì)成為別人的晚餐。

于是，紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)沿著那塊地的邊緣跳來(lái)跳去，尋找草叢中的蟲(chóng)子。它沒(méi)有離開(kāi)它的安全樹(shù)太遠(yuǎn)。

與此同時(shí)，一只知更鳥(niǎo)飛到草地中央啄食地面。知更鳥(niǎo)身上大部分是棕色的，但它的肚子是漂亮的橙色。它對(duì)自己色彩斑斕的胸部非常自豪，總是在其它鳥(niǎo)面前走來(lái)走去。知更鳥(niǎo)找到了一條又大又多汁的蟲(chóng)子，一口吃了。

它抬起頭時(shí)看到田野邊緣有一道鮮紅色的東西掠過(guò)。知更鳥(niǎo)飛過(guò)去看看那是什么。原來(lái)是一只紅色的鳥(niǎo)。

“哎，你好！”它大聲說(shuō)，“我是知更鳥(niǎo)。我之前不知道這里還有其它紅色的鳥(niǎo)?！?/p>

紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)有點(diǎn)驚訝，抬頭看著知更鳥(niǎo)。知更鳥(niǎo)比紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)個(gè)頭稍大一點(diǎn)，但沒(méi)有老鷹大。紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)覺(jué)得和它談話是安全的。

“我認(rèn)為你不算紅色的鳥(niǎo)。”紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)說(shuō)，“你的肚子是橙色的?！?/p>

知更鳥(niǎo)看了看紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)，然后低頭看了看自己的肚子。與這只紅鳥(niǎo)鮮艷的羽毛相比，它自己肚子上的羽毛似乎不再特別了。這只紅鳥(niǎo)的羽毛看起來(lái)比它的更漂亮。

“好吧?！敝B(niǎo)說(shuō)，“我想這確實(shí)是。但你沒(méi)必要大聲說(shuō)出來(lái)?！敝B(niǎo)的感情受到了一點(diǎn)傷害?！拔冶緛?lái)想告訴你，最好吃的蟲(chóng)子都在這塊田野的中央，而不是邊緣。”

紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)說(shuō)：“我在那外面都會(huì)覺(jué)得不安全。我要待在樹(shù)枝下，這樣老鷹就看不到我的羽毛了?！?/p>

知更鳥(niǎo)思考了一下這個(gè)問(wèn)題。如果這意味著紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)不得不把羽毛隱藏起來(lái)，也許擁有如此鮮艷的羽毛也不那么有趣了。知更鳥(niǎo)為紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)感到難過(guò)，它想到了一個(gè)主意。

“你聽(tīng)我說(shuō)。”它說(shuō)，“你待在這兒，我去抓一條好吃的蟲(chóng)子給你吃。”

知更鳥(niǎo)飛到田野中央，開(kāi)始往地里啄。

很快，它就把一只大蟲(chóng)子叼進(jìn)嘴里。它跳回到紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)身邊。

“給你！”它說(shuō)。知更鳥(niǎo)把蟲(chóng)子投到紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)面前的地上。

紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)非常高興地把蟲(chóng)子吃了。

“非常感謝你?！彼f(shuō)，“真好吃?！?/p>

“不客氣?！敝B(niǎo)說(shuō)。它覺(jué)得它們會(huì)成為很好的朋友，它還把這個(gè)想法告訴紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)了。

“當(dāng)然啦！”紅衣鳳頭鳥(niǎo)說(shuō)，“我們現(xiàn)在就是好朋友了。如果你需要幫助，我會(huì)盡我所能去幫助你。”

（英語(yǔ)原文選自：readingvine.com）

▏Notes

1. soaking 濕透的

2. poke 從……露出，或伸出；探出

3. spiral staircase 螺旋樓梯

4. field 田地；田野

5. hawk 鷹；隼

6. edge 邊；邊緣

7. worm 蠕蟲(chóng)；某些昆蟲(chóng)的幼蟲(chóng)

8. grassy 長(zhǎng)滿草的；被草覆蓋的

9. peck 啄；啄食

10. belly 人或動(dòng)物的腹部；肚子

11. proud 自豪的；得意的

12. juicy 多汁的；汁液豐富的

13. flash 閃光；閃現(xiàn)

14. compare 比較；對(duì)比

15. feather 羽毛

16. mean 意味著

17. hide 把……藏起來(lái)；隱藏

18. beak 鳥(niǎo)嘴；喙