There is a village of witches in the hills.There are many different witches， including Lazy Witch， Good Witch， Hasty Witch， Bad Witch， Sour Witch， Salty Witch... They live at the foot of the hills， somewhere in the middle of the hills， on the top of the hills， and at the back of the hills...

山里面有一個巫婆村，巫婆村里住著各種各樣的巫婆。有懶巫婆、好巫婆、急巫婆、壞巫婆、酸巫婆、咸巫婆……她們有的住在山腳下，有的住在半山腰，有的住在山頂上，還有的住在山背后……

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Hasty Witch’s pet phrase (口頭禪) is “Hurry!Hurry!Hurry up!” Whatever she does， she does it in a hurry. She will wear one cotton shoe on one foot， a sandal (涼鞋) on the other; or a boot (皮靴) on one foot， a slipper (拖鞋) on the other. She is always in a hurry and has no time to choose shoes. She always washes only half of her face， so half of her face is clean and the other half is dirty. As for cleaning her teeth， she just put the brush into her mouth. One， two， three， it is finished!So all of her teeth become rotten (腐爛的) off and fall out. However， she doesn’t feel worried. But she thinks this couldn’t be better， for whenever she is eating， she doesn’t have to chew (咀嚼) slowly， and all she has to do is to swallow (吞咽) the food. That is quick!

急巫婆的口頭禪是：“快！快快！快快快！”急巫婆做什么都急，她腳上常常穿一只棉鞋，一只涼鞋；要么一只皮靴，一只拖鞋。她急呀，顧不上挑選嘛！洗臉，洗了左邊，顧不上右邊，她的臉總是一半白，一半黑；刷牙，牙刷塞進(jìn)嘴里，一、二、三！刷完了！所以她的牙齒都蛀壞、掉光了。但急巫婆覺得這樣很不錯，吃東西再也不用細(xì)嚼慢咽，直接吞下去就行，這才叫快！

One day， she has a date with Good Witch—to fly with her in her flying basket to pick up some herbs (草藥) the next day. Hasty Witch is very worried and wakes up at midnight. “Oh， dear， it is almost daylight now!I must be quick!” Then she rushes to Good Witch’s house， only to be told that it is only 1:30 a.m.. Hearing this， Hasty Witch becomes more anxious. “I must hurry!I need to go back immediately (立刻) to sleep!” Three minutes after she sleeps in her own bed， she wakes up again and rushes to Good Witch’s house again. This time she is told that it is only 1:55 a.m. So she sleeps， wakes up， and then rushes to Good Witch’s house... It was for the seventeenth time that finally the first daylight appeared on the eastern horizon.

一天，急巫婆跟好巫婆約好，第二天乘好巫婆的飛籃一起去采草藥。急巫婆心里好急，睡到半夜就醒了，“不好，天要亮了吧？我得快點！”說著就趕往好巫婆家，可是，好巫婆告訴她，現(xiàn)在是半夜一點半，急巫婆一聽就急了，“快！我要趕快回去睡覺！”剛睡了三分鐘，她又醒了，急忙爬起來趕往好巫婆家，但好巫婆告訴她，現(xiàn)在是凌晨一點五十五分。她就這么醒了睡，睡了醒，往好巫婆家跑了足足十七次，天才算亮了。

“Quick!Quick!Quick!” Hasty Witch urges (催促) Good Witch while still yawning (打呵欠). Then they set off in the flying basket. The basket is flying slowly in the air when Hasty Witch says， “This is too slow! This is too slow!” Good Witch tells her that flying in the sky is much faster than walking on the land and they will soon arrive at the hill of herbs. But Hasty Witch is just too impatient to listen， and she insists (堅持) on walking on the land. “I can walk faster!” Good Witch has to let her walk and she continueds her voyage in the basket. Hasty Witch takes great trouble in climbing one hill after another—her robe is torn apart (扯破)， her shoes are lost and sweat (汗水) is pouring down like rain.

