貝貝熊學英語係列- Trouble with Grownups
[前言] The Berenstain Bears – Stories are set in Bear Country, a society composed entirely of bears. Story lines typically follow the Bear family as they deal with topics relevant to both children and parents. It is a series of excellent books to learn child education and parenting skills. Lilac09 rewrites these stories for English studying.
Grownups and cubs get quite a surprise
When they see themselves through the other’s eyes.
Even though it was bright and clear outside the Bear family’s tree house, there was a storm brewing (暴風雨醞釀) inside. It would be wrong to say that cubs and grownups are natural enemies, but it would be fair to say that sometimes they just can’t get along.
This was a typical day. Papa Bear was so angry when he found part of his newspaper was missing. It didn’t take him long to find Brother Bear and the sports section. He snatched it up and plumped down in the chair (一屁股重重地坐下). Brother wandered into the kitchen looking for sympathy from Mama Bear, which unfortunately he didn’t get. “Your dad has a perfect right to be annoyed when half of the paper is missing”, said Mama.
Mama was also annoyed with Sister who had been hogging (霸占) the phone with her best friend Lizzy for almost an hour. “But Mama”, Sister protested when she was told to hang up. * “Don’t ‘But Mama’ me!” said Mama. “This is not a private phone.”
Later at dinner, Brother and Sister got into a little more trouble. They didn’t like the meal at all. It was peas and mashed potatoes again, 3 days in a row (連續三天). Brother played peas with his fork while Sister was making volcano out of her mashed potatoes. “Food is to eat, not to play with.” Of course Mama and Papa scolded them again.
The next morning, the trouble started again with the school notice. Brother and sister totally forgot to hand over their school notice to Mama and Papa until the last minute. There was a schedule conflict. Brother and Sister had to stay late after school to plan for the Parents Night Talent show while Mama and Papa had their own plans for them. “You cubs would forget your heads if they weren’t attached to your shoulders! (so ture :))” roared Papa.
On their way to school, Brother and sister met Lizzy and Cousin Fred. The four compared notes (交換意見) on the bus and agreed that while there was no doubt that their parents loved them but it was hard to get along with them sometimes. They nagged; they said no a lot; and they never wanted cubs to have any fun.
Since they hadn’t had any idea for their talent show, suddenly something struck Brother. “Why don’t we put on an a play (上演, 演出) about the trouble with grownups to show what a big pain it is? “Sensational!” (太讚了) shouted all four and they did it all in secret.
There was a lot of talent at the Bear Country School, and all the *acts (演出) did pretty well, but it was Brother, Sister, Fred and Lizzy’s play was the hit of the show.
The audience of parents laughed and laughed when they saw how they seemed to be their cubs. Mama laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. Mama and Papa admitted that it helped them understand what it was like being a cub.
The next morning Mama and Papa had a bit of surprise for their cubs. Mama was wearing a grownup-size pink jumper (無袖套衫). She looked like a huge Sister Bear. Papa, wearing a red top and blue bottoms, looked like a gigantic Brother Bear. Then they began acting like cubs. They made a fuss about (對…過於注意, 小題大做) food. They threw things all over the floor. They messed up the living room. They banged the door so hard it shook the whole house. Sister and Brother got a big headache from it.
And they started to get that Mama and Papa were showing them what it was like having to pick up after (在後麵收拾) them and what they seemed to be their parents.
As a song singing, it’s easy to love each other but hard to live together. Understanding is a two-way street. Let’s try to feel what others feel and learn to compromise for the goodness of our families.
act: (一)幕
Most modern plays have three acts.
大多數現代戲劇有三幕。
Don’t ‘But Mama’ me!
少給我來“但是媽媽”這一套
英語中，這種用法很常見，比如啥事把女朋友或者老婆大人惹毛了，一口一個甜心寶貝地叫著賠不是，結果被嗬斥“Don’t ‘sweetie’ me! Go scrub the toilet bowl “ 少給我來“甜心寶貝”這一套, 刷馬桶去吧
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