那是一个明媚的春日清晨，在黑莓小虫们的小村庄里，一只名叫贝利的小虫子出生了。贝利是一只普普通通的小虫子，他天性快活，喜欢到处玩耍，和其他小虫子没什么不一样。
在出生后的头几个月里，贝利整天和村子里的小伙伴们一起做游戏。他们不是玩抓人游戏，就是捉迷藏，有时候还玩“官兵捉强盗”。
On a bright spring morning, in a small village of Hucklebugs, in someone’s backyard, Berry Hucklebug was born. There was nothing different about Berry. He was ordinary and fun-loving.
For months and months after Berry was born, he played with the other bugs of the village. They would play hide-and-go-seek, and“hucks” and robbers.
有一天清晨，小村庄的村长把贝利叫到自己面前。他对贝利说：“你的年纪已经够大啦，贝利，你该和其他小虫一样在村子里干活儿了。为了让村子里的大家都有吃的，咱们所有村民都得努力找食物。”
“我吗？”贝利难以置信地问，“可是我不想干活儿。我想和朋友们一起在太阳底下玩。”
村长的表情突然严肃起来：“村子里所有小虫都得干活儿，你也不例外。请你明天就开始吧！现在没有别的事了，你可以走啦。”
Early one day Berry was called before the mayor of the little village.“Berry, ” he said, “you are of age now and you must work as the others of the village do. Food for all must be gathered by all.”
“Me?” said an unbelieving Berry. “But I don’t want to. I want to stay with my friends. I want to run and play in the sunshine.”
Sternly, the mayor looked down at Berry and said, “Everyone must work in this village, and you are no exception. Please start tomorrow morning. That is all. You may go now.”
小虫贝利垂头丧气地回到了伙伴们身边。村长的话让他很难过，他没心情和朋友们一起玩了。于是，贝利在角落里坐了下来，噘起嘴巴嘟囔着：“我该怎么办呢？村长肯定是看我小才找我麻烦。”
突然，他想出了一个主意：“我还是离家出走，自己一个人过日子吧，那样就没人烦我了。”贝利一边这样想着，一边直接回到了自己的房间。他在自己收集的蝴蝶翅膀和黄蜂尾巴之间翻了半天，终于找到了一块黄色的大包袱皮。他小心翼翼地把包袱皮铺在地上，开始收拾行李。
他带上了一副手工织成的毛线触角套，这样他的触角在冬天寒冷的早晨就不会冻着了。他装上了自己最喜欢的红T恤，T恤上印着一个大大的“B”。最后，他还装上了一双特殊场合穿的、崭新的橙色运动鞋。收拾好后，他仔仔细细地给包袱皮打了一个大大的结，背起包袱从村子里悄悄溜出去了。
Sadly, little Hucklebug walked back to his playmates. But since the mayor’s news, he didn’t feel like joining his friends. So Berry sat in a corner and pouted. “What am I going to do?” he said. “The mayor is picking on me because I’m small.”
Suddenly an idea came to him. “I’ll run away and live by myself.Nobody will bother me then.” With that, Berry went straight to his room. He rummaged through his butterfly wings and old bumblebee tails until he found his yellow bandana. Carefully he laid it on the floor and began packing.
He packed his hand-knitted antenna warmers for cold winter mornings. He packed his favorite red T-shirt with the big bold gold “B”.And last but not least, he packed his new orange sneakers for special occasions. Then Berry tied his bandana into a big careful knot, threw it over his shoulder and slipped away from the village.
贝利越走越远，心情也越来越好。他身边到处都是漂亮的鲜花，森林中的青草泛着银色的光芒，头顶上的天空更是蓝极了。贝利开心地笑了起来：“我干吗要待在黑莓小虫村里呢，外面不是什么都有吗？”他想了想，又坏笑着补充说，“而且，没有人会叫我干这干那了！”
他偶尔会碰上一两只村子里的小虫，大家都在忙着为村子收集食物。贝利一看到他们走近，就马上跳到高高的草叶背后躲起来，在那里偷偷地笑话这些笨蛋——他们怎么就想不到离家出走呢！
The farther he went, the happier Berry became. There were beautiful flowers all around him. He saw forests of silver-blue grass, and a blue sky overhead. “What do I need of that old Hucklebug Village?” he laughed brightly. “Out here I have everything I need.” And, snickering,he added:“There’s no one to tell me what to do.”
