MOTHER, your baby is silly! She is so absurdly¹ childish²!She does not know the difference between the lights in the streets and the stars.

妈妈，你的孩子真傻！她是那末可笑地不懂得事！她不知道路灯和星星的分别。

When we play at eating with pebbles³, she thinks they are real food, and tries to put them into her mouth.

当我们玩着把小石子当食物的游戏时，她便以为它们真是吃的东西，竟想放进嘴里去。

When I open a book before her and ask her to learn her a, b, c, she tears the leaves with her hands and roars for joy at nothing; this is your baby's way of doing her lesson.

当我翻开一本书，放在她面前，在她读a，b，c时，她却用手把书页撕了，无端快活地叫起来，你的孩子就是这样做功课的。

When I shake my head at her in anger and scold her and call her naughty, she laughs and thinks it great fun.

当我生气地对她摇头，骂她，说她顽皮时，她却哈哈大笑，以为很有趣。

Everybody knows that father is away, but if in play I call aloud "Father," she looks about her in excitement and thinks that father is near.

谁都知道爸爸不在家，但是，如果我在游戏时高声叫一声“爸爸”，她便要高兴地四面张望，以为爸爸真是近在身边。

When I hold my class with the donkeys that our washerman brings to carry away the clothes and I warn her that I am the schoolmaster, she will scream for no reason and call me brother. [elder brother]

当我把洗衣人带来载衣服回去的驴子当做学生，并且警告她说，我是老师，她却无缘无故地乱叫起我哥哥来。

Your baby wants to catch the moon. She is so funny; she calls Ganesh. [Ganesh, a common name in India, also that of the god with the elephant's head.]

你的孩子要捉月亮。她是这样的可笑；她把格尼许唤作琪奴许。

Mother, your baby is silly, she is so absurdly childish!

妈妈，你的孩子真傻，她是那末可笑地不懂事！