Rocky Raccoon was playing byhimself at the park. He noticed a groupof squirrels nearby， playing soccer withan acorn1. It looked like fun， and Rockywished he could play， too. However，thinking about talking to others made himnervous2 and he wasn’t sure how to start.

Why would they want to play withme？ He thought. I’m not special. Maybethere’s a way I could makemyself different. Then theymight be more interested in me.Rocky scratched3 his headand wondered4 what he could do.If he pretended5 to be from anothercountry， the squirrels would thinkthat was cool. He could talk in a"different way. He looked around foranything to help him look different， too.There wasn’t much in the park except6for an empty7 potato chip bag. Rockypicked it up and put it on his head.

“Here goes nothing，” he said tohimself and went over to the squirrels.They stopped running after each other tolook at the raccoon. “Good day， mates，”he said.

“Uh， hi...” said a couple of theanimals， not sure what to make of Rockyin his funny hat and strange accent8.

“How’s it going？ Fine afternoonfor a game of footy9， don’t ya think？”Rocky said.

The squirrels just looked at him.One of them shrugged10 his shoulders. Atlast， one said，“What did you just say？”

“Uh... nice afternoon for a soccergame， right？”Rocky said， embarrassed11.

“Oh， yeah， sure it is. Sorry， wedidn’t understand you at first.”

“That may be because I’m fromAustralia，”said the raccoon. “It’s reallyfar away.”

“Is that so？ How did you gethere？”asked a curious12 squirrel.

“I’m kind of a world traveler，”said Rocky.

A little brown squirrel spoke up.“I have a squirrel cousin in Australia.He told me they don’t have raccoons inthat country.”

Rocky’s smile was gone.Was that true？ Now theymust know he was faking13his accent. How embarrassing！Maybe he should just runaway from them. He took adeep breath14.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t thetruth. I made up being fromAustralia so you would think I’minteresting and want to play withme. But I’m just a regular15raccoon.”He looked at the ground，afraid they would laugh at him.

But the squirrels did notlaugh. They came closer to him. Agrey squirrel reached out and patted16 Rocky on the shoulder.“Let me tell you something，buddy17. You may not be fromAustralia， but you are certainlyvery interesting！ ”He smiled.

The little brown squirrel spokeup， “Yeah， you don’t have to pretendto be something you’re not. If youwanted to come play soccer with us，you could have just asked！ ” Theothers said yes as well.

“Do you still want to play？”The grey squirrel tossed18 the acornto the raccoon.

Rocky said， “Yes， please. Thatwould be great.”

“Then come on！ But first youmight want to take that thing off yourhead.” He looked at the chip bagRocky was still wearing.

With a laugh， Rocky took theempty bag off his head and ran off toplay with his new friends.

浣熊洛奇獨自在公園玩耍。它注意到附近有一群松鼠在把橡子當(dāng)足球踢?？雌饋砗苡腥?，洛奇希望自己也能玩。然而，一想到要和別人說話它就緊張，不知道如何開口。

它們?yōu)槭裁匆臀乙黄鹜婺?？它想，我并不特別。也許有辦法讓我變得與眾不同。那么它們可能會對我更感興趣一點。

洛奇撓了撓頭，不知道自己能做什么。如果它假裝來自另一個國家，松鼠們一定會覺得很酷。它可以用不一樣的方式說話。它環(huán)顧四周，再尋找任何能讓它看起來與眾不同的東西。除了一個空薯片袋外，公園里沒有什么東西了。洛奇把它撿起來戴在頭上。

“不管那么多了?！彼鼘ψ约赫f，然后朝松鼠們走過去。它們停止了追逐，看向浣熊。“日安，伙計們?！彼f。

“呃，你好……”幾只動物說，拿不準(zhǔn)戴著滑稽帽子、口音奇怪的洛奇有什么意圖。

“你們好嗎？真是個適合踢足球的美好下午，你們不覺得嗎？”洛奇說。

松鼠們只是看著它。其中一只聳了聳肩。最后，有只松鼠說：“你剛才說什么？”

“呃……這個下午正適合足球比賽，對吧？”洛基很尷尬，說道。

“哦，是的，當(dāng)然是。對不起，我們一開始沒聽懂你的話。”

浣熊說：“那可能是因為我來自澳大利亞。那兒真的很遠?！?/p>

“ 是這樣嗎？ 你是怎么來的？”一只好奇的松鼠問道。

“我算是一個環(huán)球旅行者?！甭迤嬲f。

一只棕色的小松鼠大聲說：“我在澳大利亞有一個松鼠表弟。它告訴我那個國家沒有浣熊?！?/p>

洛奇的笑容消失了。那是真的嗎？現(xiàn)在它們肯定知道它在冒充外國口音了。好尷尬！也許它應(yīng)該離開它們。它深吸了一口氣。

“我很抱歉。那不是事實。我假裝自己來自澳大利亞，這樣你們就會覺得我很有趣，想和我一起玩。但我只是一只普通的浣熊。”它看著地面，害怕它們會嘲笑自己。

但是松鼠們沒有笑，而是走近它。一只灰色松鼠伸出手拍了拍洛奇的肩膀?！白屛腋嬖V你一些事情，朋友。你可能不是從澳大利亞來的，但你肯定非常有趣！”它笑了。

棕色小松鼠大聲說“： 是的，你不必假裝成另一個人。如果你想和我們一起踢足球，你可以直接問我們！”其他松鼠也表示贊同。

“你還想玩嗎？”灰松鼠把橡子扔給浣熊。

洛奇說“： 想玩。太好了。”

“那就來吧！但首先你可能要把那東西從你頭上摘下來?！彼戳丝绰迤嫒匀淮髦氖砥?。

洛奇笑著把空袋子從頭上摘下來，跑去和它的新朋友們玩了。

（英語原文選自：readingvine.com）

▏Notes

1. acorn 橡子，橡實

2. nervous 神經(jīng)緊張的，擔(dān)憂的

3. scratch （用指甲）撓，輕抓

4. wonder 想知道，好奇

5. pretend 偽裝，假裝

6. except 除……外，不包括

7. empty 空的

8. accent 口音，腔調(diào)

9. footy lt;英gt;足球；（澳大利亞，新西蘭）英式橄欖球

10. shrug （表示不知道或不感興趣）聳（肩）

11. embarrassed 尷尬的，窘迫的

embarrassing 使人尷尬的，使人難堪的

12. curious 好奇的，求知欲強的

13. fake 偽造，冒充；假裝，佯裝

14. breath 呼吸，氣息

15. regular 普通的，平凡的

16. pat 輕拍

17. buddy lt;非正式gt;朋友；老兄，兄弟

18. toss （輕輕地或隨意地）扔，拋，擲