【少儿素养英文版】贝贝熊系列Gimmies(附双语文本)

（特别注明：原著作者 Stan Berestain and Jan Berestain, continued by their son, Mike Berestain。更多阅读请购买正版）

贝贝熊一家住在熊王国的阳光明媚的土路上的大树屋里。彼此相亲相爱。熊妈妈和爸爸很爱他们的孩子，对它们很好——尽可能好。

但有时，他们有点太好了。有时得到了太多的零食、太多的玩具和太多的游乐设施。

也许这就是为什么熊弟弟和妹妹养成了见啥要啥的坏毛病。或者也许是因为无论他们在超市、商场、电视上，还是几乎每一个地方，都有零食、玩具和有趣的事情可以做。

也许这就是为什么他们开始为得到他们想要的东西而耍赖皮——尤其是在超市结账处，那里总是堆满一堆堆糖果和其他好东西。

“孩子们，我们不能每次传递糖果都耍赖皮。我受不了。”妈妈说。

“但是，妈妈。他们有口香糖软糖！我最喜欢的！”妹妹说。

“还有口香糖球！我最喜欢的！”哥哥说。

“妈妈，每个人都只有一次少年时代。”爸爸说。

“是的，这太真实了。但就更应该在你还年轻的时候学习正确的行为。”妈妈说。

“看！看！新的玩具！”妹妹喊道。

“嘿，摇摆蛙！这看起来比摇摆鸭还要好！我们可以骑吗？可以吗？可以吗？我们可以吗？求你了！”哥哥喊道。

爸爸刚给他们买了点心，他觉得今天的够了。但小熊们又耍赖皮，他叹了口气，从口袋里掏出钱，塞了进去。

爸爸看着妈妈，耸了耸肩。 “小孩就是小孩。”他说。

“小孩是小孩没错，但这不是跳上跳下的借口……”妈妈说。

“看！看！橡皮小猫，一捏就会伸出舌头！”孩子们再次大喊。

“小崽子，够了！我什么都不想听……”妈妈说。

“哦，求求你！我们可以拥有它们吗？求求你！求求你！求求你！”

爸爸决定是时候停止这一切了。

“别闹了！”他用最响亮的声音说道。但他们如此耍赖皮，甚至没有听到他的声音。妹妹跳起来，向后摔倒，在空中踢腿。

“求你了！求你了！”

“呃- 两只橡胶小猫，谢谢！”爸爸尴尬地对卖玩具的说。

当你挤压橡胶猫时，它们不仅会伸出舌头，还会发出吱吱声。他们在回家的路上一直吱吱作响。

他们回到树屋，妈妈很生气。爸爸气得说不出话来。

“我从没见过这种尴尬的行为。”

“是的。但是你有没有想过他们为什么会有这些坏毛病？也许他们的贪婪行为不全是他们的错。给我们给的太多。”

“可能”

“我们需要向他们解释为什么不能太贪婪。”

然后爸爸把孩子们叫进来。他告诉他们为什么自私和贪婪不是好习惯。

“自私、贪婪的孩子永远不会快乐，因为你不能一直拥有你想要的一切——生活不是这样的。你明白吗？”

“哦，是的，爸爸。我们明白。”

他与他们谈论应该享受他们所拥有的东西，而不是一直要求越来越多的东西。

“明白了吗？”

“是的，爸爸，明白了。”

当小熊们听到熟悉的汽车的声音时，知道是爷爷奶奶来了。

兄妹俩跑到门口，大声喊：

“你们带什么来了？带什么来了？带什么来了？”

“回你们的房间！一周不许看电视，不许吃零食！”爸爸吼道。

孩子们知道现在不是争论的时候。他们匆匆上楼，进了自己的房间。

“看来我们来的不是时候！”奶奶说。

“我们带来的这些东西怎么办呢？给哥哥的魔方，给妹妹的陀螺。”爷爷说。

“只能等等了，爷爷，俩孩子犯大错了。”妈妈说过。

“我见过的最糟糕的情况。”爸爸说。

“最坏的情况，你说？在我看来，你小时候自己就是个小贪心鬼。”爷爷说。

“我曾是？”爸爸说。

“当然，那时我们没有商场或超市。但有老鲁夫灰熊的杂货店。很棒的地方。什么都卖——蜂蜜蛋糕、甘草棒、蜂蜜苹果，还有各种各样的玩具和新奇的东西。而且你没做过这些吗！你没有过吗！你想要所有的东西都在眼前。非常尴尬。我们都不敢再去那里了。“爷爷说。

“所以我们达成了一项协议。当我们去商店时，我们让你提前选择那天要买什么。可以是一个糖果、一个玩具或一本书。”奶奶说。

“是的。如果你还要乱七八糟的东西，我们马上回家，你什么都得不到。”爷爷说。

“听起来是个不错的主意。”妈妈说。

“我也觉得是。”爸爸说。

小熊们蹑手蹑脚地回到了自己的房间。对他们来说，这办法听起来不错。

下次熊家人去超市的时候，他们尝试了爷爷奶奶的计划。 果然有效。 哥哥得到了一本书，妹妹得到了一盒新的蜡笔。

当小熊们经过糖果架时，妈妈和爸爸非常自豪，他们连偷看都没有。

但随后他们听到了一个熟悉的小熊的声音，他的行为很让人尴尬。 在收银台旁边，那只又踢又叫的小熊就在他们身后。 你从来没有听过这么耍赖皮的。

“多么尴尬的行为！我们可以离开吗？” 妹妹说。

“是啊，我们快走吧。” 哥哥说。

熊兄妹就这样改掉了见啥要啥的坏毛病。

Of course, the members of the Bear Family, who lived in the big tree house down a sunny dirt road in Bear Country, loved each other. Naturally, Mama and Papa Bear loved their cubs, and, of course, they were nice to them-as nice as they could be.

