One summer evening I was sitting by the open window, reading a good but rather frightening mystery story. After a time it was too dark for me to read easily, so I put my book down and turned on the light.

一个夏日的傍晚，我坐在敞开的窗边，读着一个精彩而又可怕的神秘故事。过了一段时间，天太黑了，我不容易看书，所以我把书放下，打开灯。

I was just about to draw the curtains as well when I heard a loud cry "Help! Help! " It seems to come from the trees at the end of the garden. I looked out but it was now too dark to see anything clearly. Almost immediately I heard the cry again. It sounded like a child, but I could not imagine what anybody could be doing in our backyard, unless one of the neighborhood children had climbed a tree and had not been able to get down. So I decided to go out and have a look in the garden, just in case someone was in trouble. I took the torch and picked up a strong walking stick, thinking that this might come to be useful, too. Armed with these, I went out into the garden. Once again I heard the cry. There was no doubt that it came from the trees at the end of the garden.

我正要把窗帘也拉上，这时我听到一声大叫:“救命!救命!”它似乎是从花园尽头的树林里传来的。我往外看，但现在太黑了，什么也看不清楚。几乎就在这时，我又听到了哭声。听起来像个孩子的声音，但我无法想象有人会在我们的后院做什么，除非邻居家的一个孩子爬上了树，却没能下来。所以我决定出去到花园里看看，以防有人遇到麻烦。我拿起手电筒，拿起一根结实的手杖，想着这可能也会有用。拿着这些东西，我走进了花园。我又听到了哭声。毫无疑问，那声音是从花园尽头的树林里传来的。

"Who’s there?" I called out as I walked, rather nervously , down the path that led to the trees. But there was no answer. With the help of my torch I examined the whole of that part of the garden and the lower branches of the trees. There was no sign of anybody or anything. I came to the conclusion that someone was playing a rather silly joke on me. Still feeling rather puzzled, I went back to the house and put away the torch and the stick. I had just sat down when I was startled by the cry of " Help! Help! ", this time from right behind my shoulder. I dropped my book and climbed up. There, sitting on top of the mantelpiece ( 壁炉 )， was a large green and red bird. It was a parrot. While I was out of the garden, the parrot must have seen the light in the living room and come in through the open window.

“谁在那里?”我一边叫着，一边紧张地走在通往树林的小路上。但是没有回答。在手电筒的帮助下，我检查了花园的整个部分和树的低树枝。没有任何人或任何东西的迹象。我得出结论，有人在跟我开一个相当愚蠢的玩笑。我仍然感到迷惑不解，便回到屋子里，把火把和棍子收了起来。我刚坐下，就被一声“救命!”的帮助!这次是从我的肩膀后面传来的。我扔下书爬了上去。在那里，坐在壁炉架上(壁炉)的是一只绿红相间的大鸟。那是一只鹦鹉。当我离开花园的时候，鹦鹉一定是看到了客厅里的灯光，从开着的窗户进来了。