忧郁而明亮的月亮高高地挂在夜空中，温柔地牵引着起起落落的潮水。月光洒满海面，光芒在一层层的波涛之间跳跃。

The moon of many moods lighted the night sky as it pulled and pushed the waters of the ocean, creating swells that gently washed against the shore. The moonlight skipped across the waves, casting its glow and shadows far out to sea.

波光粼粼的海面下，大海依然平静。光线曲曲折折地穿过蓝水晶似的海水，绕着飘**的水草打着转儿。

在这片静谧的海里，许多五颜六色的鱼儿生活在庞大的珊瑚柱之间。

Beneath the surface of waves the movement of the water was stilled.The sights of light and bright were subdued in the crystal blue waters that swirled in and around the seawater ferns.

All the fish of the sea, colored yellow to blue, red to green, swam about the pillars of coral, swirling around the serene water.

在所有鱼儿之中，最新奇、最美丽的鱼要数小小的孔雀鳗了。这些小鱼儿的鱼鳍就像羽毛一样，当他们灵巧地游来游去时，轻薄透明的鳍随着水流左右摇摆。年纪大一些的孔雀鳗贴着海底觅食，而年龄小一些的鳗鱼更喜欢在沙地上的珊瑚城堡中嬉戏玩耍。

Amidst all the fish of the sea lived beautiful but strange little creatures called Peacock Eels. Their fins, like feathers, swished gently back and forth as they swam effortlessly in the tides and eddies of the atoll. The older eels searched about the bottom for tidbits and morsels to eat while the young played in and about the underwater castles of coral and sand.

不过，有一条色彩格外鲜艳的小鳗鱼不是那么喜欢这种诗意又平静的生活。他最喜欢的就是静静地仰起头，望向头顶波涛翻滚的海面，以及浪花之间折射出各种颜色的阳光。

这条小鳗鱼是从一颗象牙色的蛋里孵出来的，大家都叫他“羽毛芬”。

As the creatures moved about in poetic ease, one little eel, more brightly colored than all the rest, stayed still within the waters and looked up. He watched as the movement of the waves high above caused the light to shift and dance on the water like a rainbow of color.

He was born in an ivory-colored egg and all the other fish called him Feather-Fin.

Feather Fin spent all of his days looking for beautiful, colorful things.He floated for hours and hours, watching the light playing upon the facets of diamond coral. The other eels would swim around him, begging him to play. They would surround him as he lay motionless in the water, blowing bubbles at him or flipping their tails; but no matter—he just wouldn’t budge.

The other eels would soon tire of their games and swim away, leaving Feather Fin to gaze at the beauty around him. When he was sure that he was all alone he would turn his eyes up to the surface of the sea. For, you see, Feather Fin had only one dream in the whole world—and that was to visit the mysterious land of High Above.

羽毛芬每天都在用眼睛寻找五彩斑斓的漂亮玩意儿。他会在水里一动不动地漂着，盯着晶莹的珊瑚上的点点光斑看上好几个小时。其他的小鳗鱼会围着他游来游去，对着他吐出一串串水泡，或者拍打着他们的尾巴，缠着他想一起玩。但羽毛芬总是不为所动。

很快，其他小鳗鱼就无聊地游开了，留下羽毛芬自己看着身边的美景发呆。等其他鱼儿都走了，羽毛芬就会抬起头看向头顶的海面。因为羽毛芬一直有一个最大的愿望——到海面上那个被称为“岸上”的地方去看一看。

有一天，他忍不住对妈妈讲起了那些来自海面的美丽颜色。“我想，如果真的能到岸上去一趟，看看那里都有什么，那该多好玩呀！”羽毛芬说道，好奇地把眼睛睁得大大的。

“这可不行！这可不行！”妈妈严厉地告诉他，“你永远都不应该到岸上去，那里可不适合咱们这样的鱼类。”

“真没意思！”他嘟囔着游走了，“妈妈知道什么！总有一天，我要到上面去，好好看看那里是怎么回事儿。”

Once he had asked his mother-eel about the beautiful colors that played upon the surface. “It would be such fun to go there and see all there is to see,” he said in wide-eyed wonder.

“Never! Never!” his mother bubbled back at him. “You must never go to the land of High Above. It’s not made for fish like you or me.”

“Oh, pooh and seaweed!” he burbled as he swam away. “What do mothers know? Someday I will go there and see what I must see.”

