雙語哲理小故事:小狐狸精心準備的午餐大綱
Fox hummed as he poured lemonade into molds for ice pops. He had invited Bear for lunch.
“Bear will be surprised,” Fox said to himself. “He doesn’t know what a great cook I am.”Fox looked at his cookbook. “This cookie recipe looks easy,” he thought. He read further. You may double the recipe for more cookies. “Yes!” said Fox. “We need lots of cookies.”
Fox got out one stick of butter, then one more. He measured one-half cup of sugar, then another half cup. He used two of everything the recipe called the batter was ready. Fox looked at the cookbook:
Oven temperature: 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I’ll double that to 600 degrees,” said Fox. But the dial on his oven only went to 500 degrees. That would have to do.
Baking time: 10 minutes.
“I’ll double that to 20 minutes,” said Fox. He put the cookies in the oven.
Next he put eggs in a pan of water on the stove. Egg-salad sandwiches were Bear’s favorite.
Fox got out the paint-by-number picture of a beehive he had started. It was going to be a present for Bear. But Fox would have to work fast to finish the painting before Bear arrived.
小狐狸哼哼着把檸檬水倒進模子裏，打算把它做成冰棒。小狐狸邀請了熊熊來吃午餐。“熊熊一定會覺得很意外。”小狐狸自言自語地說道。“他還不知道原來我是一個很棒的廚師呢。”小狐狸看了看食譜，“曲奇餅的食譜看起來很簡單嘛。”他想。他又繼續往下看。食譜上寫道：如果你想要多一些的曲奇餅，你可以根據食譜將裏面的東西加倍。“沒錯！”小狐狸說，“我們需要很多很多的曲奇餅.”
小狐狸取出了一條黃油棒，然後又取出了一條黃油棒。小狐狸舀了半杯的糖，然後又舀了半杯的糖。食譜上要求的所有東西，小狐狸都將它們加倍了。很快，做曲奇餅的麪糊糊弄好了。小狐狸又繼續看食譜。
烤箱溫度：300華氏度。
“我要將溫度加倍到600度。”小狐狸說。但烤箱的刻度最高只到500度。那也沒辦法，就500度吧。
烘培時間：10分鐘。
“我要將時間加倍到20分鐘。”小狐狸說。然後，他把麪糊糊放到烤箱裏。
接着，他把雞蛋放進爐子上一個裝着水的鍋子裏。蛋沙拉三文治是熊熊最愛吃的東西。
小狐狸取出一張按數字塗顏色的畫兒，畫兒畫的是一個蜂巢，他之前已經塗了一些顏色上去。這畫兒是給熊熊的禮物。但小狐狸必須在熊熊到來之前趕緊把畫兒完成。
“Somebody’s burning something,” Fox thought as he set up his easel. “Yikes! My cookies!” He ran to the stove. The cookies were hard black rocks. “There must be something wrong with that recipe,” thought Fox as he dumped the cookies into the garbage can.
The water with the eggs was bubbling. Fox went back to the painting. Let one color dry before starting the next color, said the directions. But Fox didn’t have time for that. He painted all the number-three spaces sunset orange. When he had finished the threes, he painted the fours midnight black.
Fox looked at the clock and painted faster. When he had finished the fives, he stood back and looked at his picture. Something was wrong. All the colors were running together and becoming mud brown!
Fox smelled something burning again. He ran to the kitchen. The egg pan was dry. The eggs were turning black. Then he noticed the ice pops on the counter. “Oh no!” he said. “I forgot to put them in the freezer.”
“有人在燒什麼東西。”小狐狸一邊想一邊支起畫架，“呀！我的曲奇餅！”他衝向烤箱。曲奇餅已經變成堅硬的黑塊兒。“肯定是食譜出了什麼問題。”小狐狸一邊想一邊把曲奇餅倒進垃圾桶裏。
煮雞蛋的水冒泡泡了。小狐狸跑回去繼續畫畫兒。根據說明，應該要等一種顏色幹了之後再塗下一種顏色。但小狐狸沒有時間等顏色變幹了。他爲畫兒的第三塊兒塗上落日一般的橙色，塗好之後，他把第四塊兒塗成了午夜一般的黑色。
小狐狸看了一眼時鐘，加快了塗色的速度。當他塗完第五塊兒的時候，他往後退了幾步，檢查自己的畫兒。不對勁。所有的顏色都跑一塊兒，變成泥巴一般的棕色了。
小狐狸再次聞到了什麼東西燒焦的味道。他衝向廚房。煮雞蛋的鍋子已經燒乾了。雞蛋正在變黑。這時，小狐狸想起要做冰棒的檸檬水還放在臺面上。“噢，不！”他喊道，“我忘記把它們放進冰箱了。”
“I’m here,” said Bear cheerfully.
“Oh, dear—I mean, hello!” said Fox. He was trying to stand in front of the painting.
“What are you hiding?” Bear asked.
“Well, uh, it’s a surprise.” Fox moved away.
“It’s a picture of me!” said Bear. “A big brown bear.”
Fox looked at his painting. The beehive did sort of look like a big brown bear now.
“What a surprise!” said Bear, hugging his friend.
“Yes, it is,” said Fox. “And we’re having lemonade and bread-and-mayonnaise sandwiches for our lunch.”
“Sounds interesting,” said Bear.
Fox grinned. “I knew you’d like my cooking,” he said.
叮咚！小狐狸跑去開門。
“我來啦。”熊熊高興地說。
“哦，親愛的——我想說，哈羅！”小狐狸說道。他試着擋在畫兒前面。
“你在藏什麼呢？”熊熊問道。
“呃，嗯，是一個驚喜。”小狐狸移開了身子。
“是我的畫像！”熊熊說道，“一隻大棕熊。”
小狐狸看着自己的畫兒。蜂巢現在看起來的確有點兒像一隻大棕熊。
“真是一個大大的驚喜！”熊熊說道，緊緊地跟小狐狸擁抱在一起。
“是的，是的。”小狐狸說道，“我們的午餐會有檸檬水和麪包蛋黃醬三文治。”
“聽起來很有趣嘛。”熊熊說道。
小狐狸咧開嘴巴笑了，“我就知道你會喜歡我做的食物。”他說。