Once or twice he came upon some of his fellow bugs gathering food for the village. As soon as he saw them, he would quickly jump behind a tall weed. From there he laughed and sneered at them, for they had not thought to run away.
又走了一会儿，贝利脚下的路开始有坡度了。他慢慢地往上爬着，突然发现身边走着一条毛茸茸的毛毛虫，而山坡底下有一座巨大的房子。“哇哦！”贝利惊叹道，“我敢说那边一定有意思极了！”
这时候，毛毛虫转过身来，皱着眉头打量眼前的逃家小虫：“如果你是想到房子那边去，那你最好还是再考虑考虑。”
贝利坏笑着把毛毛虫的两根触角拧成了一团，然后头也不回地向着山坡下的大房子跑了过去。“那条笨毛毛虫说的都是什么话呀，”他说，“谁也不能告诉我该干什么、不该干什么！”
After a time, Berry came to a rise in the path. Creeping slowly to the top, he discovered a furry caterpillar crawling along. Down below him he saw a giant’s house. “WOW!” exclaimed Berry. “I bet it would be a lot of fun to go down there!”
Just then the caterpillar turned and frowned at the runaway. “If you’re thinking of going down there,” he grumbled, “I’d think again.”
Laughingly, Berry twisted the caterpillar’s antennae together. Then he raced down the hill to the huge house below. “That dumb caterpillar didn’t know what he was talking about,” he said. “Nobody can tell me what to do!”
贝利咯咯笑着，蹦蹦跳跳地跑进大房子前面的草坪。那里有他这辈子见过的最棒的玩具：巨型水枪、大得能让他住进去的棒球手套以及看起来至少有一百米高的沙滩球。贝利觉得，自己一定是到了黑莓小虫的天堂。
He ran, jumped and giggled onto the lawn, and there he found the most amazing toys that he’d ever seen in his entire life. There were gigantic squirt guns, and mammoth baseball gloves which were large enough to live in if he wanted. He saw a beach ball that was at least 100 miles high. Berry felt as though he had found Hucklebug heaven.
贝利爬到那个巨大的沙滩球顶上，开始在上面弹来弹去。他跳得很高很高，还在半空中翻着跟头，完全没注意到大房子的门是开着的。几个巨人孩子从房子里出来玩了。
Berry climbed to the top of the beach ball and began bouncing up and down. He was doing flips and jumping so high he didn’t notice that the door of the house was open. Some giant kids were coming out to play.
沙滩球突然飞了起来！贝利也从球上飞了出去！原来是巨人孩子们在踢球玩。贝利从凉凉的草坪上爬起来，自言自语道：“这是怎么回事呀？”他缓缓地转过身去，第一次看见了那些巨人，“哎呀！他们可真大啊！不过，我应该能一起玩吧。”
他一边这样想着，一边跑了过去，想要和巨人们一起玩。但巨人们根本没有看见他。贝利只能不断地躲闪，好让自己不被巨人们的大鞋子踩扁了，那些鞋子简直和他在村子里住的小屋一样大。
The beach ball went flying! Berry went flying! The kids were playing kickball. Berry picked himself up from the cool grass. “What was that?”he asked. Slowly he turned, and for the first time, saw the giants. “WOW!They are big, but maybe I can play anyway.”
With that he ran over to join in their fun, but the giants didn’t see him.Berry dodged from side to side. He managed to avoid being squashed by shoes as big as his house in the Hucklebug village.
“嘿，孩子们！”贝利喊道，“我能和你们一起玩吗？”但是有说有笑的巨人们根本听不见他的声音。
一个巨人男孩终于偶然看到了站在草丛里的贝利，他小心翼翼地弯下身去，直直地与贝利对视。“这只虫子长得可真好玩！”巨人男孩说，招呼朋友们一起来看贝利。
现在贝利有点儿害怕了，实际上，不是有点儿害怕，而是非常害怕。他想要马上逃跑，但是巨人们挡住了他的路。
“Hey kids,” he shouted, “can I play too?” The giants were so busy laughing and giggling that they didn’t hear him.
