《A colour of his own》
自己的颜色
Parrots are green
鹦鹉是绿色的
goldfish are red
金鱼是红色的
elephants are gray
大象是灰色的
pigs are pink.
猪是粉色的。
All animals have a color of their own
所有的动物都有自己的颜色
except for chameleons.
除了变色龙。
They change color wherever they go.
他们随环境变化颜色。
On lemons they are yellow.
在柠檬上,他们变成黄色。
In the heather they are purple.
在石南花丛里,他们变成紫色。
An on the tiger they are striped like tigers.
在老虎身上,他们就变成老虎一样的条纹。
One day a chameleon who was sitting on a tiger's tail said to himself,
一天,一只站在老虎尾巴的变色龙自言自语:
"If I remain on a leaf I shall be green forever, and so I too will have a color of my own."
“如果我一直呆在叶子上,我就会一直是绿色。那么我也就可以拥有自己的颜色了。”
With this thought he cheerfully climbed onto the greenest leaf.
这么想着,他选了一片最绿最绿的叶子,兴高采烈地爬了上去。
But in autumn the leaf turned yellow——and so did the chameleon.
可是,到了秋天,树叶变黄了,他也不得不跟着变黄了。
The chameleon was black in the long winter night.
在漫长的冬日夜晚,变色龙一直都是黑色的。
But when spring came he walked out into the green grass. And there he met another chameleon.
春天来了,他到绿草地里去活动活动筋骨。在那儿,他遇到了另外一只变色龙。
He told his sad story,"Will not we ever have a color of our own?"he asked.
他把自己的经历讲了一遍。“难道我们永远都不能拥有自己的颜色吗?”他又问。
"I'm afraid not "saidthe otherchameleon who was older and wiser.
“恐怕你说得没错哦!”另一只变色龙说。这只变色龙年龄稍微比他大一点,也比他更有智慧。
“But,” he added,“Why don't we stay together?
“不过”,他又说,“我们两个为什么不呆在一起呢?
We will still change color wherever we go,but you and I will always be alike。”
虽然我们的颜色还是会走到哪儿,变到哪儿,但我们俩的颜色永远都是一样的。”
and purple and yellow
他们都变成紫色的了!还有黄色!
and red with white polka dots.And they lived happily even after.
他们甚至还能变成红底白点点的花色。从此以后,他们过上了幸福的生活。
每个人都有属于自己的标志,可以是外表,也可以是内心的某种特质。在《自己的颜色》中,变色龙苦苦寻觅的是一种稳定不变的、属于自己的颜色。可实际上,没有“自己的”颜色正是变色龙的重要属性和特质,是它无法改变的事实。后来,变色龙通过找到合适的参照物而坦然接受了“不能有自己的颜色”的问题。其实,只要存在,你就是一抹独特的颜色,而没有“固定的”颜色也当然是一种合理的存在。