贝贝熊学英语系列- Learn about Strangers
[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.
Bear Country is safe when every small cub there.
Learns some special lessons from ma and papa bear.
Brother Bear and Sister bear were alike in many ways although they each had their hobbies. They enjoyed many of the same things: bike riding, baseball, soccer, Fri*****ee ( 飞盘 ), and just getting out and enjoying nature.
But in some important ways they were different. Brother Bear was cautious and careful and a little wary of strangers ( 谨慎陌生人 ). Sister, on the other hand, wasn’t the least bit wary. She was * friendly to a fault (太过友好了). She would just give everybody that came her way a big hello.
Brother worried about Sister’s free and easy way with strangers and told her to stop talking to the strangers. Sister didn’t get what’s wrong with that. Later that day, Sister brought her question to her Mama and Papa. They told her it was dangerous to talk with strangers and showed her a headline on the newspaper about some cub getting abducted by a stranger. During bedtime story time, Papa read Sister a story called “Silly Goose and Wily Fox”. It told how Silly goose got into a conversation with Wily Fox and before Silly Goose knew what was happening she found herself in Wily’s lair. With a snip ( 绞断 ) and snap ( 猛地咬住 ), all that was left of Silly Goose was a few floating feathers and a smile on the face of Wily fox.
Sister had a hard time falling asleep that night. The next day when she woke up, she felt the whole world changed to the other direction, no longer friendly. The trees seemed to reach for her, an owl stared at her and the crowds glared ( 怒目而视 ). She didn’t have a good time at her favorite place – the village green as usual. Her mind was filled with those horrible stories about strangers. She became paranoid from friendly-to-a-fault.
Mama sensed that when she came back from the grocery shopping. She bought a barrel of apples from supermarket. She said, “ Well, what papa told you was quite right. It was not a good idea to talk to strangers or accept presents or rides from them. But, that doesn’t mean all strangers are bad. There’s an old saying that goes, ‘There’ll always be a couple of bad apples in each barrel (哪个桶里都会有几个坏苹果).’ That’s the way it is with strangers. Cubs have to be careful because of the few ‘bad apples.’ "
And she also taught Sister and Brother that you couldn’t always tell from the outside which are the ‘bad apples’. Some apples were strange looking, all bumpy or funny shaped. They might be bad inside. She cut one ‘ugly’ apple in half. It looked fine inside. While here’s one that looked fine on the outside, but inside, it was all wormy.
Sister now felt better now – more like her old happy and friendly self. After all, most folks in the Bear Country were friendly and nice. The chances of meeting bad ones were very small. But you had to careful, just in case.
Here are some very essential rules for the cubs to follow:
- Never talk to a stranger
- Never take candy or other gifts from a stranger
- Never go anywhere with a stranger
- Don’t keep secrets from your parents – especially if some one asks you to.
- Your body is your own personal property and nobody else’s business – especially the private parts. (Of course, when you’re little, Mama or Papa may help you with your bath or in the bathroom and your doctor need to examine you from time to time, even when you’re not little)
- Use your common sense. We can’t have rules for everything.
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Note:
*to a fault - is commonly applied to a quality that might otherwise be positive, to indicate that too much of it can be a negative.
Generous to a fault--so generous that one impoverishes oneself.
Friendly to a fault--so friendly as to be scaring others away.
Honest to a fault--so honest as to be perhaps insulting to others and lacking in tact or courtesy.
*There’ll always be a couple of bad apples in each barrel (哪个桶里都会有几个坏苹果).
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