Rocky and the Squirrels洛奇和松鼠

Rocky Raccoon was playing byhimself at the park. He noticed a groupof squirrels nearby， playing soccer withan acorn1. It looked like fun， and Rockywished he could play， too. However，thinking about talking to others made himnervous2 and he wasn’t sure how to start.

Why would they want to play withme？ He thought. I’m not special. Maybethere’s a way I could makemyself different. Then theymight be more interested in me.Rocky scratched3 his headand wondered4 what he could do.If he pretended5 to be from anothercountry， the squirrels would thinkthat was cool. He could talk in a"different way. He looked around foranything to help him look different， too.There wasn’t much in the park except6for an empty7 potato chip bag. Rockypicked it up and put it on his head.

“Here goes nothing，” he said tohimself and went over to the squirrels.They stopped running after each other tolook at the raccoon. “Good day， mates，”he said.

“Uh， hi...” said a couple of theanimals， not sure what to make of Rockyin his funny hat and strange accent8.

“How’s it going？ Fine afternoonfor a game of footy9， don’t ya think？”Rocky said.

The squirrels just looked at him.One of them shrugged10 his shoulders. Atlast， one said，“What did you just say？”

“Uh... nice afternoon for a soccergame， right？”Rocky said， embarrassed11.

“Oh， yeah， sure it is. Sorry， wedidn’t understand you at first.”

“That may be because I’m fromAustralia，”said the raccoon. “It’s reallyfar away.”

“Is that so？ How did you gethere？”asked a curious12 squirrel.

“I’m kind of a world traveler，”said Rocky.

A little brown squirrel spoke up.“I have a squirrel cousin in Australia.He told me they don’t have raccoons inthat country.”

Rocky’s smile was gone.Was that true？ Now theymust know he was faking13his accent. How embarrassing！Maybe he should just runaway from them. He took adeep breath14.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t thetruth. I made up being fromAustralia so you would think I’minteresting and want to play withme. But I’m just a regular15raccoon.”He looked at the ground，afraid they would laugh at him.

But the squirrels did notlaugh. They came closer to him. Agrey squirrel reached out and patted16 Rocky on the shoulder.“Let me tell you something，buddy17. You may not be fromAustralia， but you are certainlyvery interesting！ ”He smiled.

The little brown squirrel spokeup， “Yeah， you don’t have to pretendto be something you’re not. If youwanted to come play soccer with us，you could have just asked！ ” Theothers said yes as well.

“Do you still want to play？”The grey squirrel tossed18 the acornto the raccoon.

Rocky said， “Yes， please. Thatwould be great.”

“Then come on！ But first youmight want to take that thing off yourhead.” He looked at the chip bagRocky was still wearing.

With a laugh， Rocky took theempty bag off his head and ran off toplay with his new friends.

浣熊洛奇独自在公园玩耍。它注意到附近有一群松鼠在把橡子当足球踢。看起来很有趣，洛奇希望自己也能玩。然而，一想到要和别人说话它就紧张，不知道如何开口。

它们为什么要和我一起玩呢？它想，我并不特别。也许有办法让我变得与众不同。那么它们可能会对我更感兴趣一点。

洛奇挠了挠头，不知道自己能做什么。如果它假装来自另一个国家，松鼠们一定会觉得很酷。它可以用不一样的方式说话。它环顾四周，再寻找任何能让它看起来与众不同的东西。除了一个空薯片袋外，公园里没有什么东西了。洛奇把它捡起来戴在头上。

“不管那么多了。”它对自己说，然后朝松鼠们走过去。它们停止了追逐，看向浣熊。“日安，伙计们。”它说。

“呃，你好……”几只动物说，拿不准戴着滑稽帽子、口音奇怪的洛奇有什么意图。

“你们好吗？真是个适合踢足球的美好下午，你们不觉得吗？”洛奇说。

松鼠们只是看着它。其中一只耸了耸肩。最后，有只松鼠说：“你刚才说什么？”

“呃……这个下午正适合足球比赛，对吧？”洛基很尴尬，说道。

“哦，是的，当然是。对不起，我们一开始没听懂你的话。”

浣熊说：“那可能是因为我来自澳大利亚。那儿真的很远。”

“ 是这样吗？ 你是怎么来的？”一只好奇的松鼠问道。

“我算是一个环球旅行者。”洛奇说。

一只棕色的小松鼠大声说：“我在澳大利亚有一个松鼠表弟。它告诉我那个国家没有浣熊。”

洛奇的笑容消失了。那是真的吗？现在它们肯定知道它在冒充外国口音了。好尴尬！也许它应该离开它们。它深吸了一口气。

“我很抱歉。那不是事实。我假装自己来自澳大利亚，这样你们就会觉得我很有趣，想和我一起玩。但我只是一只普通的浣熊。”它看着地面，害怕它们会嘲笑自己。

但是松鼠们没有笑，而是走近它。一只灰色松鼠伸出手拍了拍洛奇的肩膀。“让我告诉你一些事情，朋友。你可能不是从澳大利亚来的，但你肯定非常有趣！”它笑了。

棕色小松鼠大声说“： 是的，你不必假装成另一个人。如果你想和我们一起踢足球，你可以直接问我们！”其他松鼠也表示赞同。

“你还想玩吗？”灰松鼠把橡子扔给浣熊。

洛奇说“： 想玩。太好了。”

“那就来吧！但首先你可能要把那东西从你头上摘下来。”它看了看洛奇仍然戴着的薯片袋子。

洛奇笑着把空袋子从头上摘下来，跑去和它的新朋友们玩了。

（英语原文选自：readingvine.com）

▏Notes

1. acorn 橡子，橡实

2. nervous 神经紧张的，担忧的

3. scratch （用指甲）挠，轻抓

4. wonder 想知道，好奇

5. pretend 伪装，假装

6. except 除……外，不包括

7. empty 空的

8. accent 口音，腔调

9. footy lt;英gt;足球；（澳大利亚，新西兰）英式橄榄球

10. shrug （表示不知道或不感兴趣）耸（肩）

11. embarrassed 尴尬的，窘迫的

embarrassing 使人尴尬的，使人难堪的

12. curious 好奇的，求知欲强的

13. fake 伪造，冒充；假装，佯装

14. breath 呼吸，气息

15. regular 普通的，平凡的

16. pat 轻拍

17. buddy lt;非正式gt;朋友；老兄，兄弟

18. toss （轻轻地或随意地）扔，抛，掷