“快！快快！快快快！”她一邊打著呵欠，一邊催著好巫婆，兩人終于乘著飛籃出發(fā)了。飛籃在天空悠悠地飛，急巫婆卻說：“太慢了，太慢了?！焙梦灼耪f，在天上飛，比在地上走快多了，她們很快就能到達(dá)草藥山的。可急巫婆急得不行，一定要下去走，“我走路可快啦！”好巫婆只好讓急巫婆去走路，自己乘著飛籃繼續(xù)飛。急巫婆爬了一座山，又翻一個嶺，袍子劃破了，鞋子跑掉了，汗水像雨一樣淌下來。

A while later， Good Witch and her basket land safely on the hill of herbs. She starts gathering herbs， and then she eats her lunch， and gathers some more herbs. It is not until late that afternoon that Hasty Witch finally arrives. But the sun is setting at that time. Seeing this， Hasty Witch starts hurriedly to gather herbs. But when she starts doing so， she falls to the ground because she is so tired， and then she falls asleep. While awake， Hasty Witch finds herself lying in her own bed. What happened is that Good Witch takes her back in her flying basket while she is sleeping. A piece of motherwort (益母草) is all she gets from this trip， and it is a gift from Good Witch.

飛籃很快到達(dá)草藥山，好巫婆采草藥，吃中飯，又采草藥，忙了一個大白天，才看到急巫婆急急趕來。這時，太陽快落山了。一見太陽落山，急巫婆急壞了，馬上就采草藥，可是她剛一動手，就累得一頭栽倒在地，睡著了。等急巫婆醒來，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已經(jīng)躺在家里。原來是好巫婆把她扶上飛籃，帶回了巫婆村。急巫婆的收獲只有一根益母草——那還是好巫婆送給她的。

Bad Witch feels it is a good thing to be a bad witch， for she can be unreasonable （蠻不講理的） and selfish. Besides， she doesn’t have to feel even the least bit ashamed of it. And she decides that she will act like this forever.

壞巫婆覺得做個壞巫婆是件好事，因為她總是可以蠻不講理、自私自利，還一點都不用難為情。她打算永遠(yuǎn)做一個壞巫婆。

Bad Witch owns one hill. She declares that the hill belongs to her. No one， without her permission， is allowed to pick the fruits， chop the firewood， drink the water from the fountains (噴泉) or to use the timber (木材)from there... On the other hand， whatever she eats， drinks and uses is taken from other witches’ hills. Bad Witch is always worried that other witches will take something from her hill just like what she does every day. And this disturbs (打擾) her so much that she is always in a bad mood from daybreak till dawn.

壞巫婆一個人占一個山頭。她宣布這座山就是她的，誰也不許摘她山上的果子，不許砍她山上的柴，不許喝她山上的泉水，不許用她山上的木料……但她自己吃的喝的用的，都要從別人住的山上弄來。壞巫婆總怕別人也像她那樣來弄她山上的東西，她一天到晚擔(dān)心這個擔(dān)心那個，心情很不好。

One day， she decided to take all good things from her hill and store them in her own house， and then no one can take them away. She acts without any delay. She pulls up all the trees from the hill overnight， makes them shrink (縮小) down and then she hides them under her bed. She also removes all the fountains into her magic pot in her house so that no one else can drink the spring water except her.

有一天，她決定要把山上所有的好東西都弄進(jìn)家里收起來，這樣，就沒人能拿走它們了。說干就干，她一夜間就連根拔光了山上所有的樹，用巫法把它們縮小了，藏在自己床底下。她還把山上的泉水全部接到她那口可以變大變小的缸里，讓誰也喝不到，除了她自己。

Unexpectedly (意料之外地)， a storm (暴雨) occurred that very night. As there is no tree on the hill now， no root holds the dirt. The dirt and stones flood down and wash down everything in their path， including Bad Witch and her house. The next day， Bad Witch is found sitting quietly at the foot of the hill， stunned (發(fā)呆)， with mud and rainwater all over her. Other witches come to help her and provide Bad Witch with a place to live， and some food to eat. Now Bad Witch is wondering whether she will continue to be a bad witch forever or not!

誰知，當(dāng)天夜里下起了暴雨。因為山上沒有了樹，沒有樹根來牢牢抓住泥土，泥土、石塊沖下來，壞巫婆連房子帶人都被沖下了山。第二天，巫婆們發(fā)現(xiàn)壞巫婆一身的爛泥巴，坐在山腳下發(fā)呆。她們紛紛來幫她，給她地方住，給她東西吃?，F(xiàn)在，壞巫婆打算考慮一下了，她是不是還要永遠(yuǎn)做一個壞巫婆。

（未完待續(xù)）