Chapter 7

Their homes were not the nurturing¹ places they once were.  The little people had difficulty sleeping and were having nightmares² about not finding any Cheese.

But Hem³ and Haw still returned to Cheese Station C and waited there every day.

Hem said, “You know, if we just work harder we’ll find that nothing has really changed that much.  The Cheese is probably nearby.  Maybe they just hid it behind the wall.”

The next day, Hem and Haw returned with tools.  Hem held the chisel⁴ while Haw banged on the hammer until they made a hole in the wall of Cheese Station C.  They peered⁵ inside but found no Cheese.

They were disappointed but believed that could solve the problem. So they started earlier, stayed longer, and worked harder.  But after a while, all they had was a large hole in the wall.

Haw was beginning to realize the difference between activity and productivity⁶.
“Maybe,” Hem said, “we should just sit here and see what happens.  Sooner or later they have to put the Cheese back.”

Haw wanted to believe that.  So each day he went home to rest and returned reluctantly with Hem to Cheese Station C.  But Cheese never reappeared.

By now the little people were growing weak from hunger and stress.  Haw was getting tired of just waiting for their situation to improve.  He began to see that the longer they stayed in their Cheesless situation, the worse off they would be.

Haw knew they were loosing their edge.

Finally, one day Haw began laughing at himself.  “Haw, Haw, look at me.  I keep doing the same things over and over again and wonder why things don’t get better.  If this wasn’t so ridiculous, it would be even funnier.”
Haw did not like the idea of having to run through the maze⁷ again, because he knew he would get lost and have no idea where he would find any Cheese.  But he had to laugh at his folly⁸ when he saw what his fear was doing to him.

He asked Hem, “Where did we put out jogging suits and running shoes?” It took a long time to find them because they had put everything away when they found their Cheese at Cheese Station C, thinking they wouldn’t be needing them anymore.

As Hem saw his friend getting into his running gear⁹, he said, “You’re not really going out into the maze again, are you? Why don’t you just wait here with me until they put the Cheese back?”

“Because, you just don’t get it,” Haw said. “I didn’t want to see it either, but now I realized they’re never going to put the Old Cheese back.  That was yesterday’s Cheese. It’s time to find New Cheese.
Hem argued, “But what if there is no Cheese out there? Or even if there is, what if you don’t find it?”

“I don’t know,” Haw said.  He had asked himself those same questions too many times and started to feel fears again that kept him where he was.

Then he thought about finding New Cheese and all the good things that came with it and gathered his courage.
 

 

他们的家，也不再是美好舒适的地方。他们睡不上一个安稳觉，而且每晚的时光伴着找不到奶酪的噩梦度过。

　　但他们仍然每天都回到奶酪C站，仍然每天在那里等待。

　　哼哼说：“你知道，如果我们再努力一些，我们也许会发现事情并没有发生太大的变化。奶酪也许就在附近，它们也许只是被人藏到墙后面去了。”

　　第二天，哼哼和唧唧带了工具回到奶酪C站。哼哼拿着凿子，唧唧则用锤子敲打。他们费了九牛二虎之力，终于在墙上打出了一个洞，朝里面窥视，却依旧没有发现奶酪的踪迹。

　　尽管他们感到非常失望，但他们仍然想念问题会得到解决。以后，他们起得更早，工作得更长、更努力。但是，一段时间以后，他们得到的只是一个个更大的空洞。

　　唧唧开始认识到行动和结果的区别。

　　“也许，”哼哼说：“我们只需要坐在这里，看看到底会发生什么事情。迟早他们会把奶酪再送回来。”

　　唧唧希望他说的是真的。这样，他每天回家休息，然后勉强陪着哼哼去奶酪C站查看情况。但是，奶酷始终没有再出现。

　　由于焦虑和饥饿，这两个小矮人已经变得有些虚弱。唧唧已经开始厌倦等待——完全被动地等着状况自己发生好转。他开始明白，他们在奶酪C站等待的时间越长，情况只会变得越糟糕。

　　唧唧明白，他们正在失去自己的优势。

　　终于，有一天，唧唧开始自己嘲笑起自己来了：“唧唧呀唧唧，看看你自己吧！你居然等到每天重复同样的错误，还总是奇怪、怀疑为什么情况还没有得到改善，还有什么比你这种做法更可笑的呢？这如果不是荒谬，就是滑稽。”

