Not long ago, and in a world where these kinds of happenings were commonplace, lived a family of bears. Now, they might have looked identical to your average Earth Brown Bear, and indeed they had many of the same habits.
不久前，在一个这种事情司空见惯的世界里，住着一个熊家族。 现在，它们可能看起来和普通的地球棕熊一模一样，事实上它们有很多相同的习惯。
The things they did to pass the time. What they would eat and how much of it. The way they raised their cubs. They even hibernated during their world’s winter, kennelling in and cosying up together while the wind howled outside.
他们为了打发时间而做的事情。 他们会吃什么，吃多少。 他们抚养幼崽的方式。 他们甚至在世界的冬天冬眠，在外面的风呼嘯时，一起窝在狗窝里，一起舒适。
But these were not Earth bears, and there was one aspect in which they had the typical Brown Bear beat. These bears could talk. They could use words rather than snarls to convey anger, affection without needing to nuzzle soft head to soft head. And they could tell stories to one another. Cubs sprawled in heaps gazing up at the fire lit face of the storyteller. Bears of all ages gathering around in rapt silence. Bears otherwise engaged listening with only a slight tilt to furry ears to show their interest.
但这些不是地球熊，在一个方面，它们被典型的棕熊打败了。 这些熊会说话。 他们可以用语言而不是咆哮来表达愤怒和感情，而不需要用柔和的头吻到柔柔的头。 他们可以互相讲故事。 小熊们成堆地躺在堆里，凝视着讲故事的人火光炽炽的脸。 各个年龄段的熊在沉寂的寂静中聚集在一起。 否则，熊只是稍微倾斜到毛茸茸的耳朵上，以示兴趣。
It is here that our story truly begins, as we weave our way through snow and slurry and sleet to the bright, warm cave where our family of bears lived.
正是在这里，我们的故事才真正开始，我们穿过雪、泥浆和雨，来到我们熊家族居住的明亮、温暖的洞穴。
There were three cubs, Dora who stood on two paws as she clutched at her mother and complained at the thought of bedtime; Jacky who used his sister’s distraction to try escaping through the door and who was thwarted by his mother’s thick leg; and Mollie, who sat quietly and unhappily on a heap of leaves, muttering that it wasn’t so cold outside yet.
有三只幼崽，Dora用两只爪子站着，紧紧抓住她的母亲，一想到要睡觉就抱怨；Jacky利用他妹妹的分心，试图从门里逃跑，被他母亲粗壮的腿挫败了；Mollie，她安静地不开心地坐在一堆树叶上，喃喃自语说外面还没有那么冷。
They were attended to by their harried mother, who was well looking forward to the time she’d have to herself while her cubs were asleep. She had a lump of meat that she’d been able to keep hidden from them, and as such she was very keen to get them in bed so she could dig it up. It was the little things that kept her going, she thought, pushing her two rowdiest cubs towards their littlest sister and giving that little sister a look that promptly closed her mouth. “If you three go to sleep I’ll tell you a story.”
他们被他们忙得不安的母亲照顾着他们，她非常期待着在幼崽睡觉时能独处的时光。 她有一团肉，她能够瞒着他们，因此她非常渴望把它们弄到床上，这样她就可以把它挖出来。 她想，是这些小事让她坚持下去，把她的两只最吵闹的幼崽推向他们最小的妹妹，看着那个小妹妹，迅速闭上了嘴。 “如果你们三个去睡觉，我会给你们讲一个故事。”
The cubs were soon ready and curled up together on the leaves, for their mother was a notoriously good storyteller and could weave fantastical illusions in the minds of her listeners.
幼崽很快就准备好了，蜷缩在树叶上，因為它們的母亲是出了名的好故事讲述者，可以在听众的脑海中编织出幻想。
Storytime with their mother was an experience they treasured every time she took them on an adventure. This time, with the winter sleep looming and this the last story of the season, they anticipated a new story that would transport their young minds to different worlds and times.
