从前，有一个奇妙的地方叫作茉莉丛林。这里的空气甜丝丝的，生活着各种神奇的动物，他们的欢声笑语在林中回**。这里有猎豹的小宝宝学着跳跃，有或大或小的大象用长鼻子吸着水，在林中喷出细细的水雾，在一缕缕阳光下映出小小的彩虹。茉莉丛林就是这样一个地方。

There was a land; a marvelous, sweet-smelling land called the Jasmine Jungle. A land brimming with all the mystery of life and filled with the raucous sounds of all the creatures who lived within. It was here that baby leopards leaped. It was here that elephants of all sizes spritzed and sprayed the jungle with a fine watery mist, causing rainbows to dance from sunbeam to sunbeam. This was the Jasmine Jungle.

丛林的最中间是一片草地。在这片芳香的青草地上，一只小小的长颈鹿宝宝出生了，她的名字叫作梅米丽。一般来说，小宝宝出生不是什么特别的事情，但是，当梅米丽降生的时候，整个丛林里只剩下两只长颈鹿了——一只是梅米丽的爸爸，另一只当然就是梅米丽的妈妈。丛林里的所有动物都来看新出生的宝宝，惊奇地直喊着“哦！”或者“哇！”。

In the middle of this land was a meadow, and in this fragrant meadow a small knobby-kneed giraffe was born, called Memily. Normally, this would not have been such a special event, but until Memily was born there were only two other giraffes in the jungle: Memily’s father and, of course, Memily’s mother. All the other creatures of the jungle gathered around and “oohhed” and “ahhed” at the newborn baby.

在生命的最初几个礼拜里，梅米丽一直在磕磕绊绊地学走路。我们都知道，长颈鹿的腿又细又长，而梅米丽的腿也是这样。她花了好长时间，才学会用这四条长长的腿走路。她在草地上摇摇晃晃地走着，努力想要保持平衡，却总是一会儿撞上一棵大树，一会儿又撞上小树丛。

Memily spent the first few weeks of life in the Jasmine Jungle awkwardly learning how to walk about. As we all know, giraffes have long,lanky legs, and Memily was no exception. It took her a long time to learn to walk on legs so long. She would wobble about the meadow bouncing off a tree here and a bush there as she struggled to gain her balance.

梅米丽有一件烦心事。她知道自己是一只长颈鹿，这并没有什么问题。她也知道丛林中有很多危险，因为妈妈把她教得很好。梅米丽的烦恼就是没有个子像她一样大的小伙伴一起玩。

有一天，梅米丽和一群小兔子一块儿玩起了傻乎乎的“鬼抓人”游戏。她暗暗想着：“真好玩啊！我真喜欢玩鬼抓人！”很快，小兔子们就让梅米丽当抓人的“鬼”。她拔腿跑了起来，开始在草地上到处追着这些灵活的小家伙。

梅米丽感觉自己就像一只普通的小兔子……只是个子稍微高了一点儿。

Memily had a problem of sorts. She knew that she was a giraffe,there was no problem with that. She knew about all the dangers of the jungle, for her mother had taught her well. Memily’s problem was that she didn’t have anybody to play with who was her own size.

One day she joined a bunch of bunnies in playing some silly forest games. She thought to herself, “What fun! I just love to play tag.”Soon the bunnies tagged her “it,” and she was off chasing the elusive creatures all over the meadow.

Memily felt just like a regular bunny... only a lot taller than the rest.

这场游戏开始的时候一切正常，没想到最后却是一团糟。梅米丽上一秒还在追小兔子们，下一秒就被小兔子们跳过去的树根绊了一跤。她滚了好几圈，最后正好一下子砸到了所有小兔子身上。

The game started innocently, then ended in disaster. One minute,Memily was chasing the bunnies, and the next minute she tripped on a root that the others had jumped over. She flipped, she flopped, and landed in a heap right on top of all the little baby bunnies.

小兔子们一个接一个挣扎着跳了起来，一个接一个蹦到了一边，只有梅米丽还稀里糊涂地趴在地上。

“哎呀，哎呀，梅米丽！”小兔子们七嘴八舌地喊道，“这样下去我们会受伤的！你应该和像你一样大的伙伴一起玩呀！”

说完，小兔子们就蹦蹦跳跳地走开了，把纠结又迷惑的梅米丽孤零零地留在那里。“好吧，”梅米丽想，“那我就去找个子大一点儿的伙伴一起玩吧。”

她费劲地站起身来，笨拙地一路小跑着去找新朋友玩新游戏了。

One by one, the bunnies popped to their feet out of this jumble in the jungle, until the only one left in the pile of confusion was Memily.

