The Sad Little Crab悲伤的小螃蟹

There is a little crab that is always sad and he is wondering1 why. Every day，his day is the same. Every day， he does the same thing. But the biggest question forhim is why he is always sad.

有一只小螃蟹总是很悲伤，它想知道这是为什么。每天，它的日子都是一样的。每天，它都做同样的事情。但对它来说最大的问题是为什么它总是悲伤。

One of the reasons why he thinks he is sad is because his life is a circle2which he thinks is boring and not interesting at all. He wakes up， eats breakfast andprepares to go to school. Then his school bus will pick him up at around 8：00 a.m.He sits at the exact3 same space where he has sat since his first day. Then theschool bus picks up other animals and they all go to school with each other.

它认为自己很难过的原因之一是因为它的生活是一个它觉得无聊且毫无意义的循环。它醒来，吃早餐，准备上学。然后，校车会在早上8 点左右来接它，它坐在与前一天坐的那个完全相同的座位上。然后校车再去接其它动物，它们一起上学。

But the sad little crab does not have any friends. He can see that hisclassmates are always hanging out4 together. Still， he finds as well that they do notlike having him around. “But why is this so？”asked the sad little crab one day.“Why are they not playing with me？ Is it because I am sad？”The sad little crabdecided to find the cause5 of the problem.

但是悲伤的小螃蟹没有什么朋友。它看到它的同学们总是在一起玩。尽管如此，它也发现它们不喜欢和它一起玩。“但为什么会这样呢？”一天，悲伤的小螃蟹问，“它们为什么不和我玩呢？是因为我很悲伤吗？”悲伤的小螃蟹决定找出问题的原因。

The very next day， the sad little crab broke his everyday practices. When hegot up that morning， he prepared himself first before eating his breakfast. Whilewaiting for his school bus he tried to find ways to have fun. He tried running andjumping around， but it was not really something that he had fun of. At 8：00 a.m.， hisschool bus arrived.

就在第二天，这只悲伤的小螃蟹打破了日常习惯。那天早上起床时，它在吃早餐前先做好了准备。在等校车时，它想办法找点乐子。它试着四处奔跑和跳跃，但那并不是它真正感兴趣的事情。早上8 点，校车到了。

He chose another seat this time and sat beside a friendly looking mouse. Hespoke to the mouse and asked for his name. “My name is Terry，”said the mouseand he was very happy to be around the crab. So the sad little crab for once had alittle smile on his face for a new friend.

这次它选择了另一个座位，坐在了一只笑容亲切的老鼠旁边。它开口对老鼠说话，询问它的名字。“我叫特里。”老鼠说，它很高兴能和小螃蟹坐在一起。于是，这只悲伤的小螃蟹因为有了新朋友脸上终于露出了一丝微笑。

When the bus arrived at school， the two new friends went on their own ways.“Let’s see each other in break time，”they said to one another. When break timecame， the mouse looked for the sad little crab. And the sad little crab looked at themouse as well， and he planned to share stories of their discussion6.

当校车到达学校时，两个新朋友各奔东西。“我们在休息时间再见吧。”它们互相说道。休息时间到了，老鼠四处寻找那只悲伤的小螃蟹。悲伤的小螃蟹也看向老鼠，它打算分享它们谈论的事。

The sad little crab is doing just fine. But Terry the Mouse is so much better， as he isat the top of his class and the strongest of the mice，too. While Terry is talking abouthow he lead7 his team to win the math challenge8， the sad little crab turned his backaround and walked out. He never came back to hear the end of the story. Terry did notreally mind9 as he thought that maybe the sad little crab was just not feeling well. So hewent on his way back to his classroom and spent his day how he usually does.

这只悲伤的小螃蟹学习不错。但老鼠特里的学习比它好得多，它在班上名列前茅，也是老鼠中最强壮的。当特里谈论它如何带领自己的团队赢得数学挑战赛时，悲伤的小螃蟹转过身走了出去，再也没有回来听完故事的结尾。特里并不在意，因为它认为这只悲伤的小螃蟹也许只是身体不太舒服。于是，它回到自己的教室，像往常一样度过了一天。

When the sad little crab got to the classroom， he went to one of the cats. Hemade fun of Terry in front of them and he copied how he was telling his story. Thecats laughed and the little crab thought， “Oh， now I have new friends that are near，so I will forget about Terry！ ”

当悲伤的小螃蟹回到教室时，它走到一只小猫的身边。它当着那些猫的面取笑特里，模仿它讲故事的方式。小猫们大笑起来，小螃蟹想：“哦，现在我有新朋友，所以我会忘记特里！”

On the way home， in the bus， the sad little crab sat with the cats. They werelaughing really hard because of the stories that he was telling them. The bad thingabout this is that the sad little crab was making stories about Terry to look good tothe cats.

在回家的路上，在校车里，悲伤的小螃蟹和小猫们坐在一起。因为悲伤的小螃蟹给它们讲了很多故事，它们笑得很开心。糟糕的是，这只悲伤的小螃蟹为了取悦小猫们，编造了关于特里的那些故事。

When Terry heard it， he got angry. He told the sad little crab that what he wasdoing was not right. Terry told the carb that he had already known why he wasalways sad. Because he was keeping on saying things behind the back of his friends.The sad little crab was surprised. He did not know he was hurting other people’sfeelings. He said sorry and told Terry that he thought what he had done was to makenew friends， for he felt bad. “Just don’t do it again，”said Terry， “and you will behappier for sure.”From that day on， the sad little crab was no longer sad. He startedmaking more friends with true heart and he was much happier.

特里听到后很生气，它告诉悲伤的小螃蟹，它这样做是不对的。特里告诉螃蟹，自己已经知道为什么它总是不开心了，这是因为它总是在背后说朋友的坏话。悲伤的小螃蟹很惊讶。它不知道自己在伤害别人的感情。它向特里道歉，并告诉特里说，它以为自己所做的只是结交新朋友，因为它感觉不开心。“别再那样做了。”特里说，“你肯定会更快乐的。”从那天起，悲伤的小螃蟹就不再悲伤了。

它开始真心结交更多的朋友，感觉快乐多了。

▏Notes

1. wonder. 想知道；好奇

2. circle. 循环；圈子

3. exact. 确切的；精确的

4. hang out 闲逛；一起玩

5. cause. 原因；起因

6. discussion. 讨论；谈话

7. lead. 引领；带路

8. challenge. 挑战；难题

9. mind介意；在意