现在是森林里的秋天。强劲的秋风摇动着大树，随处可见红色的、金色的和棕色的叶子都在开始飘落了。在橡树顶端的小房子里，橡子先生和橡子夫人正在思考着即将到来的冬天。

“今天，你们男孩子们必须到外面采集一些橡子来。”橡子先生要离开家出去干活儿的时候，对伍迪和小皮普说道。

“真是个很棒的主意，”橡子夫人说道。“我已经请榛子夫人今天早上来喝咖啡呢。”

伍迪和小皮普保证说他们可以收集到一些橡子。所以，吃过早饭后，两个男孩儿就出门了。今天的风可真大啊!树叶儿都被高高地卷入到了空中。

“让我们骑上去兜兜风吧！”小皮普大叫道，说着自己就跳到了一片很大的橡树叶子上。“来吧，伍迪！”

伍迪也跳到了叶子后面，两个男孩就尽力紧紧地抓住了叶子。

It was autumn in the forest. Strong winds were shaking the trees and everywhere the red, gold and brown leaves were starting to fall. In their little house at the top of the oak tree, Mr and Mrs Acorn were thinking about the winter ahead.

“You boys must go out and gather acorns today,” Mr Acorn told Woody and Little Pip as he left for work.

“That’s a very good idea,” said Mrs Acorn. “I’ve got Mrs Hazelnut coming for coffee this morning.”

Woody and Little Pip promised they would collect the acorns. So after their breakfast, the two boys went outside. What a windy day it was! The leaves were being tossed high in the air.

“Let’s go for a ride!” shouted Little Pip, throwing himself on to a large oak leaf. “Come on, Woody!”

Woody leapt on behind, and the two boys held on as tight as they could.

突然，风吹着这片叶子，直接飞越到了树林上方，在空中不停地打着旋儿。叶子越飞越快，越过了篱笆和田野，旋转着飞了很远很远，直到孩子们——感到越来越头晕目眩——巴不得希望他们的旅程已经结束了。

终于，风儿耗尽了它所有的力气，把他们一下子放了下来——“嘭”的一声——掉进了一棵云杉树里。他们落在了四个侏儒老妇人的中间——她们正在忙着做一周的清洗工作。

“你们就不能看看你们要去哪儿吗？” 老妇人们抱怨道。“你们那样猛冲下来，几乎把所有的东西又都弄脏了。我们花了一整个上午来洗这些地精胡须，并晾干它们。”

伍迪和小皮普晕眩极了，以致于他们几乎说不出话来了。

“请——请——请对我们发火吧！”他们说。“是风把我们扔到这儿来的。”

Suddenly the wind carried the leaf right up over the trees, swirling and whirling it around in the air. The leaf flew faster and faster, spinning far away over fences and fields, until the boys-getting more and more dizzy-rather wished their journey was over.

At last the wind ran out of breath and set them down-plonk!-in a spruce tree. They landed amongst four old women gnomes who were busy doing the week’s washing.

“Can’t you watch where you’re going?” the old women grumbled. “You nearly made everything dirty again, crashing down like that. We’ve spent all morning washing these gnome beards and drying them.”

Woody and Little Pip were so dizzy that they could hardly speak.

“P-P-Please do,-be angry with us!” they said. “It was the wind that dropped us down here.”

“我很想把你们变成一锅橡子汤。”那个年龄最老的地精老妇女说道，咧着嘴露出邪恶的笑容。

“对啊，对啊，”其他两个地精也急切地说。

“不要，不要啊，”伍迪和小皮普央求道。

那个年龄最小的地精老妇女对两个男孩儿感到有些同情。于是她想到一个主意。

“为什么不能让他们为我们做些工作呢？”她说。“让我们派他们去运送所有洗好的东西，而我们就可以休息一会儿了。”

“真是好主意!”其他人叫道。“他们可以替我们来拉那辆沉重的马车。”

就这样，伍迪和小皮普被迫在森林里艰难地跋涉，给地精和巨魔们运送洗干净的胡须。

“I’ve a good mind to turn you into acorn soup,” said the oldest old gnome woman with a wicked grin.

“Yes, yes,” said two of the others eagerly.

“No, no,” pleaded Woody and Little Pip.

The youngest old gnome woman felt sorry for the two boys. She had an idea.

“Why can’t they do some work for us?” she said. “Let’s send them off to deliver all the clean washing while we have a little rest.”

“What a good idea!” cried the others. “They can pull that heavy cart around instead of us.”

