A weedy encounter 雜草衝突記
Kathleen looked out her window one day and smiled.
“What a beautiful lawn. Mark has done a really good job taking care of the grass.”
She looked to the right and waved to her neighbor, who was weeding his garden. She looked ahead and saw another neighbor raking leaves.
But then she looked to the left.
Kathleen had never seen that neighbor tending to his property. The grass was above her head. An abandoned car was in the driveway. There were even vultures circling above.
“I’m going to go talk to that guy. He’s bringing down the value of my property,” Kathleen said.
She walked on the sidewalk to her neighbor’s front gate and began heading to his front door.
“I’ve never seen bushes this overgrown,” Kathleen thought.
She rang the doorbell and a large, hairy man answered.
“Oh my gosh! There’s a rat on my property!” he shouted, slamming the door behind him.
“Hmmph!“ Kathleen said. She rang the doorbell again.
The man cracked his door open.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“I want you to clean up your lawn. It’s a health hazard,” she said.
“Go away!” the man shouted.
Kathleen rang the doorbell again.
For a long time the man didn’t answer. Suddenly he opened the door and pushed out his housecat… (MICHAEL KEARNEY, STAFF WRITER)
有一天凱薩琳望著窗外,臉上露出笑意。
「好美的草坪,馬克真的把這塊草坪照顧得很好。」
她往右邊看,看到一個鄰居正在花園裡除草,便對他揮揮手;她往前看,看到另一個鄰居在清掃落葉。
接下來她看了看左邊。
凱薩琳從來沒有看過那個鄰居整理他家環境;花園裡的草長得比凱薩琳還高,車道上停了一輛廢棄的車,甚至還有禿鷹在上空盤旋。
凱薩琳說:「我要找那個傢伙談一談,他會降低我的房價。」
她走上人行道一路來到這個鄰居家的大門口,接著便朝他家前門走去。
凱薩琳心想:「我從沒看過長得這麼茂密的矮樹叢。」
她按門鈴後,一個渾身毛髮的高大男人出來應門。
「喔,我的天哪!我家裡有一隻老鼠!」他一面大叫,一面用力甩上門。
凱薩琳說:「啊!」她又按了一次門鈴。
那個男子碰一聲把門打開。
他問:「妳有何貴幹?」
她說:「我要你把你的草坪整理乾淨,它會危害我們的健康。」
這個男子大喊:「走開!」
凱薩琳又再按了一次門鈴。
這個男子過了很久都沒有應門;突然,他打開門,把他養的貓放了出來…(翻譯:袁星塵)
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