Julian finally left his village when there was no one left living there. He had never left his beloved village before, but intrigued by the fact that everyone had gone to the city, he decided to go and see for himself what wonderful things those cities had. So he packed a knapsack with a few clothes, put on his best smile, and off he went to the city.
在同鄉們無一例外地選擇離開之后，朱利安也終于告別了他的村莊。在此之前，他從沒有離開過他深愛的家鄉。但看著那一個個義無反顧奔向城市的背影，朱利安感到十分好奇，他決定要親眼去瞧瞧那些城市到底有什么迷人之處。于是他在背包里塞了幾件衣服，帶上他最美好的微笑，進了城。
On reaching the city, he was given a most unexpected welcome. A couple of policemen stopped Julian and questioned him in great detail. It turned out that Julian had seemed 'suspiciously happy' for someone with hardly any possessions. In the end, the police had to let him go, but they were still suspicious about this apparently simple and good-natured fellow.
一進城，朱利安就遭遇了一個出人意料的歡迎儀式。兩個警察把他攔住仔仔細細地盤問了一番。原來，對于一個幾乎沒有任何財產的人來說，朱利安看起來似乎“高興得過于可疑了”。最后，警察也只能放他走，但他們心里仍然對這個貌似天真善良的家伙表示十分懷疑。
The first thing Julian noticed about the city was all the rushing around. Everyone was in such a hurry that he thought that there must be something special happening that day, which no one wanted to miss.
關于城市，朱利安注意到的第一件事就是所有人都步履匆匆。他想，每個人都走得這么快，一定是今天將有什么特別的事情要發生，才沒有人想錯過吧。

Curious as to what it was, Julian started following a man who looked like he was hurrying to see whatever it was that was happening. However, after several hours following him, the man arrived at a small flat and went inside. He had done or seen nothing of interest that whole day.
出于好奇，朱利安跟在一個人后面，想看看他究竟要迫不及待地去迎接什么激動人心的事情。然而，在跟著他走了幾個小時之后，那個人只是來到了一間小公寓跟前走了進去。他一整天什么有趣的事情也沒做，連見都沒見到。
That night Julian slept in a park. The park was strewn with bits of paper and plastic. As the bins were completely empty, Julian thought how cool it was that the city had seemingly invented plants with petals made of paper and plastic. He only believed this until the following morning, when a man came by and dropped his chocolate wrapper.
那天晚上朱利安睡在了公園里，那兒到處都散落著紙和塑料。看到垃圾桶是完全空的，朱利安心想：城市人簡直太酷了，他們似乎發明了一種新型的植物，花瓣是用紙和塑料構成的。直到第二天早上，他看到一個男人經過，隨手丟棄了他的巧克力包裝。
Julian carried on walking through the city streets, trying to understand what was going on, when he arrived at a group of big warehouses, which many people were entering. "This must be the best museum in the world," he thought, on entering, and seeing all the useless-looking things they had inside. But then he saw that people were picking these things up, paying for them, and taking them away.
朱利安繼續游走在城市的街道上，試圖了解這里到底在發生些什么。他來到一組大倉庫門前，只見人們串流而入。“這一定是世界上最好的博物館吧?！彼胫吡诉M去。然而，里面擺放的凈是一些沒什么實用的東西。令他驚奇的是，人們正在興致勃勃地挑選著這些東西，并愿意為他們買單，把他們帶走。
"Why would anyone want a watch which doesn't show the minutes?" he wondered to himself, after seeing a woman very contentedly leaving with the most modern of watches on her wrist. He thought pretty much the same when seeing a pair of shoes with impossibly high heels, and then some electronic device which did a thousand things, and none of them well.
“為什么會有人想要一個沒有分針的手表呢？”他疑惑著，看著一個手腕上戴著一只最新款手表的女人心滿意足地晃了出去。令他同樣疑惑的，還有一雙跟兒高得讓人不可理解的高跟鞋和那些具備上千種功能卻無一出色的電子設備。
Once again, he decided to follow the lady with the watch. He saw her joy turn into disappointment when her friends gave her new watch a look of disapproval. Julian started regretting having left his village, just to come to this place where no one seemed happy.
再一次，他決定跟隨那個買了手表的女士瞧瞧。在她的朋友們對她的新手表顯出鄙夷的神色后，他目睹了她的喜悅是如何化成失望的。朱利安開始后悔了。他離開了他的村莊，只是為了來到這個沒有人看起來快樂的地方嗎？
Then he saw a few kids playing. Now, they certainly did seem happy, playing, running about, chasing each other. Except for one child, who seemed troubled by a little machine they were calling a console. He was hitting it so hard with his fingers, and making all kinds of faces and angry gestures, that when one of the other children came over to invite him to play with them, the boy with the console just rudely walked away.
后來他看到幾個孩子在玩鬧。“真難得呀，他們看起來絕對是快樂的！”那些孩子們玩耍著、跑跳著、嬉笑追逐著。只有一個孩子，似乎在為一個他們稱之為游戲機的小機器而苦惱。他用手指猛烈地擊打著它，做出各種各樣激烈的表情和憤怒的手勢。當其他孩子中的一個過來邀請他加入他們一起玩時，那個玩游戲機的男孩粗魯地走開了。
Julian thought that the boy was trying to destroy that little machine because it was making him so unhappy. He decided to help the boy. Julian went over, took the console, threw it on the ground, stamped on it, and looked at the boy with great satisfaction.
朱利安猜想那個男孩是要試圖摧毀那個小機器，因為它令他那么不快樂。他決定幫助那個男孩。朱利安走過去，抓起游戲機，將它扔在地上用力踩了下去，然后他如釋重負地轉向那個男孩。
At this the boy flew into a rage, as did all the other children there, and nearly all the adults. They pursued Julian so relentlessly that he had to run away. He didn't stop running until he reached the road leading back to his village.
那個男孩簡直氣瘋了，正如在場的其他所有孩子和幾乎所有成年人一樣。他們憤怒地緊追朱利安不放，他只得落荒而逃。他一直跑啊跑，直到跑到了通往他家鄉村莊的路上才慢慢停下來。
As he was making his way home he couldn't help wondering whether the whole world had gone mad.
在他回家的路上，他不禁開始懷疑：整個世界是不是都瘋了。