When Mrs. Frederick C. Little's second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse. The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way He was only about two inches high; and he had a mouse's sharp nose, a mouse's tail, a mouse's whiskers, and the pleasant, shy manner of a mouse. Before he was many days old he was not only looking like a mouse but acting like one, too -- wearing a gray hat and carrying a small cane. Mr. and Mrs. Little named him Stuart, and Mr. Little made him a tiny bed out of four clothespins and a cigarette box.
弗里德里克·C·利特尔先生的第二个儿子出世以后，每个见过他的人都发现他并不比一只老鼠大多少。事实上，这个婴儿看起来简直就像一只老鼠，不管你从哪个方面看。他只有大约两英寸高：长着一个老鼠样的尖鼻子，一条老鼠尾巴，一嘴老鼠的胡子，还有老鼠一样可爱的、害羞的举止。在他生下来后的很多天里，头上戴着一顶灰帽子，拄着一根小手杖的他，不仅样子像一只老鼠，行为方式也像。利特尔先生和太太给他起名为斯图亚特，利特尔先生还给他用一个香烟盒与四个衣服夹子做了一张小床。
Unlike most babies, Stuart could walk as soon as he was born. When he was a week old he could climb lamps by shinnying up the cord. Mrs. Little saw right away that the infant clothes she had provided were unsuitable, and she set to work and made him a fine little blue worsted suit with patch pockets in which he could keep his handkerchief, his money, and his keys. Every morning, before Stuart dressed, Mrs. Little went into his room and weighed him on a small scale which was really meant for weighing letters. At birth Stuart could have been sent by first class mail for three cents, but his parents preferred to keep him rather than send him away; and when, at the age of a month, he had gained only a third of an ounce, his mother was so worried she sent for the doctor.
和绝大多数的婴儿不同，斯图亚特刚一落生就能走路了。当他长到一周大时，就能顺着灯绳爬到灯上去了。利特尔太太见了，立刻就知道了她以前给他做的婴儿服已经不合身了，于是就赶紧用毛料给他做了一个很小的蓝外套，里面还缝上了衣兜，这样他就可以在里面装他的手绢，钱，还有他的钥匙了。每天早晨，在斯图亚特开始穿衣前，利特尔太太都会来到他的房间，用一个用来秤信的小天平给他量体重。在他生下来的那天，只可以被当作邮费为三美分的第一类邮件来投递，但是，他的父母却宁愿把他留下来，而不是投递出去；到了一月大的时候，他却只长了三分之一盎司的体重。他的母亲着急了，因此便和他到医生那里去了。
The doctor was delighted with Stuart and said that it was very unusual for an American family to have a mouse. He took Stuart's temperature and found that it was 98.6, which is normal for a mouse. He also examined Stuart's chest and heart and looked into his ears solemnly with a flashlight. (Not every doctor can look into a mouse's ear without laughing.) Everything seemed to be all right, and Mrs. Little was pleased to get such a good report.
医生见到斯图亚特很高兴，说对一个美国家庭来讲，家里有一个老鼠孩子是不寻常的。他量了量斯图亚特的体温，发现有 98.6 度，这对一只老鼠来说是正常的。他也检查了斯图亚特的胸，心脏，还严肃地用手电筒把他的耳朵察看了一番。（不是每一个医生在观察老鼠耳朵时都能够不发笑的。）所有这一切似乎都很正常，利特尔太太很高兴能得到一个这么好的检查结果。
"Feed him up!" said the doctor cheerfully, as he left.
“多给他吃有营养的食物！”医生起身前，愉快地说。
The home of the Little family was a pleasant place near a park in New York City. In the mornings the sun streamed in through the east windows, and all the Littles were up early as a general rule. Stuart was a great help to his parents, and to his older brother George, because of his small size and because he could do things that a mouse can do and was agreeable about doing them. One day when Mrs. Little was washing out the bathtub after Mr. Little had taken a bath, she lost a ring off her finger and was horrified to discover that it had fallen down the drain.
