Introduction
The little blue elephant is not happy with being blue and different. How does he become happy again with this colour?
如上图所示，本文通过Word 2019统计出来的Grade Level是4.5，相当于国内使用人教社中小学英语教材的八九年级学生。如果是使用上海教材的学生，则六七年级即可试着读一读。
Time Life
A Child's First Library of Values
The Little Blue Elephant
Deep in the heart of the jungle a new baby elephant is born. Lots of elephants are born in the jungle. But this is the first time that a baby elephant is blue. The little blue elephant doesn't know that he is different. He's happy being blue.
“Hey, look at that baby elephant,” sniggers the monkey. “He's blue.”
“I thought elephants were supposed to be grey.” says the Angelo.
“What's wrong with blue?” Asks his mother proudly. “It's a lovely color. He is a beautiful blue elephant.”
But the monkeys just laugh. “ho ho ha ha ha ha.”
The little blue elephant begins to feel sad. His mother adores him, but all the other animals stare at him. He wonders why the color of his skin is so different. The lion is a yellow color, and the giraffe has brown markings. The deer and the wild boar are golden, brown, and even the hippopotamus is gray like the baby elephant’s mother.
“I must find some animals with the same color skin as me,” says the little elephant.
He doesn't have to go too far. Before he finds some birds singing cheerfully in the trees, the birds are a bright, blue color.
“Hey, you are blue just like me,” he calls out. But as he walks over to the birds, they all fly away. Then the little blue elephant comes across two older elephants and a hippo washing themselves in the lake.
“That's a good idea.” He says to himself, “if I go and bathe in the lake, my skin will soon be the same color as theirs.”
The little blue elephant washes himself for a long time, but it doesn't make any difference. He's still as blue as the sky.
Now the little blue elephant is very sad. He makes his way slowly up into the fields where he sees lots of beautiful blue flowers. The flowers are being blown by the wind. They look so pretty.
“Hello, flowers,” says the elephant sadly. “You are the same color as me. I wish you are animals, not flowers, because then you could be my friends.”
The flowers just flutter in the wind. The little blue elephant feels very lonely. He walks towards the sea, singing to the seagulls.
“The blue birds flew away. The blue flowers counter to me. There aren’t any blue animals. There's no one to play with me.”
At the seaside, the sea is a bright blue color. It lapsed gently against the shore, and the seagulls circle around the little blue elephant’s head.
He sighs, “hello, big blue ocean, you are the same color as me,” he says, “but I'm looking for blue friends.”
He waves his trunk and bids farewell to the seashore. The little blue elephant walks for a while longer. Suddenly, he finds himself in a village. It's a very quiet village. All the houses have red roofs and brightly colored flowers growing outside. The little blue elephant swings his trunk for a while.
“I won't find any blue friends here.” he says to himself and turns to leave. Suddenly he hears a noise, a loud noise. The sound of a drum and trumpets fills the air. The little blue elephant hides behind the wall. When he peeps around the corner, he sees a brass band parade with lots of people in bright blue uniforms. They're exactly the same color blue as himself.
The little blue elephant follows the band. After a while, comes across a group of children laughing and playing in the school playground. He can't believe his eyes, all the children are wearing blue overalls. They're the same color as him.
“Hello, Mr. elephant,” “Hi there, Mr. elephant,” they call to him.
“Do you want to play with us, Mr. elephant?” The little blue elephant is delighted. He's never been so happy. After school, the children take off their blue overalls and rush out to meet the little blue elephant. Underneath their overalls, they are wearing different colored clothes. At first, the little blue elephant is disappointed. He thinks that the children won't want to play with him anymore, because they are no longer the same color as him. But the children don't mind what color he is.
“That's just our clothes. Silly.” They laugh.
“Let's play a game.”
The little blue elephant plays with the children until the sun begins to set.
“I have to go home now,” he tells them, “my mother is waiting for me.”
The children are sad to see the elephant go. They give him a bunch of pretty pink flowers to remember them by.
“Goodbye,” they call after him. “Come and play with us again soon.”
The little blue elephant is very happy. “All animals can be my friends.” He tells himself, “It doesn't matter what color they are.”
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