一天傍晚，当夜幕随着晚潮在海底缓缓降临时，羽毛芬悄悄溜走，藏了起来。他游啊游啊，一直游到了离家很远很远的地方。那里的沙子更软，珊瑚更高，海水也更浅。

他藏在一道石头缝里，看着其他鱼儿急匆匆地游回岩洞。他们将在岩洞里睡觉，度过漫漫长夜。

Then, late one day as the darkness of the night curled in with the afternoon tide, Feather Fin slipped away to hide. He swam and swam away from his home to the higher corals and softer sands of the shallows of the sea.

In a small niche he hid and watched as the other eels and fish swam safely for their caves to sleep away the period of darkness.

羽毛芬在石头缝里等啊，等啊，一直等到第一缕阳光照进海里的时候。他迎着银亮亮的阳光向上游，像展开羽毛似的挥动着鱼鳍，努力朝海面游去。

He waited and when the nighttime was almost gone, just before the first light of dawn, he began swimming higher and higher. The silvery light of High Above beckoned to him as he fluttered his feathery fins,struggling to climb up to the surface.

羽毛芬穿过波浪，把小脑袋探出海面，第一次看到了一片金灿灿的沙滩。

他正被眼前的景象惊得合不拢嘴，突然来了一个更大的浪头，把他像叶子一样卷起来推到了岸边。

The waves broke about him as Feather Fin popped to the surface of the sea. There before him he saw, for the first time, the golden sands of a beach.

Then, just as he sighed in wonder at it all, a wave larger than all the rest picked him up like a leaf and gently washed him onto the shore.

周围的美景让羽毛芬惊讶极了：棕榈树宽大的叶子在温柔的海风中沙沙响着，不断摇摆，彩虹一样色彩斑斓的花朵纷纷绽放。当然，羽毛芬从来没有听过风声，也没有听到过海浪撞击沙滩的响动，这些声音在他听来既新鲜又好听。

Feather Fin was amazed at all the beauty around him. There were gently waving palm trees softly sighing in the off-shore breeze, and at the edge of the sand, brightly colored flowers in all the colors of the rainbow. Of course, he had never before heard the rustling of the wind, nor the bell-like crashing of waves on the shore, and the sound was like music to his ears.

然后，当羽毛芬准备深呼吸的时候，他突然发现了一件可怕的事情：他根本无法用鱼鳃呼吸岸上的空气。这时候羽毛芬才知道，原来妈妈说得没错，但是已经太晚了！他上气不接下气地挣扎起来，拼命地在地上扭着身子，想要回到海里去。可是，不管他怎么扭，都还是陷在沙滩上，一点儿也动不了。

羽毛芬快要喘不过气来了，他多希望自己从来没有离开过安全的大海呀。

Then, as he breathed deeply through his gills, he suddenly tasted what was to him the terrible unbreathable air of High Above. Feather Fin gasped and realized, too late, that his mother was right, that this place was not for fish to see. He struggled and flipped and flopped, trying to get back into the water, but to no avail.

There he lay on the sand, panting, wishing that he had never left the safety of the sea.

羽毛芬以为自己就要完蛋了，万幸的是，海潮在这时终于涨了起来。海水渐渐地涌到他的身边，羽毛芬立刻顺着潮水游回了大海。他在水里游了一圈又一圈，把从“岸上”沾来的沙子洗得干干净净，然后连忙游向海洋深处的家。

Just as Feather Fin thought that all was lost, the last, large wave of an ebbing tide gently lapped about him and he quickly slipped back into the water. He swam around and around, washing all the sandy traces of High Above from his fins. Satisfied that he was clean at last, Feather Fin swam back to his home in the deep.

从那以后，羽毛芬愿意在海底和其他鱼儿一起玩了。他欢快地随着一串串水泡上上下下，再也不梦想着到“岸上”去了。

From that day on and forever more, the little Peacock Eel stayed and played with the other fish at the bottom of the sea. He played bubble-up and bubble-down and never once did he dream of the land of High Above.

如果你想来个大冒险，而爸爸妈妈说“这可不行”，那就想想小孔雀鳗羽毛芬，还有他倒霉的旅行。

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE

AND YOUR PARENTS H**E TOLD YOU, “NO!”DREAM OF AN EEL

CALLED FEATHER FIN AND THE THINGS

HE CAME TO KNOW.