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ONE fine day in summer, a very little boy was sent to school by his mother. But she knew that he was fond of play, and so she told his sister to go with him.
It was very warm, and the boy said to his sister that it would be much nicer to play with him by the river -side, than go to school.
“No, no,” said she, “I have not time to play. After I have seen you to school, I must go over all the town, to buy wool, and worsted, and needles, and a lot of other things, for mother. She and I must work, and get money to buy food.”
Then the boy saw a bee flying from flower to flower, and said, “I should like to be a bee, and have nothing to do, —no lessons or spelling to learn.”
“Ah!” said his sister, “the bee is not idle, it is getting honey and wax, to lay up store for winter, when there will be no flowers.”And the bee soon flew away to its hive with its honey and wax.
In a little they heard a bird singing; and the boy said, “I am sure the bird has nothing to do. I should like to stay here all day, under the trees, and hear its sweet song.”
But his sister said, “See, the bird has flown down and picked up some bits of straw, and it is now taking them to its nest. It has to build a nest with straw and feathers and moss, and so it has no time to be idle.”
夏日的一个晴天，有个非常小的小男孩，让妈妈送去上学。妈妈知道他特别喜欢玩，就让姐姐跟他一块儿去。
天气特别暖和，小男孩对姐姐说，要是姐姐跟他在河边一块儿玩，可比去学校好多了！
姐姐说：“不行不行！我可没时间玩。我送你去了学校，还得在城里到处跑，买羊毛，买毛料，买缝衣针，还得给妈妈买好多别的东西呢！我跟她要干活儿，挣钱买吃的呀！”
这时候，小男孩看见一只蜜蜂在花间飞舞，就说：“要是我是蜜蜂就好了，什么也不干，不用上课，也不用学单词拼写！”
姐姐说：“啊，蜜蜂可没闲着！它要采蜜，制造蜂蜡，储存食物过冬，因为冬天就没有花儿啦！”很快，蜜蜂就带着蜂蜜和蜂蜡，朝自己的蜂房飞去了。
不一会儿，他们又听见一只鸟儿在唱歌。小男孩说：“小鸟儿肯定没事做。我想就在树下待上这么一整天，一直听它唱好听的歌！”
但姐姐却说：“瞧，小鸟飞下来捡碎稻草呢，正要把碎稻草带到巢里去！它要用稻草、羽毛、青苔做一个窝，它可没工夫闲着！”