贝贝熊学英语系列- Trouble with Grownups 

[前言] The Berenstain Bears – Stories are set in Bear Country, a society composed entirely of bears. Story lines typically follow the Bear family as they deal with topics relevant to both children and parents. It is a series of excellent books to learn child education and parenting skills.  Lilac09 rewrites these stories for English studying.   

Grownups and cubs get quite a surprise
When they see themselves through the other’s eyes. 
          

Even though it was bright and clear outside the Bear family’s tree house, there was a storm brewing (暴风雨酝酿) inside. It would be wrong to say that cubs and grownups are natural enemies, but it would be fair to say that sometimes they just can’t get along. 

This was a typical day. Papa Bear was so angry when he found part of his newspaper was missing. It didn’t take him long to find Brother Bear and the sports section. He snatched it up and plumped down in the chair (一屁股重重地坐下). Brother wandered into the kitchen looking for sympathy from Mama Bear, which unfortunately he didn’t get. “Your dad has a perfect right to be annoyed when half of the paper is missing”, said Mama.  

Mama was also annoyed with Sister who had been hogging (霸占) the phone with her best friend Lizzy for almost an hour.  “But Mama”, Sister protested when she was told to hang up. * “Don’t ‘But Mama’ me!” said Mama. “This is not a private phone.” 

Later at dinner, Brother and Sister got into a little more trouble. They didn’t like the meal at all. It was peas and mashed potatoes again, 3 days in a row (连续三天). Brother played peas with his fork while Sister was making volcano out of her mashed potatoes. “Food is to eat, not to play with.” Of course Mama and Papa scolded them again. 

The next morning, the trouble started again with the school notice. Brother and sister totally forgot to hand over their school notice to Mama and Papa until the last minute. There was a schedule conflict. Brother and Sister had to stay late after school to plan for the Parents Night Talent show while Mama and Papa had their own plans for them. “You cubs would forget your heads if they weren’t attached to your shoulders! (so ture :))” roared Papa. 

On their way to school, Brother and sister met Lizzy and Cousin Fred. The four compared notes (交换意见) on the bus and agreed that while there was no doubt that their parents loved them but it was hard to get along with them sometimes. They nagged; they said no a lot; and they never wanted cubs to have any fun. 

Since they hadn’t had any idea for their talent show, suddenly something struck Brother. “Why don’t we put on an a play (上演, 演出) about the trouble with grownups to show what a big pain it is?  “Sensational!” (太赞了) shouted all four and they did it all in secret. 

There was a lot of talent at the Bear Country School, and all the *acts (演出) did pretty well, but it was Brother, Sister, Fred and Lizzy’s play was the hit of the show. 

The audience of parents laughed and laughed when they saw how they seemed to be their cubs. Mama laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. Mama and Papa admitted that it helped them understand what it was like being a cub. 

The next morning Mama and Papa had a bit of surprise for their cubs. Mama was wearing a grownup-size pink jumper (无袖套衫). She looked like a huge Sister Bear. Papa, wearing a red top and blue bottoms, looked like a gigantic Brother Bear.  Then they began acting like cubs. They made a fuss about (对…过于注意, 小题大做) food. They threw things all over the floor. They messed up the living room. They banged the door so hard it shook the whole house. Sister and Brother got a big headache from it.  

And they started to get that Mama and Papa were showing them what it was like having to pick up after (在后面收拾) them and what they seemed to be their parents.   

As a song singing, it’s easy to love each other but hard to live together. Understanding is a two-way street.  Let’s try to feel what others feel and learn to compromise for the goodness of our families.  

act: (一)幕

 Most modern plays have three acts.

 大多数现代戏剧有三幕。 

Don’t ‘But Mama’ me!
少给我来“但是妈妈”这一套

英语中，这种用法很常见，比如啥事把女朋友或者老婆大人惹毛了，一口一个甜心宝贝地叫着赔不是，结果被呵斥“Don’t ‘sweetie’ me! Go scrub the toilet bowl “ 少给我来“甜心宝贝”这一套, 刷马桶去吧