So Woody and Little Pip were forced to trudge around all over the forest, delivering clean beards to the gnomes and trolls.

回到家里，橡子夫人感到很困惑。孩子们都去哪里了啊？在早上，他们总是要回家吃些点心，喝点水的呀。橡子夫人站在门口，不停地喊啊喊啊，可是他们一点儿回音也没有。

榛子夫人来喝咖啡了，后面跟着她的两个最小的孩子。

“亲爱的橡子夫人，发生什么事了？”她问道。“你那样对着风喊叫，你的喉咙会痛的。”

“都是因为我那些调皮的孩子们，”橡子夫人埋怨道。“他们没说一句话就消失了。等他们回来时，我一定会非常生气。赶快进来避避风吧，榛子夫人。我刚刚做好了新鲜的咖啡。”

“谢谢你，橡子夫人，那样就太好了。我带来了一些自制的果子面包，可以就着咖啡一起吃。”

哈里和黑兹尔——榛子夫人那两个最小的孩子，竖起了他们的耳朵。他们想知道，是否也有果子面包给他们。

Back home, Mrs Acorn was puzzled. Where had the boys gone? They usually came home for a snack and a drink during the morning. She stood outside her door, calling and calling, but there was no sign of them.

Mrs Hazelnut arrived for coffee with her two youngest behind her.

“What’s happening, my dear Mrs Acorn?” she said. “You’ll get a sore throat shouting against the wind like that.”

“It’s those naughty boys of mine,” complained Mrs Acorn.“They’ve disappeared without a word. I shall be so angry when they get back. But do come in out of the wind, Mrs Hazelnut. I’ve just made some fresh coffee.”

“Thank you, Mrs Acorn, that’ll be lovely. I’ve brought some home-made buns for us to have with it.”

Harry and Hazel, Mrs Hazelnut’s two youngest, pricked up their ears. They wondered if there was a bun for them, too.

当橡子夫人和榛子夫人正在享用咖啡的时候，有人敲门了，进来的是松鼠先生。

“请原谅我的打扰，橡子夫人，”他说道，“但是我注意你楼下的那些空屋子已经有一些日子了，它们看起来好像正好适合我不断壮大的家庭。你认为我有机会从你那儿租到它们吗？”

“我很抱歉，”橡子夫人坚定地说，“但是我们不能让松鼠住在这棵树上。你会拿走我们所有的橡子的。”她突然发出一声深深的叹息，想起了她那两个失踪的孩子。

“发生什么事了，橡子夫人？”松鼠先生问道。

“是我的孩子们，伍迪和小皮普。他们出去收集橡子了，但现在他们完全失踪了。噢，可怜的我，可怜的我啊！”

While Mrs Acorn and Mrs Hazelnut were enjoying their coffee, there was a knock at the door and in came Mr Squirrel.

“Forgive me for disturbing you, Mrs Acorn,” he began, “but I’ve had my eye on those empty rooms downstairs for some time. They look just right for my growing family. Do you think there is any chance I might rent them from you?”

“I’m sorry,” said Mrs Acorn firmly, “but we can’t have squirrels in this tree. You would take all our acorns.” She gave a sudden deep sigh, thinking of her two missing boys.

“What is the matter, Mrs Acorn?” asked Mr Squirrel.

“It’s my boys, Woody and Little Pip. They went out to collect acorns and now they’ve completely disappeared. Oh, poor me, poor me!”

“请不要自寻烦恼，”松鼠先生用一种安慰的语气说道。“我会为你找到他们的。不管他们去了哪儿，我都会找到他们，然后把他们带回家。”

黑兹尔——榛子夫人那个最小的孩子，悄无声息地慢慢爬到了松鼠先生的背后。她把自己藏在松鼠先生毛茸茸的尾巴里，然后紧紧地抓住不放。甚至松鼠先生道了别跨出门槛的时候，都没能注意到。

“Don’t upset yourself,” said Mr Squirrel in a comforting voice. “I’ll find them for you. Wherever they’ve gone, I’ll find them and bring them home.”

Hazel, the youngest Hazelnut, kept very quiet and started to creep behind Mr Squirrel. She hid herself right inside his furry tail, then hung on tight. Even Mr Squirrel did not notice as he said goodbye and bounded off through the door. 5Yl1BKmRfLaZCMOkadIsdTTyqH09Fnsm9uQK7fmTPVwL8j/ilzd9xJtA7H86SSUw