Laugh Is The Cure 笑是解方

提要

人人都會笑，但未必都了解笑的力量，當今疫情侵襲、學業艱難、事業坎坷，家庭負擔……在現實生活的磨難下，不少人眉頭緊鎖、苦澀無奈。殊不知生活就如同一面鏡子，如果你想要它對你笑，只有先對它笑。只要常掛著發自內心的笑容，就能用嘴角上揚的弧度，打敗失意和沮喪。



Alex the lion lived in the jungle. He was big, strong, and had a flowing mane. He also had the mightiest and loudest roar in the jungle, which could be heard for miles around. Alex was indeed a splendid creature, but he was depressed and terribly unhappy. He suffered from a small problem that he was not able to solve. Alex had recurring bouts of hiccups.

It was annoying because it never left him. It followed him everywhere. It affected his hunting, stalking, and even when he was relaxing. Alex was ready to try just about anything to cure his hiccups.

At first, Alex just ignored them, thinking that it would go away after a good night's sleep. However, he was wrong. The moment he woke up the next morning and it would start again. Alex grew terribly depressed day by day.

One morning, He went to see his friend Mel the Giraffe. He thought as Mel had a long neck, he surely would have an answer to his problem.

"I have got the hiccups, and I have just about tried everything. It just does not seem to go away. Perhaps, you can suggest a way to get rid of them," said Alex.

"Just watch me," said Alex. Mel the Giraffe bent down and stared curiously at Alex. Suddenly, Alex let out three loud hiccups, "Hic, Hic, and Hic."

"Oh dear me, that is really peculiar. You do seem to have a problem there," said Mel the Giraffe.

"I think you have this problem because you have such a small neck. If you had a long neck like mine, I don't think you would ever get this problem. Do you think you can make your neck a bit longer?"

"No," growled Alex angrily. "Besides, I like my neck the way it is."

"Too bad," said Mel the Giraffe. "I think you would then be stuck with the hiccups."

Mel got a bit curt and walked away, leaving Alex behind with his hiccups.

Just then, Bono, the rabbit happened to dart across.

"Hey you," growled Alex, "Come over here."

Bono looked at Alex and trembled.

"Don't be afraid," thundered Alex. Just then, he got a bad attack of his hiccups. The hiccups interrupted their conversation.a

"I need some advice," said Alex. "Do you know a method to get rid of these hiccups?"

Bono the rabbit watched curiously and said, "You are a big and mighty lion. Why don't you frighten them away?"

"How?" asked Alex.

"By roaring, of course." Said Bono.

That seemed a good idea, thought Alex.

Between hiccups, he let out two mighty roars. Roars, so powerful, that they shook the jungle. Bono ran off when he heard the echo. Even, Alex got a bit frightened. For a minute, the hiccups stopped, and Alex was thrilled. Then a minute later, he felt the familiar twitch and it again restarted.

Bambi, the deer who was watching all this came and told Alex that it was stupid if he thought he could frighten the hiccup off with a roar.

"Then how do I get rid of them?" asked Alex desperately.

"Well, by running away them of course," she said. "Whenever something bothers me, I just run away from it."

Alex thought about this for a while and it seemed like a good idea. "Perhaps, if I run fast enough, I could get away from the hiccups," he thought.

Alex ran with all his might with his splendid mane flying through the air, and all the animals giving way for him. Alex ran until he was exhausted. Wearily he sat down and noticed that his hiccups had gone. "I have done it at last," said Alex.

He went down to the stream for a drink and drank until his stomach was full. No sooner, he finished drinking, the familiar twitch returned, and the hiccups started again.

Poor Alex, he burst into tears. He was sobbing so hard between his hiccups when Smarty the Jackal passed by and could not help wonder the reason for Alex's sadness.

"What's the problem, Alex?" asked Smarty.

Alex then narrated his tale of woe and Smarty the jackal started laughing so hard, that made Alex irritated.

"You know, what is your problem, Alex? You have hiccups because you don't laugh enough," said Smarty.

"How can I laugh, when there is nothing funny to laugh about?" quipped Alex.

"Well, there is always something funny to laugh about. For example, who has ever heard of a lion with hiccups?" said Smarty, and he started laughing.

Alex thought for a while and Smarty's laughter was so infectious that he too could not help laughing.

He laughed so much that he was rolling in the ground with laughter.

Suddenly, Smarty said, "That was fun wasn't it, and did you notice that your hiccups to have vanished?"

Alex got up with a start and realized that what Smarty said was correct. He waited for a minute and it did not reappear.

"I have got rid of the hiccups," he cried, and began to laugh all over again.

To this day, Alex did never have hiccups, although he laughs a little every day, just in case they might strike again.



