讀李家同學英文３：我只有八歲（附2CD)

我只有八歲

我是盧安達的一個小孩，我只有八歲。

我們盧安達不是個有錢的國家，可是我運氣很好，過去一直過得很愉快。爸爸是位小學老師，我就在這所小學念書，放了學，我們小孩子都在家附近的田野玩。家附近有樹林，也有一條河。我大概五歲起就會游泳了，在我們這些小孩子中，我不僅游得最好，也跑得最快。

因為是鄉下，我們附近有不少的動物，我最喜歡看的是老鷹，牠們飛的姿態真夠優雅。可是我也很怕老鷹，因為牠們常常俯衝下來抓小動物，有一次，有一隻小山貓被一隻大老鷹活活抓走。

有一次我問媽媽，「媽媽，大老鷹會不會把小孩抓走？」

媽媽說：「傻孩子，小孩子旁總有大人在旁邊，老鷹不敢抓小孩，因為牠們知道大人一定會保護小孩子的。」

I’m Only Eight Years Old

I’m a Rwandan boy, and I’m only eight years old.

Rwanda is not a rich country, but I was lucky—my life was always happy. My dad was a teacher at my elementary school. Every day after school got out, we children liked to play in the fields around our houses. By my house, there was a grove of trees and a river, too. I’ve known how to swim since I was about five, and not only was I the best swimmer of all the kids, but I was the fastest runner, too.

Because we lived in the country, there were lots of animals around. My favorite ones to watch were the hawks—they flew so gracefully! But I was afraid of hawks, too, because they’d often dive down and pick off smaller animals. Once I saw a little bobcat get carried off alive by a big hawk.

One time I asked my mom, “Mom, do hawks ever carry away little kids?”

Mom replied, “Silly boy! Wherever there are kids, there are always grownups somewhere close by. Hawks don’t dare to attack kids because they know the grownups will protect them.”


elementary school　　小學；國民學校
hawk　　鷹；
grownup（n.）成人；大人
protect（v.）保護