　　唧唧并不想再到迷宫中去奔波。他知道他可能会迷路，而且他也不知道究竟应该到哪儿去寻找新的奶酪。但当他明白正是他的恐惧感使他如此裹足不前、坐以待毙的时候，他嘲笑起自己的愚笨。

　　他问哼哼：“我们的运动衣和慢跑鞋放到哪里去了？”他花了很长的时间才翻出了那些运动装备。当初，他们在奶酪C站找到奶酪以后，就把鞋啊什么的都有扔到一边去了，因为他们满以为再也不会需要这些玩意儿了。

　　当哼哼看到他的朋友穿上运动服时，他说，“你不是真的要到迷宫中去吧？你为什么不留下来，和我一起在这里等，等着他们把奶酪送回来？“

　　“因为如果这么做，我们将永远不会得到那些奶酪，”唧唧大声说：“不会有人把奶酪送回来了，现在已经到了去寻找新奶酪的时候了，不要再想那些早已不存在的奶酪了！”

　　哼哼争辩说：“但是如果外面也没有奶酪怎么办？或者，即使有奶酪，但你找不到，又怎么办？”

　　“我不知道。”唧唧不耐烦地说。同样的问题，他已经问过自己多少遍了。他又感到了那种使他停滞不前的恐惧感。奶酪的喜悦再度鼓起了他的勇气。

　　他最后问自己：“你希望到哪里去找奶酪——这里还是迷宫中？”

　　于是他的脑中出现了一幅图画，他看见自己面带微笑地在迷宫中探险。

　　这样的景象让他有些惊慌，他发现自己终于克服了再次进入迷宫的恐惧。他看见自己在迷宫中迷了路但仍然满怀信心地在那里寻找新奶酪，一切美好的事物都随之而来。他又重新找回了自己的勇气。

　　于是，他尽量发挥自己想象力，在脑海中为自己描绘了一幅他最信赖的、最具有现实感受的图画——他在寻找和品尝新的奶酪。

　　他仿佛看见自己坐在一大堆奶酪中央，正在尽情品尝各种奶酪，像蜂窝状的瑞士奶酪、鲜黄的英国切达干酪、美国奶酪和意大利干酪，还有美妙又柔软的法国卡米伯特奶酪，等等。

　　唧唧简直想入了神，直到他听到哼哼在一边嘟囔着什么，他才意识到自己仍然还在奶酪C站。

1 nurturing   

养育( nurture的现在分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• These delicate plants need careful nurturing. 这些幼嫩的植物需要精心培育。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants. 这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

2 nightmares   

n.噩梦( nightmare的名词复数 )；可怕的事情，无法摆脱的恐惧

参考例句：

• He still has nightmares about the accident. 他仍然做噩梦梦见这场事故。
• Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideous dreams?\" 你难道不怕睡魇和凶梦吗？” 来自英汉文学 - 红字

3 hem   

n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制

参考例句：

• The hem on her skirt needs sewing.她裙子上的褶边需要缝一缝。
• The hem of your dress needs to be let down an inch.你衣服的折边有必要放长1英寸。

4 chisel   

n.凿子；v.用凿子刻，雕，凿

参考例句：

• This chisel is useful for getting into awkward spaces.这凿子在要伸入到犄角儿里时十分有用。
• Camille used a hammer and chisel to carve out a figure from the marble.卡米尔用锤子和凿子将大理石雕刻出一个人像。

5 peered   

去皮的

参考例句：

• He peeled away the plastic wrapping. 他去掉塑料包装。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The paint on the wall has peeled off. 墙上涂料已剥落了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 productivity   

n.生产力，生产率，多产

参考例句：

• Farmers are introducing in novations which increase the productivity.农民们正引进提高生产力的新方法。
• The workers try to put up productivity.工人设法提高生产率。

7 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

8 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

9 gear   

n.齿轮，传动装置，设备，衣服；vt.使适应

参考例句：

• We have to gear our lives to the new changes.我们必须使自己的生活适应新的变化。
• The teeth of the wheel gear into each other.齿轮互相啮合。