一只杜鹃在树枝上发出阵阵哀啼，一只可爱的斑鸠听到了，便向它询问，希望能帮助它排忧解难。

A cuckoo in a tree was crowing sorrowfully. Hearing this, a caring turtledove asked about her sadness in the hope of helping¹ her out.

斑鸠站在枝头与它絮语：“杜鹃，你的呜叫为什么这样哀怨啊？是不是因为春天即将离开，冬天逼近，爱情也将逝去，阳光也不再和煦温暖啊？”

Standing² on a branch, the turtledove whispered to her, “my dear friend(注意中英文表达的差异), why are you crowing so gloomily? Are you worried about your love to be vanishing with the spring while the winter is approaching? Are you worried that the sunshine will soon be no longer warm?”

杜鹃悲哀地说：“我这样可怜，怎能不伤心？请你帮我评评理。今年春天我曾幸福地恋爱，不久就当上了母亲。谁知孩子们完全不想与我相认，难道这就是我所盼望的报恩？当我看到小鸭子把母鸭围住，十分亲呢，而母鸡一声召唤，小鸡就向母鸡扑去，我怎能不感到羡慕？而我无依无靠，孤孤单单，我根本不知道什么是孩子们对母亲的依恋。”

The cuckoo replied ruefully, “How can I not feel sad at my current poor situation? You see, this spring I was in a happy love, and soon had my own babies. Unexpectedly my children were unwilling³ to recognize me as their mother. Is this the gratefulness from children that every mother has been awaiting for？When seeing a mother duck crowded around intimately by her baby ducks and the chicks rushing to their mother joyfully⁴ with a simple call from the hen, how could I not feel jealous? But for me, I am alone and very lonely. I never feel the love from my children. ”

斑鸠回答道：“可怜的杜鹃，我对你深表同情。如果孩子们如此不孝顺，那我可无法忍受，尽管这类事层出不穷。可是你说你已经生育过孩子？你什么时候筑的巢，我怎么从没有看到呢？在我印象中你总是不停地飞来飞去。”

The turtledove replied with great sympathy, “My poor friend, I feel so sorry to hear that. If my children are not filial to me, I can by no means bear it even if it happens fairly often. But you say you have babies. However, I have not seen your nest until now! As far as I can remember, you are always flying here and there.”

杜鹃不屑地说：“浪费大好时光，卧在巢里去孵雏，做那种事简直愚笨如猪！我总是在别的鸟巢里下蛋，让它们替我孵。”

The cuckoo explained with disdainfulness, “It’s literally⁵ a waste of time and stupid to stay in the nest and hatch eggs. Instead I have laid eggs in others’ nests and let other birds to do the hatching job.

斑鸠禁不住讽刺道：“那你还希望从孩子们那里得到什么温暖？”

The turtledove mocked ironically, “If so, how can you expect any care from your children?”

让孩子缺少爱与关怀是一种罪过。如果在孩子的成长过程中，你没有给予足够的关爱，为他们营造一个温暖的环境，而把他们托付给那些冷漠的人照料，那么，当你年老时，孩子们不关爱你，也是你自己造成的！

It is a kind of guilt⁶ for parents not to give their children enough love and care. As a parent, if you do not bestow⁷ enough care and love on your children and create a warm living environment for them, and leave it done in others’ hands, then you should find no way to complain about your children’s apathy⁸ towards you when you become old because it is the result of what you have done!”