“Gee whiz, Memily!” the bunnies cried. “You could have hurt us that way! You have got to play with someone your own size!”

With that, the bunnies hopped away, leaving Memily tangled and confused in the middle of the path. “Well,” she thought, “I’ll just have to find someone taller to play with.”

She struggled to her feet and galloped clumsily on her way, in search of new friends and new games to play.

梅米丽开始找和自己一样大的新伙伴，但现在唯一的问题是，她还在不断地长个子呢。每过一天，她都会长高一点儿。她试过和狮子一起玩，可是他们对她来说太矮了，也太粗野了。她也试过找猴子一起玩，可是梅米丽连路都走不利索，更别提和他们一起爬树了。

最后，梅米丽遇到了一只小象和两匹斑马，他们正热热闹闹地玩着捉迷藏。他们欢迎梅米丽一起玩，因为大家都知道，捉迷藏当然是人越多越好玩了！

Now Memily’s only problem with finding someone her own size was the fact that Memily was still growing. Day by day she was growing taller and taller. She tried to play with the lions, but they were too short and much too rough. She tried to play with the monkeys, but Memily had trouble walking on the ground, let alone climbing the trees.

Finally, Memily befriended two zebras and an elephant who were playing a rousing game of hide-and-go-seek. They had no objections to letting Memily play. For, as you know, the more the merrier when you are playing hide-and-go-seek.

一匹斑马开始从一到十地数了起来，其他动物悄悄地藏了起来。小象藏到水底下，只把长鼻子的尖儿像芦苇一样伸出水面。另外一匹斑马钻进草丛，她的一身条纹刚好是最棒的保护色。

梅米丽到处乱跑，想要找一个能躲进去的地方。她想像小象一样躲进水里，可是她个子太高了，也没有能伸出水面呼吸的长鼻子。她又想像斑马一样藏在草丛里，但是她长长的脖子总是会像杂草一样斜伸出来。

最后，她终于找到了一个能藏起来的地方——至少她觉得自己藏好了。但是斑马一数完十个数，就立刻找到了躲在空地上一堆石头后面的梅米丽。像她这么高大的一只长颈鹿，还能躲到什么地方去呢？

One of the zebras counted to ten while the others slipped away to hide.the elephant hid in the river, with only his trunk sticking out like a reed.The other zebra hid in the bush where her stripes disguised her.

Memily dashed this way and that looking for somewhere to hide. She tried to hide in the water with the elephant, but she was much too tall, and besides, she didn’t have a trunk to breathe through. She tried to hide in the bush with the zebra, but her neck stuck out like a weed in the willows.

Finally, she found a place to hide—or at least she thought she was hiding. But when the other zebra finished counting to ten he instantly spied Memily behind a pile of rocks in the clearing. Just where can a very tall giraffe hide?

她一会儿藏在这儿，一会儿又藏在那儿。虽然她以为自己藏好了，但其他动物不是能看见她的四条长腿，就是能看到她的长脖子。

最后，斑马和小象失望地说：“这样可不行呀，梅米丽！你实在是太高了，得找和你一样大的伙伴一起玩。也许你应该试试和大树玩。”说完，他们就把伤心的梅米丽孤零零地丢在一边，笑嘻嘻地一路跑进丛林里去了。

梅米丽到处找啊找啊，想要找一个和她一样高的小伙伴，却怎么也找不到。到了最后，梅米丽终于认定，并没有像她一样高大的动物。所以，梅米丽再也不找丛林里的其他小动物一起玩了。

She hid here. She hid there. Every time she thought she was hidden the other animals would see her gangly legs or her neck sticking out.

Finally, the zebras and the elephant sadly said, “It’s just not going to work, Memily! You are just too tall. You have to find someone your own size. Maybe you should just play with the trees.” Then, giggling,the three of them dashed deep into the Jasmine Jungle, leaving a sad Memily all alone with no one to play with.

She searched high and low for someone her own size, but she could find no one. Finally, resolved that there was no one as tall as she was,Memily stopped trying to play games with any of the other creatures of the forest.