解說

獅子艾力住在叢林裡，牠又大又壯，還有一頭飄逸的鬃毛。牠能發出林中最強勁、最響亮的吼聲，幾英里之外都聽得到。艾力雖是個出色的生物，卻非常沮喪不開心。牠必須忍受一個牠無法解決的問題：經常性的打嗝。

這很糟糕，因為打嗝從未消失，簡直可說是如影隨形，影響了牠的日常生活，甚至在牠休息時也停不下來。為了治好打嗝，艾力準備嘗試任何方法。

剛開始，艾力忽視它，以為睡個覺就會好，然而不是這麼回事，第二天早上醒來又會重新開始，艾力變得更加沮喪。

一天早上，艾力去找朋友長頸鹿梅爾。牠認為，梅爾的脖子很長，肯定會有答案的。

「我打嗝，我幾乎試了所有方法都不能讓它消失，也許你有擺脫的方法。」艾力說。

「看我。」艾力說，長頸鹿梅爾彎下腰，好奇地盯著艾力，突然，艾力發出三個響亮的聲音，「嗝嗝嗝」。

「哦，天哪，這真的很奇怪，你似乎確有問題。」梅爾說。

「我認為會有這個問題，是因為你的脖子這麼短。如果你有像我一樣有長脖子，永遠不會遇到這種問題，你覺得你能把脖子弄長一點嗎？」

「不能。」艾力怒吼：「況且，我喜歡我脖子現在的樣子。」

「太糟糕了。」長頸鹿梅爾說：「我想你會被這打嗝給困住啦。」

梅爾草草結束對話，走開了，留下打嗝的艾力。

這時，兔子波諾碰巧飛奔而過。

「嘿，你這傢伙。」艾力咆哮著：「過來。」波諾顫抖著看著艾力。

「別怕啦。」艾力吼聲如雷，就在這時，一陣的嚴重打嗝，打斷了牠們的談話。

「我需要建議。」艾力說：「你知道擺脫打嗝的方法嗎？」

兔子波諾好奇地看著牠說：「你是一頭威武的獅子，怎麼不把打嗝嚇跑呢？」

「怎麼把打嗝嚇跑？」艾力問。

「當然是咆哮囉。」波諾說。

這似乎是個好主意，艾力想。

打嗝之間，牠發出兩聲威猛的吼聲，強大的聲響震撼了整個叢林，甚至讓艾力自己也有點害怕，波諾一聽到回音就趕緊跑了。一分鐘後，打嗝停止了，讓艾力非常欣喜；但再過一分鐘後，那熟悉的抽搐感覺，又重新開始。

眼看著這一切的小鹿斑比走過來告訴艾力，如果認為可以用吼叫聲嚇跑打嗝，是非常愚蠢的。

「那我要怎麼才能不打嗝？」艾力絕望地問。

「嗯，當然是逃跑。」斑比說。「每當有什麼困擾我時，我就逃避它。」

艾力想了一會兒，這似乎是個好主意。「也許如果我跑得夠快，就可以擺脫打嗝了。」牠想。

艾力全力狂奔，華麗的鬃毛在空中飛舞，所有的動物都閃開讓路。一直跑到筋疲力盡的牠，疲倦地坐下，發現打嗝已經消失了，「我終於做到了。」艾力說。

牠到溪邊喝水，直到肚子鼓起來，喝完沒多久，熟悉的抽搐再現，又開始打嗝了。

可憐的艾力淚流滿面。當胡狼小聰明經過時，看到艾力邊打嗝邊抽泣，不禁想知道牠悲傷的原因。

「什麼問題困擾你啊，艾力？」小聰明問道。

於是艾力講述了牠的悲慘故事，胡狼小聰明開始大笑，讓艾力很火大。

「艾力，你知道問題是什麼嗎？你打嗝是因為你笑得不夠多。」小聰明說。

「沒什麼好笑的事，我怎麼笑得出呢？」艾力沒好氣地說。

「嗯，總有些有趣的事情可以笑的啦，好比說，誰聽說過打嗝的獅子？」小聰明說，然後開始大笑。

艾力想了想，小聰明的笑聲太有感染力了，牠也忍不住笑了起來。

笑得太厲害了，牠笑得在地上打滾。

突然，小聰明說：「很有趣不是嗎，你有沒有發現你的打嗝消失了？」

艾力猛地站了起來，發現小聰明說的對。牠等了一會兒，也沒有再打嗝。

「我總算不再打嗝了。」牠大喊，然後又開始笑。

從那天起，獅子艾力沒再打嗝過，但牠每天都會笑一會兒，以免打嗝「再次來襲」。