The Littlepeople's behavior was not very attractive or productive but it was understandable (可以理解的).
Finding Cheese wasn't easy, and it meant a great deal more to the Littlepeople than just having enough of it to eat every day.
Finding Cheese was the Littlepeoples' way of getting what they thought they needed to be happy.
They had their own ideas of what Cheese meant to them, depending on their taste.
For some, finding Cheese was having material things.
For others it was enjoying good health, or developing a spiritual (精神的) sense of well-being (幸福).
For Haw, Cheese just meant feeling safe, having a loving family someday and living in a cozy (舒适的) cottage (小屋) on Cheddar Lane.
To Hem, Cheese was becoming A Big Cheese in charge of others and owning a big house atop (在…顶上) Camembert Hill.
Because Cheese was important to them, the two Littlepeople spent a long time trying to decide what to do. {1}
All they could think of was to keep looking around Cheeseless Station C to see if the Cheese was really gone.
While Sniff and Scurry had quickly moved on, Hem and Haw continued to hem and haw.
Haw started to get depressed（沮丧）.
What would happen if the Cheese wasn't there tomorrow? {2}
He had made future plans based on this Cheese.
The little people couldn't believe it. How could this have happened?
No one had warned them.
It wasn't right. It was not the way things were supposed to be.
Hem and Haw went home that night hungry and discouraged.
But before they left, Haw wrote on the wall:
The More Important Your Cheese Is To You The More You Want To Hold On To It. {3}
The next day Hem and Haw left their homes, and returned to Cheese Station C again, where they still expected, somehow, to find their Cheese.
The situation hadn't changed, the Cheese was no longer there.
The Littlepeople didn't know what to do.
Hem and Haw just stood there, immobilized (使固定) like two statues (雕像).
Haw shut his eyes as tight as he could and put his hands over his ears.
He just wanted to block everything out.
He didn't want to know the Cheese supply had gradually been getting smaller.
He believed it had been moved all of a sudden.
Hem analyzed the situation over and over and eventually his complicated brain with its huge belief system took hold, "Why did they do this to me?" he demanded.
"What's really going on here?"
Finally, Haw opened his eyes, looked around and said, "By the way, where are Sniff and Scurry? Do you think they know something we don't?"
Hem scoffed (嘲笑), "What would they know?"
Hem continued, "They're just simple mice. They just respond to what happens. We're Littlepeople. We're special. We should be able to figure this out."
"I know we're smarter," Haw said, "but we don't seem to be acting smarter at the moment.
Things are changing around here, Hem. Maybe we need to change and do things differently."
"Why should we change?" Hem asked.
"We're Littlepeople. We're special. This sort of thing should not happen to us. Or if it does, we should at least get some benefits."
"Why should we get benefits?" Haw asked.
"Because we're entitled (有权)," Hem claimed.
"Entitled to what?" Haw wanted to know.
"We're entitled to our Cheese."
"Why?" Haw asked.
"Because, we didn't cause this problem." Hem said. "Somebody else did this and we should get something out of it."
Haw suggested, "Maybe we should stop analyzing the situation so much and just get going and find some New Cheese."
"Oh no," Hem argued. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."
While Hem and Haw were still trying to decide what to do, Sniff and Scurry were already well on their way.
They went farther into the maze, up and down corridors (走廊), looking for cheese in every Cheese Station they could find.
They didn't think of anything else but finding New Cheese.
They didn't find any for sometime until they finally went into an area of the maze where they had never been before: Cheese Station N. {4}
They squealed (尖叫) with delight.
They found what they had been looking for: a great supply of New Cheese.
They could hardly believe their eyes.
It was the biggest store of cheese the mice had ever seen.
In the meantime, Hem and Haw were still back in Cheese Station C evaluating (评估) their situation.
They were now suffering from the effects of having no Cheese.
They were becoming frustrated (灰心) and angry and were blaming each other for the situation they were in.
Now and then Haw thought about his mice friends, Sniff and Scurry, and wondered if they had found any cheese yet.
He believed they might be having a hard time, as running through the maze usually involved (牵涉) some uncertainty (不确定).
But he also knew that it was likely to only last for a while.
Sometimes, Haw would imagine Sniff and Scurry finding New Cheese and enjoying it.
He thought about how good it would be for him to be out on an adventure in the maze, and to find fresh New Cheese.
He could almost taste it.
The more clearly Haw saw the image of himself finding and enjoying the New Cheese, the more he saw himself leaving Cheese Station C.
"Let's go!" he exclaimed (呼喊), all of a sudden.
"No," Hem quickly responded.
"I like it here. It's comfortable. It's what I know. Besides it's dangerous out there."
"No, it isn't," Haw argued. "We've run through many parts of the maze before, and we can do it again."
"I'm getting too old for that," Hem said.
"And I'm afraid I'm not interested in getting lost and making a fool of myself. Are you?"{5}
With that, Haw's fear of failing returned and his hope of finding New Cheese faded (衰弱).
So every day, the Littlepeople continued to do what they had done before.
They went to Cheese Station C, found no Cheese, and returned home, carrying their worries and frustrations with them.
They tried to deny what was happening, but found it harder to get to sleep, had less energy the next day, and were becoming irritable.
Their homes were not the nurturing (培育) places they once were.
The Littlepeople had difficulty sleeping and were having nightmares (噩梦) about not finding any Cheese.
But Hem and Haw still returned to Cheese Station C and waited there every day.
