奇遇岛上有许许多多新奇美妙的东西。轻柔的山风吹得树木沙沙作响，一团团云朵在天空中缓缓滑行，传递着早春的风暴即将来临的消息。风暴带着春雪吹进山谷，为山谷里的一切都蒙上一层洁白的雪花。

这样的春雪会给草地盖上一层雪白的毯子，让在雪地里东找找、西嗅嗅的小兔子鼻子痒痒的。小兔子蹦蹦跳跳地走过雪地，留下一串串清晰的脚印，好让小伙伴们跟上。

There were many delights in the land of Serendipity; natural delights.Trees sang in the mountain breezes that blew so gently there. Clouds slipped across the skies, warning of early spring storms that sometimes blew down into the valleys , dressing all in a mantle of snow.

Early spring snows, drifting snowflakes, drifting snowflakes that dusted the meadows with a blanket of white, sometimes even tickled the nose of a bunny who chose to scamper about, leaving footprints for others to follow.

这片神奇的土地上有一座别致的小农场。农场四周围着用白木板钉成的篱笆，好让农场养的动物留在里面，不属于农场的动物待在外面。等到冬天终于慢吞吞地动身离开，雏菊和苜蓿花就会悄悄地从积雪下面钻出脑袋，欢迎春天的到?来。

在农场的院子里，鸭子和鹅纷纷活跃起来，老母鸡们也忙个不停。他们忙着为即将到来的春天准备好吃的，甚至已经开始计划到了夏天就去野餐了。农场上住着一匹一度强壮英俊的老马，虽然他早就已经老得再也耕不了地、拉不了车了，但是身上还残留着那段光辉岁月的痕迹。就算是这匹年迈的老马，也能在初春的微风中嗅到新生的喜悦。

In this land of serendipitous delights was a farm, a simple farm indeed. White board fences , neatly ordered , bordered this farm to hold some creatures in and others out . Here winter finally slipped away , and beneath the mantle of snow were clover and daisies which popped up their heads as if to welcome spring.

In the barnyard, ducks, geese and old mother hens busily bustled about, arranging this and that; food for spring and maybe a picnic or two when Summer came. Here, too, was a once mighty horse,still mighty with the pride of memory, but long since past the age of plowing and pulling. He, too, felt the call of the springtime breezes with their tease of things to come.

在这片农场上，在生活在这片土地上的所有动物中——甚至是在我心中——最讨人喜欢的是一群“哞哞”叫着的奶牛。她们眨着棕色的大眼睛——这些水汪汪的大眼睛一个成年男人看了也会有所触动——惊奇地看着初春的草地，因为过去曾经完全被白雪覆盖的地方开始逐渐有鲜花绽放。

奶牛们把大脑袋抬得高高的，越过白木板篱笆，大口地呼吸着充满新鲜气息的空气。然后，她们一个接一个地走出去，到草地上品尝初春的甜美的嫩草。

The best of the farm and of all who lived here—and the best to me—were the cows that mooed and mowed in the meadow. Big brown eyes that could cause a grown man to cry if he took the time to look,blinked in wonder at the springtime meadow. For what had been fields of snow the day before were now beginning to bloom.

They stood there, great heads lifted high above the fence, sniffing the air and breathing all the newness about them. Then, one by one they marched to the meadow to taste firsthand the sweetness of spring.

在牛群里有那么三头牛稍微特殊一些，因为牛妈妈梅丽爱伦和牛爸爸廷克在冬天的尾巴上有了一个小宝宝。生在冬季末尾的牛宝宝很少见，因为在普通的情况下，大多数牛宝宝到了春天过完一半的时候才会出生。生这头小牛的时候，草地上开着一朵朵白色的小花，爸爸妈妈就给他起了个名字叫“花籽”，因为所有鲜花都是小小的花籽长成的。

Of this herd of cows, there were three a bit more special than the others. More special for the mother, Merry Ellen, and the father,Tinker, had calved a late winter child, a calf newborn. Late winter calves are rare, for normally all calves are born in the middle of spring.They named their calf after the winter poppy that grew, and because he was but a child, they simply called him Poppyseed, the beginning of new flowers to come.

花籽是整个牛群里唯一的小牛犊，所以他什么都能得到最好的。公牛们都很愿意和他胡闹着玩，母牛们看到他追着落在自己尾巴上的蝴蝶，转了一圈又一圈，也会被逗得咯咯直笑。

Poppyseed had the best of the best, for being an only child in an adult herd can be a wondrous blessing. The bulls would butt with him in great mock battle. The other cows would laugh at his antics as he chased a butterfly on his tail, round and round like a whirling dervish.

