Thomas and Alfred were two best friends. Whenever it got hot, they would take their cows up to a cool, green pasture in the mountains. Usually they stayed there with the cows all summer. The work there in the mountains was easy, but really boring. All they did was tend their cows all day. They would return to their tiny hut at night. Every night they ate supper, worked in the garden, and went to sleep.
托馬斯和阿爾弗雷德是很要好的朋友。每到天熱的時(shí)候他們就把牛群趕到山里涼快的牧場(chǎng)去，而且通常一呆就是整個(gè)夏天。在山里放牧很輕松，但是也非常無(wú)聊。他們的所有工作就是白天看著牛群，晚上回到小木屋，吃完晚飯去菜園干一會(huì)兒活兒，然后就睡覺(jué)了。

Then one day, Thomas said "Let's make a life-size doll. We can put it in the garden and use it as a scarecrow." There was a farmer they both hated named Harold, so they decided to name the doll Harold and make it look like him. They made it out of straw and gave it a pointy nose and tiny eyes, like Harold's. Day after day, they would tie Harold to a pole in the garden to scare away the birds. They brought it in the house every night. Sometimes, they would talk to it, saying things like "How's it going?" And the other would say in a weird voice "Not good." Of course, Harold wouldn't appreciate it. When they were in a bad mood, they would even curse at him or kick him.
直到有一天，托馬斯說(shuō)，“我們做個(gè)假人吧，做個(gè)和真人一般大的放在菜園里當(dāng)?shù)静萑擞谩?rdquo;附近有個(gè)叫哈羅德的農(nóng)夫，他們都很討厭他，因此就按照哈羅德的樣子來(lái)做這個(gè)假人，并且給它起的名字就叫哈羅德。他們用稻草扎出人形，然后裝上了尖尖的鼻子和小小的眼睛，就和真的哈羅德一樣。從那天起，每天他們把哈羅德綁在菜園里的一根竿子上，用來(lái)嚇跑那些麻雀，然后晚上再拿進(jìn)屋來(lái)。有時(shí)他們也和它說(shuō)話，比如一個(gè)人說(shuō)“今天過(guò)得好嗎?”，隨后另一個(gè)就故意用很奇怪的語(yǔ)調(diào)說(shuō)“不太好!”。當(dāng)然了，稻草人是不會(huì)感激他們對(duì)自己的關(guān)心的。當(dāng)他們心情不好的時(shí)候，也會(huì)罵他幾句或者干脆踢上幾腳。

A while later, when Thomas was taking out his anger on Harold, Alfred swore he heard the doll grunt. "Did you hear that? Harold grunted!" "Impossible, he's just a sack of straw," replied Thomas. Alfred dismissed it, but they both stopped talking to it, kicking it, or even touching it, they just left him neglected in the corner of the room.
后來(lái)有一次，托馬斯心情不好拿哈羅德出氣，這時(shí)阿爾弗雷德發(fā)誓說(shuō)自己聽(tīng)到稻草人嘟囔了一聲，“你聽(tīng)見(jiàn)了嗎?哈羅德出聲了!”“不可能，他就是一袋稻草而已。”托馬斯回答說(shuō)。阿爾弗雷德不做聲了，但是他們不再和它說(shuō)話了，也不踢它了，甚至都不再碰它，只是扔到了墻角里。

After a while, they decided nothing was to be feared. Maybe a few bugs or rats were living in the straw. So they went back to their old routine. Every day, they would take it outside, and bring it back in at night. Then they even started treated him badly again.
過(guò)了沒(méi)多久，他們覺(jué)得其實(shí)并沒(méi)有什么好怕的，也許只是稻草里面有幾只蟲(chóng)子或者老鼠而已。隨后他們又和以前一樣了，白天把它拿出去晚上拿回來(lái)，也還是那么粗暴的對(duì)待它。

One night, Alfred noticed something that scared him. "It looks like Harold is growing." "I was thinking the same," answered Thomas. "Maybe it's just our imagination. I think the elevation is getting to us." The next morning, they saw Harold stand up and walk outside, climb onto the roof, and he stayed there all night. In the morning, it came down and stood in the pasture. They got very scared and decided to flee. They took their cows and started heading back down for the valley. After going only a mile or so, they realized they had forgotten the milking stools. They knew they didn't have the money to replace them, so Alfred forced himself back to get them. "I'll catch up with you later. You just keep moving." After walking for a while, Thomas looked back at the hut and did not see Alfred. What he did see, however, horrified him. He saw Harold, on the roof of the hut, stretching out a bloody piece of flesh to dry in the sun.
一天晚上，有件事把阿爾弗雷德嚇壞了，“我覺(jué)得好像哈羅德長(zhǎng)大了。”“我也有這個(gè)感覺(jué)，”托馬斯說(shuō)，“也許只是我們的想象吧，但是我覺(jué)得它快和我們一樣高了。”轉(zhuǎn)天早晨，他們見(jiàn)哈羅德站起來(lái)走了出去，隨后爬上屋頂在那呆了整整一夜，早上它又下來(lái)站在草地上。見(jiàn)到這一切他們很害怕，決定離開(kāi)這里，于是就趕著牛群往山谷外面走。走了大約一英里，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)擠奶用的凳子忘記拿了。阿爾弗雷德不得不回去取，因?yàn)樗麄儧](méi)有錢(qián)買(mǎi)新的，“你先走，我一會(huì)兒去追你。”托馬斯就繼續(xù)往前走，過(guò)了一會(huì)兒他回頭看了看那間小屋。然而，他并沒(méi)發(fā)現(xiàn)阿爾弗雷德，眼前的一幕讓他驚恐萬(wàn)分：哈羅德正在房頂上，鋪著血淋淋的一片肉，在太陽(yáng)下曬著呢!

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