暑假21天掌握初中英语核心800词(11)

家有学子 2020-08-10

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原文

Words which deceive

One day a man gave his son some woodto saw.The boy did not want to do such work; so after his father had gone away,he threw the saw down,and it broke.

'I did not break the saw,'said the boy to himself; 'it broke itself.'He tried to deceive himself with words;but he knew in his heart that they were false words,and he was afraid to meet his father.

One day a mother said to her son,who had just returned from school,'It is six o'clock, and your school closes at four—where have you been,my boy?'

'O mother,' said Ned,'when we play at ball,we forget everything else.We do not think of the time,or of coming home.Is tea ready?'

The boy's mother was deceived.Ned's answer led her to think that he had been playing with his companions.But he had not been playing at all.

He had been 'kept in' by his teacher,because he had not learned his lessons.He did not like to tell his mother that.He wished her to think that he had been playing.

'What a shame and a sin it is for you to try to deceive your mother,'said something in Ned's heart,as he sat down to his tea.

'I don't care,'said the boy to himself,'I don't care.I did not tell a lie——I did not say that I was playing.'

'But',said the voice,'you used words which made your mother think that you had been playing,and that was the same as if you had said so.'

'I did not tell a lie,'said Ned.

What do you think,my little reader? Did Ned tell a lie, or did he not? I am sure you will say—'Of course he did.'

If we use words which are intended to deceive,we tell a lie;and Ned's lie was a very bad one,for it looked so like the truth.A lie that looks like the truth is the worst kind of lie.

译文

谎言

有一天，一位父亲给了儿子一些木头让他锯。儿子不想干这些活，所以在父亲离开之后，他把锯子扔了，锯子断了。

“我没有折断锯子”，男孩对自己说，“它是自己断掉的”。他试图用一些话欺骗自己，但是他的内心知道这些都是虚假的话，他非常害怕见他的父亲。

有一天，一个母亲对自己刚刚从学校回来的儿子说，“现在已经六点了，而你的学校是四点放学，你去哪儿了呢，我的孩子？”

“哦，妈妈”，Ned说，“当我们在舞会上玩的时候，我们忘记了所有事情，我们忘记了时间以及回家。茶准备好了吗，妈妈？”

男孩欺骗了妈妈。Ned的回答让妈妈认为他和他的同伴在一起玩，然而他并没有去玩。

他被老师留下来了，因为没好好听课。他不想让妈妈知道这个事情，他想让妈妈认为他是在玩。

“试图去欺骗自己的母亲是多么的羞耻和罪恶啊”，Ned坐着喝茶时心里这样想。

“我不在乎”，男孩这样对自己说，“我才不在乎呢，我又没有撒谎——我没有说我在玩”。

“但是......”另一个声音说，“你用了一些话让你母亲认为你在玩，这就等同于你是这么跟她说的”。

“我没有撒谎。”Ned说。