62 Nuwa People Part 1
女娲造人1
女娲在地球上十分孤独，只有动物与她作伴。女娲做的第一件事就是教鸟类语言，从鸟类的行为中，女娲得到灵感，开始搓揉泥土，然后呼了一口气，小泥人活了！他们喊女娲妈妈，女娲也如母亲照顾孩子一般照顾小泥人。
Motherhood. People say it’s the most important job in the world. If that’s true, then I’m the most important worker ever! I’m the biggest of the big mamas! You may have heard my story. “Poor Nuwa,” people say. “She was lonely. She was the biggest thing on Earth, but only had animals to keep her company. She didn’t speak the animal languages. They didn’t speak her language. She had no one who could laugh at her jokes, tell her that she was having a good hair day, or oil the scales on her tail.”Yes, I have long black hair and a curving tail of green-gold scales instead of legs. So people are right about some things. But they are wrong when they say my life was very lonely. It wasn’t so bad. Those people don’t know. They weren’t there with me at the beginning of everything.The first thing I did was try to teach language to the birds. My method was “I say, you say.” I’d say a word, then gesture at the birds and wait for them to repeat it. “Apple,” I would say. The hummingbirds flitted in confusion. The pigeons nodded knowingly but refused to do anything other than waddle around looking for food. The teacher’s pets—my favorites—were the parrots, of course. “Apple!” they repeated. “Nice hair!” and “Hello!”One day I followed some small birds to the muddy bank of a river.They swooped down to the clay, picking it up in their beaks. Then they flew to an overhanging cliff and built nests from the clay. Watching them gave me an idea. I dug my fingers in the golden mud. I know some people don’t like to get their hands dirty. That’s not me. I like mud. I like clay mud the best. It’s fun to play with, it’s soft on my tail, and it’s good for my skin. It keeps me looking young. Well, that and being a goddess.Those are my beauty secrets.I scooped up a handful of mud. I squished it between my fingers and started to roll it into a ball. A part of the ball wiggled out. I smoothed it to make a perfectly round ball. I bounced it from palm to palm, just playing. Still, I couldn’t get it to stay in a ball. First one, then two long drips of clay hung down from the ball. I tugged on them and heard laughter!I cradled the mud in my hands, then bounced it from palm to palm. Two more drips appeared in the clay. These two were shorter than the others, but when I touched them, I heard laughter again! I held the mud up to my face. I breathed on it.After breathing on the clay, I nearly dropped it, I was so surprised! There was a tiny face in the mud! There was a tiny body starting to take shape, and it looked like mine. Except for the tail. Instead of a tail like mine, it had two tails. Then each tail grew a foot. They weren’t tails at all. I decided to call them legs.I gently rocked the clay back and forth in my hands, amazed to see a small person. “Hello,” I said smiling. “Welcome to the world, little one.”The baby’s mouth opened in a toothless smile. “Mama!”My heart went squishier than the clay. I took care of the baby, talking to it and feeding it. It was lots of fun! Life had begun, and I held it in my arms!I finally had to set the baby down. The baby’s little teeth were coming in.I looked for a smooth stick for the baby to chew on. Found one! But when I looked back, the baby was a toddler. And the baby was eating sand.“No, no, no!” I said, cleaning out the baby’s mouth.Question: Many cultures around the world have stories that say peoplewere first made of clay or dirt. Why do you think this is so?
核心词汇
waddle v. （似鸭、鹅般地）蹒跚行走，摇摇摆摆地行走overhanging adj. 突出于……之上的It keeps me looking young. Well, that and being a goddess. 它（泥巴）使我保持年轻。好吧……其实是泥巴和我的神力（使我年轻）。此处是女娲开了个玩笑，前半句在吹嘘泥巴的奇效，后以下翻译来自百度翻译：
母亲身份人们说这是世界上最重要的工作。如果这是真的，那么我是有史以来最重要的员工！我是大妈妈中最大的！你可能听过我的故事。“可怜的女娲，”人们说。“她很孤独。她是世界上最大的人物，但只有动物陪伴着她。她不会说动物的语言。它们不会说她的语言。她没有人能嘲笑她的笑话，告诉她今天头发很好，或者给她尾巴上的鳞片抹油。”是的，我有长长的黑发和弯曲的绿金色鳞片尾巴，而不是腿。所以有些事情人们是对的。但当他们说我的生活很孤独时，他们错了。没那么糟。那些人不知道。一开始他们都不在我身边。我做的第一件事就是试着教鸟儿们语言。我的方法是“我说，你说。”我会说一句话，然后向鸟儿打手势，等待它们重复。“苹果，”我会说。蜂鸟乱飞。鸽子们会意地点点头，但除了摇摇晃晃地四处寻找食物外，什么也不做。老师的宠物我最喜欢的当然是鹦鹉了。“苹果！”他们重复道。“漂亮的头发！”和“你好！”他们俯冲下来，用嘴叼起粘土。然后他们飞到悬崖峭壁上，用粘土筑巢。看着他们给了我一个想法。我把手指埋在金色的泥里。我知道有些人不喜欢把手弄脏。那不是我。我喜欢泥。我最喜欢粘土。玩起来很有趣，它在我的尾巴上很柔软，对我的皮肤也有好处。它让我看起来年轻。好吧，这和作为一个女神。我铲起一把泥。我用手指捏了捏它，开始把它滚成一个球。球的一部分晃了出去。我把它磨平，做成一个完美的圆球。我把它从一个手掌弹到另一个手掌，只是在玩。尽管如此，我还是无法让它留在一个球里。先是一滴，然后是两滴从球上垂下来的粘土。我用力拉他们，听到了笑声！我把泥巴抱在手里，然后把它从一个手掌弹到另一个手掌。粘土中又出现了两滴。这两个人比其他人矮，但当我触摸他们时，我又听到了笑声！我把泥举到脸上。我吸了一口气。在粘土上呼吸之后，我差点把它掉下来，我太惊讶了！泥里有一张小脸！有一个小小的身体开始成形，它看起来像我的。除了尾巴。它没有我的尾巴，而是有两条尾巴。然后每条尾巴长出一只脚。它们根本不是尾巴。我决定叫他们腿。我用手轻轻地来回摇晃着粘土，惊奇地看到一个矮小的人。“你好，”我笑着说。“欢迎来到这个世界，小家伙。”我的心比泥土还软。我照顾婴儿，和它说话，喂它。真是太有趣了！生命已经开始，我把它抱在怀里！我找一根光滑的棍子让婴儿咀嚼。找到一个！但当我回头看时，婴儿还是个蹒跚学步的孩子。婴儿正在吃沙子。
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