双语小说阅读:《谁动了我的奶酪》

 
      Once, long ago in a land far away, there lived four little characters who ran through a maze looking for cheese to nourish them and make them happy.
      Two were mice named ''Sniff'' and ''Scurry'' and two were little people -- beings who were as small as mice but who looked and acted a lot like people today. Their names were "Hem" and "Haw".
      Due to their small size, it would be easy not to notice what the four of them were doing. But if you looked closely enough, you could discover the most amazing things!
      Every day, the mice and the little people spent time in the Maze looking for their own special cheese.
      The mice, Sniff and Scurry, possessing only simple rodent brains, but good instincts, searched for the hard nibbling cheese they liked, as mice often do.
      The two little people, Hem and Haw, used their brains, filled with many beliefs and emotions, to search for a very different kind of Cheese -- with a capital C -- which they believed would make them feel happy and successful.
      As different as the mice and little people were, they shared something in common. Every morning, they each put on their jogging suits and running shoes, left their little homes, and raced out into the Maze looking for their favorite cheese.
      The Maze was a labyrinth of corridors and chambers, some containing delicious cheese. But there were also dark corners and blind alleys leading nowhere. It was an easy place for anyone to get lost.
      However, for those who found their way, the Maze held secrets that let them enjoy a better life.
      The mice, Sniff and Scurry, used a simple trial-and-error method of finding cheese. They ran down one corridor and, if it proved empty, they turned and ran down another. They remembered the corridors that held no cheese and quickly went into new areas.
      Sniff would smell out the general direction of the cheese, using his great nose, and Scurry would race ahead. They got lost, as you might expect, went off in the wrong direction and often bumped into walls. But after a while, they found their way.
      Like the mice, the two little people, Hem and Haw, also used their ability to think and learn from their past experiences. However, they relied on their complex brains to develop more sophisticated methods of finding Cheese.
      Sometimes they did well, but at other times their powerful human beliefs and emotions took over and clouded the way they looked at things. It made life in the Maze more complicated and challenging.
      Nonetheless, Sniff; Scurry, Hem and Haw all discovered, in their own way, what they were looking for. They each found their own kind of cheese one day at the end of one of the corridors in Cheese Station C.
      Every morning after that, the mice and the little people dressed in their running gear and headed over to Cheese Station C. It wasn't long before they each established their own routine.
      Sniff and Scurry continued to wake early every day and race through the Maze, always following the same route.
      When they arrived at their destination, the mice took off their running shoes, tied them together and hung them around their necks—so they could get to them quickly whenever they needed them again. Then they enjoyed the cheese.
      In the beginning, Hem and Haw also raced toward Cheese Station C every morning to enjoy the tasty new morsels that awaited them.
      But after a while, a different routine set in for the little people.
      Hem and Haw awoke each day a little later, dressed a little slower, and walked to Cheese Station C. After all, they knew where the Cheese was now and how to get there.
      They had no idea where the Cheese came from, or who put it there. They just assumed it would be there.