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A rather insipid story for very, very young children about a bird, a <!--more-->

I apologize for not posting a while, I've been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life's been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I'll have some interesting new posts from here. 

Anyway, not sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it's supposed to have one at all. Maybe "don't gossip"? Or "don't make wild assumptions?" Not sure. I'd say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means "My goodness!" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it's a good interjection to use when you're shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don't want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn't always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used as a good word. Because the word 天 "Tian" ends with an "n" and the word 哪 "na" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like "Tian ah!" rather than "Tian na".

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[one_third last=last]
<div class="postintro">
<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
穿 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear
舔 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick
仰 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards
顺口 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it
于是 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus
低下头 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one's head
耳朵 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear
突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly
脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)
套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase
差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy
红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red
光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none
</div>
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<div id="chinesetext">
一只白鹭在浅浅的池水中站着。

　　一只小刺猬走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有脑袋！”

　　“真的！”一只小鼹鼠也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”

　　“假如我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。

　　“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。

　　这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。

　　白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”

　　小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:

　　“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”
</div>
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[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink="SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION"]
An egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. 

A hedgehog walked up and said, "Goodness gracious! 一只小刺猬走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有脑袋！”

　　“真的！”一只小鼹鼠也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”

　　“假如我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。

　　“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。

　　这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。

　　白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”

　　小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:

　　“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”
[/hide-this-part][/one_half]