But sometimes, sometimes they were a little too nice. Sometimes the cubs got too many treats, too many toys, and too many rides on the Duck Ride at the mall.

Maybe that's why Brother and Sister Bear got the gimmies. Or maybe it was because there were treats, toys, and fun things to do wherever they looked-at the supermarket, at the mall, on TV, and just about every which-where.

Maybe that was why they began making a fuss to get what they wanted-especially at the supermarket checkout, where there were always stacks and stacks of candy and other goodies.

"Now, cubs. We can't have a big fuss every time we pass candy. I simply won't stand it." Mama said.

"But, Mama. They have Gummy Gumballs! My favorite!" Sister said.

"And chewy chompers! My favorite!" Brother said.

"Now, Mama. You are only young once." Papa said.

"It's too true that you are only young once. But that's all the more reason to learn proper behaviour while you're still young." Mama said.

"Look! Look! A new ride!" Sister shouted.

"Hey, a Frog ride! That looks even better than the Duck Ride! May we ride it, please? May we? May we? Please!" Brother shouted.

Now, Papa just bought them treats, and he thought that was enough for one day. But the cubs made such a fuss that he sighed, dug into his pocket, and put some money in the slot.

Papa looked at Mama and shrugged. "Cubs will be cubs." He said.

"It may be true that cubs will be cubs. But that's no excuse for jumping up and down....." Mama said.

"Look! Look! Little rubber cats that stick out their tongues when you squeeze them!" the Cubs shouted again.

"Cubs, that will be quite enough! I don't want to hear anything....." Mama said.

"Oh please! May we have them? Please! Please! Please!"

Papa decided it was time to put a stop to all the fussing.

"Stop fussing!" he said in his loudest voice. But they were making such a fuss they didn't even hear him. Sister was jumping up and down so hard that she fell over backward and started kicking her feet in the air.

"Please! Please!"

"Er_ two of those rubber pussycats, please" said embarrassed Papa to the toy seller.

The rubber pussycats not only stuck out their tongues when you squeezed them, they went squeak-squeak as well. And they squeak-squeaked all the way home.

Mama was quite annoyed by the time they got back to the tree house. Papa was so angry he could hardly speak.

"I've never seen this embarrassing behaviour."

"Yes. But do you think about why they have the gimmies? Perhaps their greedy behaviour isn't all their fault. It's kind of our fault for giving they too much."

"Perhaps"

"We need explain to them why it's important not to be greedy."

Then Papa called cubs in. He told them why it wasn't a good idea to be selfish and greedy and want everything in sight.

"Selfish, greedy cubs can never be happy, because you just can't have everything you want all the time-life isn't like that. Do you understand?"

"Oh yes, Paps. We understand."

He talked to them about enjoying the things they had instead of forever wanting more and more and more.

"Does that make sense to you?"

"Oh yes, Papa. It make sense."

When the cubs heard the sound of a familiar car. It was grandpa and grandma came.

Brother and Sister ran to the front door, they made the biggest fuss yet.

"Whajia-bringme? Whajia-bringme? Whajia-bringme?"

"Up to your room! No TV or treats for a week!" Papa roared.

The vubs knew this wasn't time to argue. They scrurried up the stairs and into their room.

"We seem to have come at a bad time!" Grandma said.

"What about these things we brought? A puzzle for Brother and a driddle for Sister." Grandpa said.

"Your presents will have to wait, Grandpa. Brother and Sister have a bad case." Mama said.

"The worst case I've ever seen." Papa said.

"The worst case, ya say? Seems to me you were quite a gimmie-cub yourself when you were little." Grandpa said.

"I was?" Papa said.

"Of course, we didn't have malls or supermarket back then. But there was old Rufe Grizzly's General Store. Wonderful place. Sold just about everything-honey cake, licorice sticks, honey apples, and all sorts of toys and novelties. And did you ever have the gimmies! Did you ever! You wanted everythig in sight. Downright embarrassed. Why, it got so bad we couldn't go there anymore."Grandpa said.

"So we worked out a deal. When we came to store, we had you decide on a treat ahead of time. It could be a sweet, a toy, or a book-and that was it for the day." Grandma said.

"Right. And if you came down with gimmies, we were right home and you got nothing." said Grandpa.

"That sounds good." Mama said.

"Me too." Papa said.

The cubs tiptoed back to their room. It sounded okay to them, too.

The next time the Bear family went to the supermarket, they tried the Grandpa and Grandma's plan. It worked. Brother got a book, and Sister got a new box of crayons.

Mama and Papa were very proud when the cubs passed the candy rack without so much as a peep.

But then they heard a familiar sound of a cub with a bad case of the gimmies. The kicking, screaming cub was just behind them in the checkout line. You never heard such a fuss.

"What an embarrassing behaviour! May we leave?" Sister said.

"Yeah. Let's go." Brother said.

That's how Brother and Sister Bear got rid of a bad case of the greedy gimmies.