Just by chance, one of the giant boys spied Berry standing in the grass. Carefully he leaned down and looked Berry right in the eye.“What a funny-looking bug,” he said. Then he called to his friends to come and look at Berry.
Now let me tell you, Berry was a little scared. In fact, he was a lot scared. He wanted to run away, but the giants blocked his path.
一个巨人男孩带着一脸恶作剧般的笑容，举起水枪瞄准了贝利，给他毛乎乎的脸上喷了满满一脸水。
现在贝利真的是害怕极了，他拔腿就跑。然而，不管贝利跑到哪里，似乎都有巨人要抓他，或者想要一脚把他踩在脚底下。贝利眼泪汪汪地掀开树叶，钻到树枝底下，才终于逃回了他来时的小路上。
With a mischievous grin, one of the giant boys pointed his squirt gun at Berry. Berry caught a full blast of water in his fuzzy face.
He was really scared now, and started to run away. Every place he turned there was a giant trying either to step on him or to catch him.Scrambling over a leaf and under a twig, Berry tearfully made his escape up the path.
贝利气喘吁吁地沿着原来的路往回走，爬回了山坡顶上。那条毛毛虫还在那里，努力地解着自己被拧成麻花的触角。贝利走过去帮他把触角分开了。
“毛毛虫先生，你说得一点儿也没错，”贝利说，“我确实不应该到那里去。现在我不知道该怎么办才好了。我不应该离家出走，但是我也不好意思回去啦。”贝利靠在一朵毒伞菌上哭了起来，大颗大颗的紫色泪珠一连串地往下掉。
Puffing and panting, he found his way back up to the top of the hill. The old caterpillar was still trying to untie his antennae, so Berry untied them for him.
“You were right, Mr. Caterpillar,” said Berry. “I shouldn’t have gone down there. I’m confused, and I don’t know what to do. It was a mistake to run away from home. Now I am ashamed to go back.” Berry leaned against a toadstool and began to cry large, purple Hucklebug tears.
睿智的毛毛虫微笑着对贝利说：“小黑莓虫，如果你能从错误中学习，那你的错误就给你上了有意义的一课。随着你的年纪变得越来越大，你可能还会犯下更多错误，但是千万不要害怕承认错误。现在回家去做你应该做的事情吧。可别忘了你今天学到的这一课呀。”
贝利抹抹眼泪，对好心的毛毛虫道了谢，然后就朝着黑莓小虫村的方向走去。
The wise old caterpillar smiled a little smile and said, “Little Hucklebug, if you have learned from your mistake, it is not a mistake,but a lesson. As you grow older you will make other mistakes, but never be afraid to admit them. Go home now and do what needs to be done. Always remember the lesson you’ve learned today.”
Berry wiped a tear from his eye. Then, thanking the caterpillar for his kindness, he headed home to the Hucklebug village.
贝利穿过草叶泛着银光的森林，走过漂亮的鲜花，最终走进了小虫们的村庄。他鼓起勇气走到村长面前说：“村长先生，非常抱歉，我不应该离家出走的。这个错误给我好好地上了一课，我不会忘记今天学到的东西的。我向您保证，以后我再也不离家出走了。”
村长拍了拍贝利的脑袋，原谅了他的错误。不过，作为离家出走的惩罚，贝利必须多干一天活儿。交代完这些安排后，善良的村长告诉贝利，他可以在这一天剩下的时间里去玩了。
黑莓小虫活蹦乱跳地回到了朋友们身边，他终于到家了。
He walked through the beautiful flowers and the forests of silverblue grass. Entering the village, he bravely marched up to the mayor and said, “ Mr. Mayor, I’m really sorry for running away. I’ve learned from my mistake, and it is a lesson I will always remember. I promise that I’ll never run away again.”
The mayor patted Berry on the head and told him that he was forgiven. Since he had run away, though, he would have to work an extra day as punishment. Then the kind mayor smiled and told Berry to play for the rest of the day.
Berry Hucklebug gleefully skipped away to join his friends...at home.
常听人说错就是错，错误也是宝贵一课。
MISTAKES ARE ALWAYS MISTAKES,
OR SO I’VE HEARD THEM SAY...
BUT IF IT TEACHES A LESSON,
THE MISTAKE WILL GO AWAY.