Once upon a time there was a happy paper doll that had no face. His whole body was perfectly cut out and painted, except for his face. However, he had a pencil so he could choose whatever face he wanted to have. How lucky! He then spent all day asking everyone he met, "What's a perfect face like?"
" One with a big beak (鸟嘴)." answered the birds.
" No. Not one with a beak," said the trees. " The perfect face is full of leaves."
" Forget the beak and the leaves," said the flowers. " If you want a perfect face, you fill it with colors."
The doll followed their advice. However, it turned out that nobody liked it. And now he couldn't erase it! " I only wanted a face that everyone would like," he cried. "And now look, what a disaster (灾难)!"
A small cloud heard his cries and came to him, " I think I can help you. As I'm a cloud, I can make any face you like. What do you think about me changing faces until there's one that you like? I'm sure we can fix you a little bit."
The doll again felt hopeful. The cloud made all kinds of faces for him. But none of them was perfect enough.
"Never mind," said the doll. " you've been a great friend." He gave her a big hug and the cloud smiled from ear to ear, happy at having helped. Just then the doll cried excitedly, " That's it! That's the face I want! It's a perfect face!"
"Which one?" asked the cloud. "But I haven't done anything."
"Yes, yes you have! It's that face you make when I hug you!"
The cloud finally realized that he was talking about her big smile. And together they took the pencil and drew the paper doll a big smile, ten times better than beaks, colors and leaves. And that face was indeed the only one that everyone liked because it had the secret ingredient (成分) for perfect faces: a big smile that could never be erased.