每当花籽惹了麻烦，其他的奶牛也都不会批评或者责备他。有一天，他想要到篱笆的另一边去吃草，但是又没办法从木板的缝隙之间钻过去。于是，花籽打算从篱笆顶上爬过去。然后，就像这种时候经常出现的情况一样，他结结实实地卡住了。他一半身子在里面，一半身子在外面，简直是进退两难。

Even when Poppyseed got into trouble, the others never scolded or punished him. One day he even tried to eat the greener grass that grew on the other side of the fence. Unable to clamber between the rails,he tried to climb over the top. As is always the case in these kinds of situations, he did nothing more than get stuck. He was a mugwump if you would, with his mug on one side and his wump on the other.

花籽刚卡在那里，两头公牛和三头母牛就立刻冲了过去。他们又是推又是拽，花籽很快就安全地回到了原来的地方。

然而，农场上的生活也不是一点儿变化都没有的。夏天的脚步越来越近，天气变得越来越暖和，母牛们似乎也突然变得既紧张又暴躁了。以前只要有母牛产奶，她们就愿意分给花籽喝；但是今天，当花籽凑过去准备吃奶的时候，居然没有一头母牛愿意让他靠近了。花籽的坚持让一头母牛有点儿生气，她甚至用尾巴在他的脸上狠狠地抽了一下！

Two of the bulls and three of the cows pulled and tugged, and with a thump, his wump and mug were on the same side once again.

But like all things, even the barnyard changes. With the warmth of spring and the promise of summer yet to come, the other cows suddenly became edgy; irritable if you like. Now Poppyseed had always been allowed to take lunch as he would from any cow bearing milk.This day he stopped, as was his wont, and began to sip a bit of warm milk. But this day, unlike the others, he was rebuffed and shooed away.Try though he might, none of the cows wished to share their milk. One of the cows, irritated by his insistence, even flapped him in the face with her bushy tail!

花籽大哭着找到了自己的爸爸妈妈。“哎呀，妈妈，母牛们都不愿意给我奶喝了。”他哭着说，“而且她们好像根本就不想让我靠近。”

“好啦，好啦，”妈妈哞哞地安慰着，“花籽，这不是你的错，而是因为其他小牛犊要来啦。”

“其他小牛犊？”花籽惊奇地问道，“难道我不是唯一的小牛犊吗？”

“现在是呀。”爸爸答道，“不过，春天快要结束的时候，会有很多小宝宝出生，你就不是唯一的小家伙啦。到时候你就有一大群弟弟妹妹喽。”

Bawling, he ran about the meadow seeking his mother and father. “Oh,mother,” he cried, “the cows won’t share their milk. Worst of worse, they don’t even want me around.”

“There, there,” mooed his mother, “it isn’t you, my little Poppyseed. For this is the time of the others.”

“Others?” asked Poppyseed, totally confused. “You mean to say that I am not the only one?”

“Yes,” said his father, “for in this time of late spring the other babies will be calved, will be born. You will not be the only little one. You’ll have brothers, sisters and cousins galore and even more.”

那天果然有小牛犊出生了，而在接下来的日子里，每天都有新的小宝宝降临。很快，草地上就到处都能听见新生的小牛犊可爱的叫声了。花籽把神奇的景象全都看在了眼里：明明刚才还是一头肚子很大的奶牛，一眨眼的工夫就变成了两头——一头筋疲力尽的牛妈妈，以及一头颤颤巍巍的小牛犊。

小牛犊们的出生带来了很大的变化，在花籽的生活中，这种变化更是特别明显。现在他绕着圈子追尾巴上的蝴蝶时，再也不会有牛看着他发笑了。实际上，他们不仅叫花籽到别处玩去，还说他很烦人。看来这些新生的小牛犊全都比他特别，比他可爱。

And the others came. That day, and the next and the next, the meadow was filled with the anxious cries of newborn calves as they were dropped into the middle of life. Poppyseed looked on in wonder at this miracle of birth. One moment there was one very fat cow, and the next there were two; one a very tired momma and the other a wobbly legged newborn calf.

With the birth of the others came a great change in the meadow,and a greater change in Poppyseed’s life. When before as he would spin around chasing butterflies on his tail, the cows and the bulls of the herd would laugh at his antics. But now they paid him little mind, in fact they even called him a bother and told him to go away. It seemed that the little calves were more special. It seemed that they were all cuter than he.

一头奶牛对花籽说，现在他不是小宝宝，而是大哥哥了。他不应该再像以前一样到处瞎玩瞎闹，是时候想办法帮帮忙，做点儿有用的事了。

这头奶牛冷淡的话让花籽很伤心，他含着眼泪悄悄地从牛群里溜了出去，谁都没有发现他溜走了。花籽觉得自己可怜极了，不知道该做什么好，于是他决定离家出走。他挣扎着翻过农场的篱笆，虽然还是在那里卡了一会儿，但是这次没有牛赶过来救他了。

One of the cows even told him that he was an older brother now, not a baby, and that he should make himself useful and help, not hinder.