每次母亲带他们去冒险时，他们都会珍惜与母亲的故事时光。 这一次，随着冬季睡眠迫在眉睫，这是本季的最后一个故事，他们期待着一个新故事，将把他们年轻的心灵带到不同的世界和时代。
Seeing them sweetly waiting for her to begin softened her characteristically stern expression, and she began with warmth flowing from every word. “Did I ever tell you about why we hibernate and hide away from winter’s bite?”
看到他们甜蜜地等待她开始，她特有的严厉表情变得柔和了，她开始从每一句话中流露出温暖。 “我有没有告诉过你为什么我们冬眠，躲避冬天的叮咬？”
“Long long ago, in a forest not far from this one, there lived a young bear who was so lazy and round that from a distance he resembled a near complete sphere. This bear’s name was Todd, and he loved summer as much as he hated winter.
“很久以前，在离这里不远的森林里，住着一只年轻的熊，它非常懒惰和圆润，从远处看，他看起来像一个几乎完整的球体。 这只熊的名字叫Todd，他喜欢夏天，就像他讨厌冬天一样。
“During summer Todd could be found in the various patches of sunlight formed as the sun moved across the sky, lying on his stomach in a way most unbecoming of bears as the heat from the sun soaked into the thick fur coating him. The other bears that lived in the same small village were used to stepping over him, though they suffered it with gritted teeth.
“在夏天，托德可以在太阳穿过天空时形成的各种阳光斑块中被发现，他趴着，以一种最不适合熊的方式，因为太阳的热量浸入了厚厚的皮毛。 住在同一个小村庄的其他熊习惯于踩过他，尽管他们咬牙切齿地忍受着。
“Todd, they all said, had to be the laziest bear in the world, and they took no effort to say it away from his earshot.
“他们都说，托德一定是世界上最懒惰的熊，他们毫不费力地说出来。
“But if they thought Todd was lazy in the summer, winter was when Todd expanded on his laziness, emerging from his cave only to grab food before turning around and ambling straight back to bed.
“但如果他们认为托德在夏天很懒，那么冬天就是托德扩大他的懒惰的时候，从洞穴里出来只是为了抓食物，然后转身直接回到床上。
“He wouldn’t help the other bears who worked so hard to collect the food he ate, and nor would he help his neighbours pad their caves with leaves like they did for everyone. The two times Todd actually moved his round body in some type of productive way during the year was when he collected leaves to pad his cave for winter, and when he threw them out in preparation for summer.
“他不会帮助其他熊，他们如此努力地收集他吃的食物，他也不会帮助他的邻居像他们为每个人所做的那样用树叶填充他们的洞穴。 Todd在一年中以某种富有成效的方式真正移动他的圆圆的身体两次是，他收集树叶为冬天填充洞穴，以及为夏天做准备时，他把它们扔掉。
“Even then it was with minimum effort, discarded leaves left littering the ground around his cave as his neighbours’ unhappiness grew.
“即使如此，随着邻居的不快乐越来越大，丢弃的树叶在他的洞穴周围散落在地上。
“One winter these neighbours decided they’d had enough. ‘All we do is work so we can make it through winter! But he does nothing, and grows fat on our labour and our food!’ Todd heard, of course, but he paid these statements little attention, having heard the message many times before. However, this time the sentiment rippled into the wider community in a way it never had before, waves of ill sentiment breaching on different villages’ shores.
“一个冬天，这些邻居决定他们受够了。 「我們所做的就是工作，這樣我們就可以熬過冬天了！ 但他什么都不做，在我们的劳动和食物上增肥！’ 当然，Todd听到了，但他很少注意这些声明，他以前听过很多次信息。 然而，这一次，这种情绪以前所未有的方式波及到更广泛的社区，一波又一波的恶意情绪在不同村庄的海岸上破破。
“This time, they decided, something had to be done.”
