苗淑華

Anna and her brother Max were bored. Even though it was a nice summer day，they could not think of anything that they wanted to do. They did not want to watchany movies or read any books. They did not want to play in the yard or goswimming. They did not even want to go over another house to play with a friend.

安娜和她的哥哥馬克斯很無聊。盡管這是一個美好的夏日，但他們想不出任何想做的事。他們不想看任何電影或閱讀任何書籍，不想在院子里玩耍，也不想去游泳。他們甚至不想去別人家和朋友玩。

Anna and Max sat on their beds to think of things they could do to stop themfrom being bored. As they were thinking， Annas and Maxs mommy walked intothe room. She looked at the unhappy children， and asked，“Whats the matter withyou two？”

安娜和馬克斯坐在床上思考著他們能做些什么，好讓他們不再無聊。正當(dāng)他們思考時，安娜和馬克斯的媽媽走進了房間。她看著悶悶不樂的孩子們，問道：“你們倆怎么了？”

When Anna and Max explained their problem to her， she smiled and told themthat she knew lots of things that they could do.

當(dāng)安娜和馬克斯向她解釋他們的問題時，她微笑著告訴他們，她知道他們可以做很多事。

First， she took them into the kitchen and told them they could help her makesandwiches. After putting bread， meat， and other food together， Anna and Max weredone with making one sandwich. When they showed their mommy the sandwich， shesaid， “Good. Now make forty more.”This took a long time， but they were happy tobe doing anything at all.

首先，她把他們帶到廚房，告訴他們可以幫她做三明治。把面包、肉和其他食物放在一起后，安娜和馬克斯就做好了一個三明治。當(dāng)他們給媽媽看那個三明治時，她說：“好。現(xiàn)在再做40 個?！边@花了很長時間，但他們很樂意做任何事。

One hour later， Anna and Max were finally done making sandwiches. They didnot even get to eat one before their mommy said， “Now help me put thesesandwiches into these paper bags.”

一小時后，安娜和馬克斯終于做完了三明治。他們甚至還沒來得及吃上一個，媽媽就說：“現(xiàn)在幫我把這些三明治裝進紙袋里?！?/p>

After they were done in the kitchen， Anna and Max went in the car and theirmommy drove them to a place they had never been before.

在廚房里干完活后，安娜和馬克斯上了車，媽媽開車帶他們?nèi)チ艘粋€他們從來沒去過的地方。

There were a lot of people there. Some of them were waiting in line， and otherswere standing behind a table serving1 food. The people who were waiting in linelooked like they had not eaten in a long time.

那里有很多人。他們中有些人在排隊等候，另一些站在桌子后面分發(fā)食物。排隊等候的人看起來好像很久沒吃飯了。

Anna and Max and their mommy brought their sandwiches to the table andhelped pass2 them out to the people in line. Other people had brought things likesoup， bread， water， rice， apples and oranges.

安娜、馬克斯和媽媽把三明治放到桌上，幫著把它們分發(fā)給排隊的人。其他人帶來了湯、面包、水、米飯、蘋果和橙子等食物。

Once these people got their food， they smiled and looked happier. They saidthank you， and then went to the chairs to sit down and eat their food.

這些人一拿到食物就笑了，看起來更開心了。他們道謝之后走到椅子那坐下吃他們的食物。

When those people left a few hours later， Anna and Max stayed with theirmommy to help the other people clean up the place. By the time they got home， itwas already night. The whole day had passed by so quickly that Anna and Max hadnot even noticed.

幾個小時后當(dāng)這些人離開了，安娜和麥克斯待在媽媽身邊幫其他人打掃。他們到家時，已經(jīng)是晚上了。這一整天過得很快，安娜和馬克斯甚至都沒有意識到。

Their mommy told them that even if they were bored， they should be happy thatthey were not going to bed without food or water like many people in the world.Anna and Max were quiet， thinking about what it would be like to have to live likethat. They knew that they had been wrong in what they had thought before. They hadso many simple3 things in their life that they had never thought to be happy about.

媽媽告訴他們，即使他們很無聊，也應(yīng)該很高興他們不會像世界上許多人一樣沒吃沒喝就上床睡覺。安娜和麥克斯沉默不語，想著不得不這樣生活會是什么樣子。他們知道自己以前的想法是錯誤的。生活中有很多簡單的事情，他們從來沒有想過為那些事感到開心。

Notes

1. serve 給……提供；端上；食物

2. pass 傳遞；傳送

3. simple 簡單的；普通的；平凡的