With the rebuff ringing in his ear and a tear in his eye, he wandered from the herd, which didn’t even notice that he had walked away. It was then, in the confusion of his self-pity, that Poppyseed decided to run away. He clambered upon the fence and though for a time he was stuck, no bull or cow came to his rescue.

“这群蠢奶牛！”花籽一边从篱笆另一头的泥坑里爬起来，一边嘟囔着，“我才不想和她们待在一起呢！我宁愿去当一匹马，像马一样去犁地，这样总能让我变得有用了吧。”

花籽走进被太阳晒得发白的谷仓，在那里找到了耕地用的犁和挽具。花籽拼命地把挽具和绳子往自己身上拉，只听见噼啪一声，挽具和绳子一股脑儿地掉在他的脖子上，把他整个儿缠成了一团。花籽连路都走不了了，更别说拉犁耕地了。

好在农场里的老马发现了搞成一团糟的花籽，他被逗得直笑，把绳子和挽具从花籽身上解了下来。

“快还给我！”小牛花籽喊道，“如果我要做一头有用的牛，就必须学会拉着犁耕地。”

老马不由得问道：“这是为什么呢？”

“Old cows!” he grumbled as he picked himself out of the mud on the other side of the fence. “I don’t need that old herd! Maybe I should become a horse and plow the fields. That will make me useful.”

With that he trotted from the meadow to the old sun-bleached barn to find the harness and a plow to pull. Once in the barn, he pulled and tugged on the harness and reins until, with a crash, they fell about his neck. With the gear tangled and wrapped about him, there was no way for him to walk, let alone pull a plow.

He would have been there to this very day had not the old farm horse found him in the mess he had made. Laughing in that neighing way that horses laugh, the old horse pulled the gear off Poppyseed’s back.

“Put that back!” cried the little calf, “For if I am to become useful, I must carry the harness and learn to pull the plow.”

“And why,” asked the old horse, “would you ever want to pull a plow?”

花籽的眼里又涌起了泪花，他把草地上小牛犊们出生的事情全都告诉了老马。

“哎呀，做个大哥哥也不是什么坏事呀，小牛犊。”老马安慰花籽说，“小家伙们需要一个学习的榜样。总得有人告诉他们什么能吃、什么不能吃，得有人告诉他们不要随便去翻农场的篱笆。这些小家伙需要一个亲爱的大哥哥。”

花籽不太明白老马的话是什么意思，他只以为老马不愿意让他待在谷仓里。他垂头丧气地翻过篱笆，回到了牛群身边，却意外地碰见了一头新出生的小牛犊。这个小家伙正准备吃一丛杂草。

It was then that Poppyseed, with tears in his eyes, told the old horse the story of the calving in the meadow.

“Ah, little calf,” consoled the old horse, “being a big brother isn’t so bad. The little ones need to have bigger ones to look up to. The little ones need to be shown what to eat and where to eat it. The little ones need to be taught not to climb the fence. The little ones need an older brother to love.”

All this made little sense to Poppyseed, and it seemed that he was not even wanted in the barn by the horse. Sadly, with head held low, he went back over the fence and once again into the meadow. It was there that he bumped, quite innocently, into one of the little calves who was trying to eat a weed.

“哎呀，你别吃那个呀，”花籽叹了一口气，“杂草吃起来就像泥巴一样没味道。来吃这边的嫩草和苜蓿吧，这些吃起来才甜呢。”

花籽耐心地告诉小牛犊哪些草好吃，很快就被不少满脸崇拜的小家伙围了起来。跟这些小家伙在一起，花籽不需要刻意去证明自己有用，因为他确实帮了他们很大的忙。而且，更棒的是，花籽成了他们最喜欢的大哥哥。

“Oh, don’t eat that,” Poppyseed sighed, “weeds taste like dirt. Here,eat the clover and the grasses for they are sweet to eat.”

He patiently showed the little calf all the sweets to eat, and it wasn’t long before he was surrounded by a small herd of little ones looking up to him in admiration. Unlike the older cows, the little calves didn’t tell him to be useful, for he was. And more than that, Poppyseed was loved for what he was, an older, bigger brother.

如果爸爸妈妈要为你的生活带来一个新伙伴，就想想小牛花籽当大哥哥的故事吧！

IF INTO YOUR LIFE THE OTHERS COME BROUGHT TO LIFE BY YOUR

FATHER AND MOTHER

JUST REMEMBER THE CALF POPPYSEED

AND HOW HE BECAME AN OLDER BROTHER