双语小说阅读:《谁动了我的奶酪》(3)

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.

当嗅嗅和匆匆已经在迅速行动的时候，哼哼和唧唧还在那里不停地哼哼唧唧、犹豫不决。他们情绪激动地大声叫骂这世界的不公平，用尽一切恶毒的语言去诅咒那个搬走了他们的奶酪的黑心贼。然后唧唧开始变得消沉起来，没有了奶酪，明天会是怎样？他对未来的计划可是完完全全都建立在这些奶酪的基础上面的啊！这两个小矮人就是不能接受这一切。这一切怎么可能发生呢？没有任何人警告过他们，这是不对的，事情应该是这个样子的，他们始终无法相信眼前的事实。那天晚上，哼哼和唧唧饥肠辘辘、沮丧地回到家里。在离开之前，唧唧在墙上写下了一句话：

奶酪对你越重要，你就越想抓住它。

第二天，辗转难眠了一晚上的哼哼和唧唧早早地离开家又回到奶酪C站，不管怎样，他们抱着一线希望，他们不断地欺骗自己，假定昨天走错了地方，他们仍然希望找回他们的奶酪。奶酪站的位置没有变化，然而奶酪的的确确早已不复存在。两个小矮人顿时手足无措，不知道该怎么办。哼哼和唧唧只是站在那里，一动不动，就像两座毫无生气的雕像。唧唧紧闭上眼睛，用手捂住自己的耳朵，他只想把一切都堵在外面。他不愿相信奶酪是逐渐变得越来越少的，他宁愿相信奶酪是突然之间被全部拿走的。哼哼则把现在的情况分析了又分析，他用他那复杂的大脑把他所有的信条都翻了个遍。“他们为什么要这样做？”他终究没能找到答案，“这里究竟发生了什么事情？”终于，唧唧睁开了眼睛，朝周围看了看说：“顺便问一下，嗅嗅和匆匆现在在那里？你是否觉得他们知道某些我们还不知道的事情？”

“那两个弱智，他们能够知道些什么？”哼哼的语气中充满了不屑。他继续说：“他们只是头脑简单的老鼠，他们只会对发生的事情做出简单的反应。而我们是机灵聪明的小矮人，我们比老鼠有头脑。我们应该能够推测出这里的情况。”“我知道我们更聪明，”唧唧说，“但是，我们现在的行为好像并不怎么聪明。我们周围的情况已经发生了变化，哼哼，也许我们需要做出一些改变，去做点什么不同的事情。”

“我们为什么要改变？”哼哼问道，“我们是小矮人，我们是不一样的。这样的事情不应该发生在我们的身上。即使出现了这样的情况，我们至少也应该从中得到一些补偿。”

“为什么我们应该得到一些补偿呢？”唧唧问。

“因为我们有这样的权力。”哼哼宣称。“有什么样的权力？”唧唧不明白。“有拥有我们的奶酪的权力。”

“为什么？”唧唧还是不明白。

“因为这个问题不是我们引起的，”哼哼说，“是某些别有用心的人制造了这个局面，而不是我们，所以我坚持认为我们总应该从中得到些补偿。”“也许我们应该停止这种无用的分析。”唧唧提议，“分析问题到此为止。在我们还没有被锇死之前，我们应该赶紧出发去找新的奶酪。”“噢，不！”哼哼反对说，“我就快要找到问题的要源了，要知道，我们曾经拥有有过那么多、那么好的奶酪啊！”

当哼哼和唧唧还在争执着试图决定该怎么办的时候，嗅嗅和匆匆忙已经在很顺利地做他们的事情了。他们进入到迷宫的更深处，走过一条又一条走廊，在每一个他们遇到的奶酪里仔细寻找着奶酪。除了倾尽全力地寻找新的奶酪，他们并不考虑任何别的事情。有好一段时间，他们找得很辛苦却一无所获。直到他们走进迷宫中一个他们从未到过的地方：奶酪N站。他们高兴得尖叫起来，他们终于发现了他们一直在寻找的东西：大量新鲜的奶酪。他们简直不敢相信自己的眼睛，这里他们所见过的最大的奶酪仓库。而与此同时，哼哼与唧唧仍然呆在奶酪C站，对他们目前的处境进行揣摩。他们正在忍受着失去了奶酪的痛苦，挫折感、饥饿感和由此而来的愤怒紧紧围绕着他们，折磨着他们，他们甚至为陷入眼前的困境而相互指责。