“这一次，他们决定，必须做点什么。”
Mother bear paused, looking in turn at each of her cubs’ fuzzy faces, each so precious and known to her she could tell who was who by touch alone.
熊妈妈停顿了一下，依次看着她每只幼崽蓬松的脸，每张都是如此珍贵，对她来说都是如此的，她可以通过触摸来分辨出谁是谁。
Dora, as her oldest, was always in a hurry to grow up and become independent, but she sat in the same way she had since she was very young as she listened intently.
朵拉，作为她最大的孩子，总是急着长大并变得独立，但她坐在她很小的时候就以同样的方式坐着，专心致志地听着。
Jacky, the cub who couldn’t sit still, was rolling around on the floor, looking for all intents and purposes as if he paid no attention to his mother’s words. Mother bear knew differently, for he could recite every story she told back to her, familiar bones but with a vastly different body. He was a storyteller, like herself.
Jacky，一只坐不住的幼崽，在地板上打滚，寻找所有的意图和目的，好像他没有注意到他母亲的话。 熊妈妈知道的不一样，因为他可以背诵她告诉她的每一个故事，熟悉的骨头，但身体却大不相同。 他是一个讲故事的人，就像她自己一样。
And little Mollie, small but with an attitude that showed in every roll of her eyes. Those dark eyes were fixed on her mother’s face as she forgot her attitude for the sake of the story, though shades of it appeared back in her gaze as the pause dragged on. Mother bear held onto it for the longest possible moment, peaking right between anticipation and annoyance.
还有小莫莉，身材矮小，但她的每一次翻白眼都表现出一种态度。 那些黑眼睛盯着她母亲的脸，因为她为了故事而忘记了自己的态度，尽管随着停顿的拖沓，她的目光又出现了阴影。 熊妈妈紧紧抓住它，在期待和恼怒之间达到顶峰。
And then she continued.
然后她继续说。
“They all agreed it, word passing snout to ear as for once the community took care in who heard their schemes. And once everyone, bar one lazy, round bear, had been told the plan, they waited for the perfect opportunity.
“他们都同意了，消息传到耳朵里，就像社区关心谁听到了他们的计划一样。 一旦每个人都被告知计划，只有一只懒惰的圆熊，他们就等待着绝佳的机会。
“Finally, it came one particularly chilly morning, just after Todd had eaten his fill of other bears’ food and rolled himself back into his cave for his midmorning nap. With not even a glance at one another, the bears moved the debris and detritus, the stones and sticks, dirt and dung alike that they’d been hiding round corners Todd wouldn’t ever waddle around, pushing it up to the entrance of his cave in such a great mound that it covered the entirety of the cave’s jagged opening, blocking out the patch of weak sunlight Todd had been lying in.
“最后，一个特别寒冷的早晨来了，就在托德吃饱了其他熊的食物，滚回洞穴里睡午觉之后。 熊们连看都不看一眼，就移动了碎片和碎屑、石头和棍子、泥土和粪便，它们一直躲在Todd永远不会摇摇晃晃的角落里，把它推到洞穴的入口处，在一个如此大的土堆里，覆盖了洞穴的整个锯齿状开口，挡住了Todd一直躺着的微弱阳光。
“He actually noticed the change in his environment, though when he sleepily blinked at the cave entrance and saw only blackness he took it instead for the dark of night, rolling over and returning to sleep. So it was much much later that Todd realised his predicament, pushing against a surprisingly solid barrier of night that on contact reminded him of the gritty soil the village lived from, hardened into a wall he couldn’t hope to breach.
“他实际上注意到了环境的变化，尽管当他昏昏欲睡地在洞穴入口处眨眼，只看到黑暗时，他反而在黑夜里翻了个懒觉，睡着了。 因此，在很晚之前，Todd意识到了他的困境，他推着一个令人惊讶的坚固的夜晚屏障，在接触时，他想起了村庄生活的沙砾土壤，坚硬成一堵他无法突破的墙壁。
“He tried to anyway. He pushed against it with his paws pressed flat on the wall, he threw his mass at what he thought were the weaker spots, he tried to chip at the surface with his claws.
