许其正：会讲话的八哥

傍晚到公园做运动时

看见有人提着鸟笼

里面关着一只八哥

“你们看！它会讲话呢！”

那人自夸着，然后向八哥说：

“你说我会讲话。”

那只八哥照样跟着说了一遍

围观的人大为赞赏

那人又说了一些让它跟

它都能如主人所示照说

那人继续逗它讲话

并不停地夸说他如何细心照顾训练它

尽量给它美食，尽量给它优厚的处遇

耐心一遍遍教它学说话……

当太阳西下天将黑时

他提着鸟笼带着八哥走了

围观的人以羡慕的眼光目送他离去

我却不以为然地在心中说：

“再给它怎么优厚的处遇

还不如给送回山林里去

毕竟那里才是鸟的家园！”

The Talking Mynah　Hsu ChiCheng

In the evening when I go sporting in the park

I see somebody holding a birdcage

Which contains a mynah

“You see, it can talk!”

The man brags, and then speak to his mynah:

“You say I can talk.”

And the mynah repeats the sentence

All the watchers are surprised

The man speaks on and the mynah follows

And repeats his words

And the man keeps it talking

While bragging how he carefully trains it

And nurtures it with delicious food, plus other comfort

And how he teaches it speak time and again …

When the sun sets in the west and dusk approaches

He departs with the birdcage and mynah

All the watchers, filled with admiration, watch him leaving

But I say in my heart disapprovingly:

“Whatever comfort offered to it

Is no better than send it back to mountain forest

Which is the paradise of birds!”

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