雙語小說閱讀:《誰動了我的奶酪》(3)大綱
While Sniff and Scurry had quickly moved on, Hem and Haw continued to hem and haw.
They ranted and raved at the injustice of it all. Haw started to get depressed. What would happen if the Cheese wasn't there tomorrow? He had made future plans based on this Cheese.
The little people couldn't believe it. How could this have happened? No one had warned them. It wasn't right. It was not the way things were supposed to be.
Hem and Haw went home that night hungry and discouraged. But before they left, Haw wrote on the wall:
The More Important Your Cheese Is To You The More You Want To Hold Onto It.
The next day Hem and Haw left their homes, and returned to Cheese Station C again, where they still expected, somehow, to find their Cheese.
The situation hadn't changed—the Cheese was no longer there. The little people didn't know what to do. Hem and Haw just stood there, immobilized like two statues.
Haw shut his eyes as tight as he could and put his hands over his ears. He just wanted to block everything out. He didn't want to know the Cheese supply had gradually been getting smaller. He believed it had been moved all of a sudden.
Hem analyzed the situation over and over and eventually his complicated brain with its huge belief system took hold. "Why did they do this to me?" he demanded. "What's really going on here?"
Finally, Haw opened his eyes, looked around and said, "By the way, where are Sniff and Scurry? Do you think they know something we don't?"
Hem scoffed, "What would they know?"
Hem continued, "They're just simple mice. They just respond to what happens. We're little people. We're smarter. We should be able to figure this out."
"I know we re smarter," Haw said, "but we don't seem to be acting smarter at the moment. Things are changing around here, Hem. Maybe we need to change and do things differently."
"Why should we change?" Hem asked. "We're little people. We're special. This sort of thing should not happen to us. Or if it does, we should at least get some benefits."
"Why should we get benefits?" Haw asked.
"Because we're entitled," Hem claimed.
"Entitled to what?" Haw wanted to know.
"We're entitled to our Cheese."
"Why?" Haw asked.
Because we didn't cause this problem," Hem said. "Somebody else did this and we should get something out of it."
Haw suggested, "Maybe we should stop analyzing the situation so much and just get going and find some New Cheese."
"Oh no," Hem argued. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
While Hem and Haw were still trying to decide what to do, Sniff and Scurry were already well on their way. They went farther into the Maze, up and down corridors, looking for cheese in every Cheese Station they could find.
They didn't think of anything else but finding New Cheese.
They didn't find any for some time -- until they finally went into an area of the Maze which they had never been before: Cheese Station N.
They squeaked with delight. They found what they had been looking for: a great supply of New Cheese.
They could hardly believe their eyes. It was the biggest store of cheese the mice had ever seen.
In the meantime, Hem and Haw were still back in Cheese Station C evaluating their situation. They were now suffering from the effects of having no Cheese. They were becoming frustrated and angry and were blaming each other for the situation they were in.
奶酪對你越重要，你就越想抓住它。
第二天，輾轉難眠了一晚上的哼哼和唧唧早早地離開家又回到奶酪C站，不管怎樣，他們抱着一線希望，他們不斷地欺騙自己，假定昨天走錯了地方，他們仍然希望找回他們的奶酪。奶酪站的位置沒有變化，然而奶酪的的確確早已不復存在。兩個小矮人頓時手足無措，不知道該怎麼辦。哼哼和唧唧只是站在那裏，一動不動，就像兩座毫無生氣的雕像。唧唧緊閉上眼睛，用手捂住自己的耳朵，他只想把一切都堵在外面。他不願相信奶酪是逐漸變得越來越少的，他寧願相信奶酪是突然之間被全部拿走的。哼哼則把現在的情況分析了又分析，他用他那複雜的大腦把他所有的信條都翻了個遍。“他們爲什麼要這樣做？”他終究沒能找到答案，“這裏究竟發生了什麼事情？”終於，唧唧睜開了眼睛，朝周圍看了看說：“順便問一下，嗅嗅和匆匆現在在那裏？你是否覺得他們知道某些我們還不知道的事情？”
“那兩個弱智，他們能夠知道些什麼？”哼哼的語氣中充滿了不屑。他繼續說：“他們只是頭腦簡單的老鼠，他們只會對發生的事情做出簡單的反應。而我們是機靈聰明的小矮人，我們比老鼠有頭腦。我們應該能夠推測出這裏的情況。”“我知道我們更聰明，”唧唧說，“但是，我們現在的行爲好像並不怎麼聰明。我們周圍的情況已經發生了變化，哼哼，也許我們需要做出一些改變，去做點什麼不同的事情。”
“我們爲什麼要改變？”哼哼問道，“我們是小矮人，我們是不一樣的。這樣的事情不應該發生在我們的身上。即使出現了這樣的情況，我們至少也應該從中得到一些補償。”
“爲什麼我們應該得到一些補償呢？”唧唧問。
“因爲我們有這樣的權力。”哼哼宣稱。“有什麼樣的權力？”唧唧不明白。“有擁有我們的奶酪的權力。”
“爲什麼？”唧唧還是不明白。
“因爲這個問題不是我們引起的，”哼哼說，“是某些別有用心的人制造了這個局面，而不是我們，所以我堅持認爲我們總應該從中得到些補償。”“也許我們應該停止這種無用的分析。”唧唧提議，“分析問題到此爲止。在我們還沒有被鋨死之前，我們應該趕緊出發去找新的奶酪。”“噢，不！”哼哼反對說，“我就快要找到問題的要源了，要知道，我們曾經擁有有過那麼多、那麼好的奶酪啊！”
當哼哼和唧唧還在爭執着試圖決定該怎麼辦的時候，嗅嗅和匆匆忙已經在很順利地做他們的事情了。他們進入到迷宮的更深處，走過一條又一條走廊，在每一個他們遇到的奶酪裏仔細尋找着奶酪。除了傾盡全力地尋找新的奶酪，他們並不考慮任何別的事情。有好一段時間，他們找得很辛苦卻一無所獲。直到他們走進迷宮中一個他們從未到過的地方：奶酪N站。他們高興得尖叫起來，他們終於發現了他們一直在尋找的東西：大量新鮮的奶酪。他們簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛，這裏他們所見過的最大的奶酪倉庫。而與此同時，哼哼與唧唧仍然呆在奶酪C站，對他們目前的處境進行揣摩。他們正在忍受着失去了奶酪的痛苦，挫折感、飢餓感和由此而來的憤怒緊緊圍繞着他們，折磨着他們，他們甚至爲陷入眼前的困境而相互指責。