“无论如何，他都尝试了。 他用爪子平压在墙上推着它，他把他的块体扔到他认为是较弱的地方，他试图用爪子削去表面。
“But all his efforts were in vain, and eventually he grew tired, walking back to his bed of leaves with his head hanging. ‘I’ll try again tomorrow’, he told himself, tucking himself into the pile and trying not to think about the reception he might encounter upon escaping his cave. He felt pain nip at his stomach, and he tried not to think about that either. It took a long time for him to fall asleep, and he dreamt of his neighbours releasing him and showing mercy.
“但他所有的努力都白费了，最终他累了，头垂着走回树叶床上。 “我明天再试一次，”他告诉自己，把自己塞进堆里，尽量不去想他在逃离洞穴时可能会遇到的接待。 他感到胃疼，他也尽量不去想。 他花了很长时间才睡著，他夢見他的邻居们放了他，並表示了憐憫。
“The neighbours had no such intention as they enjoyed life without Todd. They left him there, trapped in his cave, under no illusions that he was still alive in there.
「邻居们沒有這樣的意圖，因為他們享受沒有Todd的生活。 他们把他留在了那里，被困在他的山洞里，没有幻想他还活着。
“However, summer was on the horizon and the bears didn’t want any smells, if you know what I mean. It was time to take Todd out of his cave, dispose of his body, and wait for a new family to inhabit his home. They broke the wall down together, but just as they were about to enter, swirls of dust darkened as a figure, narrow and swaying, moved out of the cave and into the spring sunshine.
“然而，夏天即将来临，熊们不想要任何气味，如果你明白我的意思的话。 是时候把Todd从他的洞穴里带出来，处理他的尸体，等待一个新的家庭住进他的家了。 他们一起打破了这堵墙，但就在他们即将进入时，尘埃的漩涡像一个身影一样变暗，狭窄而摇摆，从洞穴中移出，进入春天的阳光。
“All Todd asked, as he gazed around at the only thing he’d dreamed of through his days and nights of sleep, was, ‘Am I asleep? Am I asleep?’
“Todd在四处凝视着他日夜的睡眠中唯一梦寐以求的事情时，他只问，’我睡着了吗？ 我睡着了吗？’
“The end.”
“结束。”
Mother bear closed her mouth and the pictures in her young cubs’ mind faded away as the story finished. “Was he a ghost?”, Dora asked as she pulled her mother closer to her, nuzzling her face into her mother’s soft neck. “Or was he still alive?”.
熊妈妈闭上了嘴，随着故事的结束，她幼崽脑海中的画面消失了。 “他是鬼吗？”Dora问道，她把母亲拉近，把脸贴在她母亲柔软的脖子上。 “或者他还活着吗？”。
“He was still alive, my child.” Dora groaned in horror at the neighbour’s failure.
“他还活着，我的孩子。” 朵拉对邻居的失败感到惊恐地呻吟着。
“As unfortunate as that was”, mother bear continued. “He taught us two very important pieces of information that day as he staggered back into the world. First, that with enough fat built up we can sleep all through winter without needing food.
“很不幸”，熊妈妈继续说道。 “那天，当他踉踉跄跄地回到这个世界时，他教了我们两个非常重要的信息。 首先，随着脂肪的积累，我们可以在整个冬天睡觉，而不需要食物。
“Second, and the moral of the story; kill your enemies fast, kill your problems fast. Do you understand, children?” The cubs nodded, and cuddled together as she nudged leaves over them. “Night night, my babies. I shall see you in spring.”
“其次，故事的寓意是；快速杀死你的敌人，快速解决你的问题。 孩子们，你们明白吗？” 幼崽们点了点头，当她把树叶推到他们身上时，他们依偎在一起。 “晚安，我的宝贝们。 春天见。”