日子一周又一周地过去，梅米丽一天天地长大，却一天比一天伤心。她很害羞，而且因为自己的高个子而感觉非常不好意思。每当别的动物从她身边经过，梅米丽都会别过脸去，因为她知道，如果想看着她的眼睛说话，那他们都得抬起头往上看才行。

梅米丽越长越大，越长越高。她开始把脖子垂得低低的，把四个膝盖都弯起来，好让自己显得矮一些。但是她做什么都没有用，因为她把脖子垂得再低，把膝盖压得再弯，也非常非常高。

Week after week Memily grew, and she became sadder and sadder.She was shy and embarrassed by her height, and whenever any of the other creatures walked by she would turn her head, knowing that they had to look up just to look her in the eye.

Memily grew and grew. She began to bow her neck and bend her knees, trying desperately to make herself shorter. Everything she tried was to no avail, for no matter how much she bowed her neck or bent her knees, she was still very tall indeed.

个子太高让梅米丽羞得不得了，她只好整天藏在茉莉丛林边缘的树林里，在那里一站就是好几个小时。她一边嚼着树梢上甜甜的嫩叶，一边偶尔抖抖耳朵，这样小鸟就不会在她的头上筑巢了。

但小鸟们还是会来烦她。他们叽叽喳喳地又叫又笑，有时还站在梅米丽的头上，一边弯下身子看着她的眼睛，一边唱着没头没脑的小曲儿：

“是谁比大树还要高？是梅米丽……是梅米丽……”

而梅米丽只是摇摇头，小鸟们就扑棱棱地笑着飞走了。

Memily was so embarrassed about being tall that she began spending all of her days hiding amidst the trees that grew at the edge of the Jasmine Jungle. She would stand for hours, munching on sweet leaves and twitching her ears so that the birds wouldn’t build a nest on her head.

But the birds would come anyway, twittering and giggling and, while standing on Memily’s head, they would bend over, look her in the eye and sing a silly song,“Who can you see...Taller than a tree?

It’s Memily...

It’s Memily!”

Memily would just shake her head and the birds would laughingly flutter away.

有一天，梅米丽把脑袋穿过一棵大树最高的一层枝叶。眼前的景象可把她吓了一大跳——旁边的树冠里居然探出了另外一颗脑袋，也正盯着她看呢。梅米丽看了一遍又一遍，毫无疑问，那就是一只和她一样高的长颈鹿！

“你好啊！”她害羞地说，“你也不得不藏在树林里吗？”

One day, as Memily was rustling through the uppermost branches of a very tall tree, she was shocked nearly out of her wits by the appearance of another head looking back at her from another tree. She looked once, she looked twice, and sure enough there was another giraffe just as tall as she.

“Hello there,” she said shyly. “Do you have to hide in the trees, too?”

那只长颈鹿哈哈大笑，踏着优美的步子走近梅米丽藏身的大树。“不是啊，我可没有藏起来。”他低低的声音非常温和，“我在吃只有树梢儿上才有的甜叶子呢。我的名字叫赫歇尔，你呢？”“梅米丽。”她一边说，一边从树后面走了出来，弯着膝盖，脖子压得低低的。

赫歇尔看见梅米丽那稀奇古怪的姿势，又忍不住笑了起来：“你为什么要这样走路呀？”“我必须这样走路呀，”梅米丽害羞地说，“不这样走的话，我就比其他动物高太多了！”“可是，你本来就应该比其他动物高呀！”赫歇尔说，“这是大自然的规律，有些动物高，有些动物矮，但他们都在茉莉丛林里有自己的位置。”

时间一天天地过去，赫歇尔教了梅米丽很多东西。现在她已经明白了，个子高并不是坏事情，因为在大自然中，每种动物都拥有自己的独特之处。

The other giraffe laughed and laughed, and walked over to Memily’s tree in a graceful, swaying motion. “No!” he said in a gentle rumble. “I am not hiding in the tree. I am eating the sweet leaves that only grow at the very top. My name is Herschel. Who are you?”

“Memily,” she said as she stepped from behind the tree with her knees bent and her neck bowed.

Herschel looked and laughed as Memily walked in her awkward way.“Why are you walking like that?”

“I have to walk this way,” said Memily shyly. “Otherwise I would be much taller than the other creatures!”

“But you are supposed to be taller than the other creatures,” said Herschel. “It is the way of nature. Some creatures are tall, some are small,but all have their place in the Jasmine Jungle.”

With the passage of time, Herschel taught Memily that being tall is not bad, and that in nature all creatures are special in their own way.

矮就是矮，高就是高。你就是你，这样最好！

SHORT IS SHORT AND TALL IS TALL.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE

THAT IS ALL!