The Robin and the Cardinal知更鸟和红衣凤头鸟

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，一场漫长的大雨过后，一只红衣凤头鸟从绿色的树枝下探出头来，看看自己是会淋湿还是会保持干爽。当感觉不到雨水时，它就像下旋转楼梯一样利用树枝跳到了地上。

红衣凤头鸟通常喜欢待在树木的安全掩护中。它是一只鲜红色的鸟，在野外很容易发现它。如果一只鹰看到它，它可能会成为别人的晚餐。

于是，红衣凤头鸟沿着那块地的边缘跳来跳去，寻找草丛中的虫子。它没有离开它的安全树太远。

与此同时，一只知更鸟飞到草地中央啄食地面。知更鸟身上大部分是棕色的，但它的肚子是漂亮的橙色。它对自己色彩斑斓的胸部非常自豪，总是在其它鸟面前走来走去。知更鸟找到了一条又大又多汁的虫子，一口吃了。

它抬起头时看到田野边缘有一道鲜红色的东西掠过。知更鸟飞过去看看那是什么。原来是一只红色的鸟。

“哎，你好！”它大声说，“我是知更鸟。我之前不知道这里还有其它红色的鸟。”

红衣凤头鸟有点惊讶，抬头看着知更鸟。知更鸟比红衣凤头鸟个头稍大一点，但没有老鹰大。红衣凤头鸟觉得和它谈话是安全的。

“我认为你不算红色的鸟。”红衣凤头鸟说，“你的肚子是橙色的。”

知更鸟看了看红衣凤头鸟，然后低头看了看自己的肚子。与这只红鸟鲜艳的羽毛相比，它自己肚子上的羽毛似乎不再特别了。这只红鸟的羽毛看起来比它的更漂亮。

“好吧。”知更鸟说，“我想这确实是。但你没必要大声说出来。”知更鸟的感情受到了一点伤害。“我本来想告诉你，最好吃的虫子都在这块田野的中央，而不是边缘。”

红衣凤头鸟说：“我在那外面都会觉得不安全。我要待在树枝下，这样老鹰就看不到我的羽毛了。”

知更鸟思考了一下这个问题。如果这意味着红衣凤头鸟不得不把羽毛隐藏起来，也许拥有如此鲜艳的羽毛也不那么有趣了。知更鸟为红衣凤头鸟感到难过，它想到了一个主意。

“你听我说。”它说，“你待在这儿，我去抓一条好吃的虫子给你吃。”

知更鸟飞到田野中央，开始往地里啄。

很快，它就把一只大虫子叼进嘴里。它跳回到红衣凤头鸟身边。

“给你！”它说。知更鸟把虫子投到红衣凤头鸟面前的地上。

红衣凤头鸟非常高兴地把虫子吃了。

“非常感谢你。”它说，“真好吃。”

“不客气。”知更鸟说。它觉得它们会成为很好的朋友，它还把这个想法告诉红衣凤头鸟了。

“当然啦！”红衣凤头鸟说，“我们现在就是好朋友了。如果你需要帮助，我会尽我所能去帮助你。”

（英语原文选自：readingvine.com）

▏Notes

1. soaking 湿透的

2. poke 从……露出，或伸出；探出

3. spiral staircase 螺旋楼梯

4. field 田地；田野

5. hawk 鹰；隼

6. edge 边；边缘

7. worm 蠕虫；某些昆虫的幼虫

8. grassy 长满草的；被草覆盖的

9. peck 啄；啄食

10. belly 人或动物的腹部；肚子

11. proud 自豪的；得意的

12. juicy 多汁的；汁液丰富的

13. flash 闪光；闪现

14. compare 比较；对比

15. feather 羽毛

16. mean 意味着

17. hide 把……藏起来；隐藏

18. beak 鸟嘴；喙