利特尔家住在纽约一个公园附近的一个令人愉快的地方。在早晨的阳光透过东边的窗子时，利特尔一家早已像往常一样起了床。斯图亚特对他的父母，还有他的哥哥乔治帮助很大，因为他的个头小，可以做很多只有老鼠才能做的事，他也乐于为他们做这些事情。一天，利特尔太太在利特尔先生浴后刷浴缸时，把手指上的戒指弄掉，并且惊恐地发现它已经滑进了排水孔里。
"What had I better do?" she cried, trying to keep the tears back.
“我该怎么办？”她叫着，强忍着要流下的眼泪。
"If I were you," said George, "I should bend a hairpin in the shape of a fishhook and tie it onto a piece of string and try to fish the ring out with it." So Mrs. Little found a piece of string and a hairpin, and for about a half-hour she fished for the ring; but it was dark down the drain and the hook always seemed to catch on something before she could get it down to where the ring was.
“如果我是你，”乔治说，“我会把一个发卡弯成鱼钩形，再把它系在一根绳子上，用这根绳子去从里面把戒指钓出来。”于是利特尔太太就找了一根绳子和一个发卡，在那里垂钓了大约半小时；可是排水孔下面那么黑，而那钩子在被她放到戒指所在的地方之前，总是似乎先钓起别的什么东西。
"What luck?" inquired Mr. Little, coming into the bathroom.
“运气如何？”来到浴室的利特尔先生问。
"No luck at all," said Mrs. Little. "The ring is so far down I can't fish it up."
“糟透了，”利特尔太太说。“这戒指落得太深了，我没办法钓到它。”
"Why don't we send Stuart down after it?" suggested Mr. Little. "How about it, Stuart, would you like to try?"
“为什么我们不派斯图亚特下去找找？”利特尔先生建议。“怎么样，斯图亚特，你愿意去试试吗？”
"Yes, I would," Stuart replied, "but I think I'd better get into my old pants. I imagine it's wet down there."
“是的，我愿意，”斯图亚特回答，“不过我想我最好还是穿着我的旧裤子下去，我估计那下面很湿。”
"It's all of that," said George, who was a trifle annoyed that his hook idea hadn't worked. So Stuart slipped into his old pants and prepared to go down the drain after the ring. He decided to carry the string along with him, leaving one end in charge of his father. "When I jerk three times on the string, pull me up," he said. And while Mr. Little knelt in the tub, Stuart slid easily down the drain and was lost to view. In a minute or so, there came three quick jerks on the string, and Mr. Little carefully hauled it up. There, at the end, was Stuart, with the ring safely around his neck.
“就那么办吧。”乔治说。因为钩子的主意没有奏效，他有点儿不太高兴。这样，斯图亚特便急忙穿上了他的旧裤子，准备去排水孔下面找那枚戒指。他想让他的父亲拉住绳子的一头，自己顺着那绳子爬下去。“当我猛拽三次绳子时，把我拉上来，”他说。于是利特尔先生就跪在浴缸里，为他拿着绳子，斯图亚特则轻松地沿着绳子下到排水孔里，不见了。只过了一分钟左右，那绳子便被迅速地拽了三次，利特尔先生见状忙小心地把绳子往上提。出现在绳子底端的，正是斯图亚特，那戒指则完好地套在他的脖子上。
"Oh, my brave little son," said Mrs. Little proudly, as she kissed Stuart and thanked him.
“噢，我勇敢的小儿子，”利特尔太太骄傲地说着，亲了亲斯图亚特。
"How was it down there?" asked Mr. Little, who was always curious to know about places he had never been to.
“那下边怎么样？”总是对从没到过的地方感到好奇的利特尔先生问。
"It was all right," said Stuart.
“还不错，”斯图亚特说。
But the truth was the drain had made him very slimy, and it was necessary for him to take a bath and sprinkle himself with a bit of his mother's violet water before he felt himself again. Everybody in the family thought he had been awfully good about the whole thing.
可实际情况是，排水孔下面把他弄得非常脏，以至于必须再洗一个澡，并把妈妈的紫罗兰水往自己身上喷一点之后，他才可能感觉好起来。全家人都认为他这件事干得非常漂亮。