雙語賞析《新月集》第26期:長者 Superior

MOTHER, your baby is silly! She is so absurdly childish!She does not know the difference between the lights in the streets and the stars.
When we play at eating with pebbles, she thinks they are real food, and tries to put them into her mouth.
When I open a book before her and ask her to learn her a, b, c, she tears the leaves with her hands and roars for joy at nothing; this is your baby's way of doing her lesson.
When I shake my head at her in anger and scold her and call her naughty, she laughs and thinks it great fun.
Everybody knows that father is away, but if in play I call aloud "Father," she looks about her in excitement and thinks that father is near.
When I hold my class with the donkeys that our washerman brings to carry away the clothes and I warn her that I am the schoolmaster, she will scream for no reason and call me brother. [elder brother]
Your baby wants to catch the moon. She is so funny; she calls Ganesh. [Ganesh, a common name in India, also that of the god with the elephant's head.]
Mother, your baby is silly, she is so absurdly childish!

媽媽，你的孩子真傻！她是那末可笑地不懂得事！她不知道路燈和星星的分別。
當我們玩着把小石子當食物的遊戲時，她便以爲它們真是吃的東西，竟想放進嘴裏去。
當我翻開一本書，放在她面前，在她讀a，b，c時，她卻用手把書頁撕了，無端快活地叫起來，你的孩子就是這樣做功課的。
當我生氣地對她搖頭，罵她，說她頑皮時，她卻哈哈大笑，以爲很有趣。
誰都知道爸爸不在家，但是，如果我在遊戲時高聲叫一聲“爸爸”，她便要高興地四面張望，以爲爸爸真是近在身邊。
當我把洗衣人帶來載衣服回去的驢子當做學生，並且警告她說，我是老師，她卻無緣無故地亂叫起我哥哥來。
你的孩子要捉月亮。她是這樣的可笑；她把格尼許喚作琪奴許。
媽媽，你的孩子真傻，她是那末可笑地不懂事！