一 A man from the state of Chu was taking a boat across a river when he dropped his sword into the water carelessly. Immediately he made a mark on the side of the boat where the sword dropped, hoping to find it later. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to search for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. As we know, the boat had moved but the sword had not. Isn’t this a very foolish way to look for a sword? 二 Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who planted a plot of rice. After he planted the seedlings, every day he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day, but still, he thought they were growing too slowly. Eventually he got impatient with the young plants and suddenly he hit upon an idea that one by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. The next early morning, the young man couldn’t wait to check his “achievement”, but he was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying. 从前,有个农夫,种了稻苗(seedlings)后,便希望能早早收成。每天他到稻田时,都发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。他等得很不耐烦。想了又想,他终于想到一个“最佳方法”,他将稻苗全都拔高了几分。第二天,一早起身,他迫不及待地去稻田看他的“成果”。哪知,却看到所有的稻苗都枯萎了。 三 四 五 六 Seeing the desolate and bleak prospects of broken tiles, collapsed walls, and clusters of weeds, he could not help asking the local people about the reason of the ruin of Guo Shi. They replied, “Guo Shi was fond of doing good deeds, and averse to evildoing, which led to the perdition.” When the Duke could not understand the answer, people explained, “Though he liked doing good, he had never been able to do so; though he hated evildoing, never could he help not participating. That caused the ruin of his capital.” 齐桓公出游途中,来到已经灭亡许久的郭氏都城的废墟。 看到瓦砾残垣、杂草丛生的萧条景象,忍不住问当地百姓郭氏灭亡的原因。 百姓们回答说:'郭氏由于喜爱善行善事。厌恶邪恶丑行而导致灭亡。' 齐桓公不能理解这种回答,百姓们便解释说:'郭氏虽然喜爱善行善事,但从来都不能做到;尽管厌恶邪恶丑行,却总是忍不住参与其中。这就是他的都城变成废墟的原因。' 七 The bull charged the wall furiously again and again, but although he bruised his head and chipped his horns, the mouse stayed safely inside his hole. After a time the bull gave up and sank down to rest again. As soon as the bull was asleep, the little mouse crept to the mouth of the hole, pattered across the yard, bit the bull again -- this time on the nose -- and rushed back to safety. As the bull roared helplessly the mouse squeaked: “It’s not always the big people who come off best. Sometimes the small ones win, you know.” 公牛一次又一次地猛撞墙壁,尽管头撞肿了,角撞裂了,老鼠却安然待在洞里。过了一会儿,公牛不撞了,倒下歇着。 公牛刚睡着,小老鼠就爬到洞口,嗒嗒地跑过院子,又咬了公牛一口,这回咬了鼻子,又跑回安全的地方去。当公牛毫无办法地吼叫时,老鼠吱吱叫道: “大人物并不总占上风。有时小人物也会取胜。” 八 Face danger boldly. 有个男孩子在地里玩耍,被荨麻刺痛了。他跑回家去,告诉妈妈出了什么事。 “我不过轻轻地碰了它一下,”他说,“那讨厌的东西就把我刺痛了。” “你只轻轻地碰了它一下,所以它才刺痛你,”妈妈对他说,“下一回你再碰到荨麻,就尽量紧紧地抓住它。那它就根本不会刺痛你了。”要敢于面对危险。 九 'Who on earth are you ?' said a cross voice from below. 'Stop that terrible noise at once.' The parrot saw a cat staring up at him from the carpet. 'I’m a parrot. I’ve just arrived and I 'm to make as much noise as I can,' he said. 'Well, I’ve lived here all my life,' replied the cat.' I was born in this very house and I learned from my mother that it is best to keep quiet here.' 'Keep quiet then, 'said the parrot cheerfully. 'I don't know what you do around here, but I know my job. My master bought me for my voice and I'm going to make sure he hears it.' Different people are valued for different things. 你到底是谁?从下面传来怒气冲冲的说话声,马上住嘴,别发出那难听的声音。 鹦鹉看见地毯上有一只猫抬头看着他。我是鹦鹉。我刚到,我要使劲地吵吵。他说,那你就一声不响吧,鹦鹉欢快地说,我不知道你在这儿干什么,可我知道我的活儿。主人为了我的声音才买我,我一定得让他听到。 十 A man once had four sons who never stopped quarreling with one another. He was always telling them how much easier life would be if they worked together but they took absolutely no notice of him. One day he decided to show them what he meant. He called all the sons together and put a tightly tied bundle of sticks on the floor in front of them. 'Can you break that?' he asked the youngest son. The boy put his knee on the bundle but though he pressed and pulled with his arms he could not bend the wood. The father asked each son in turn to try to break the bundle, but none of them could do it . Then he untied the string and scattered the sticks. 'Do you see what I mean?' asked the father. 'if only you stand together no one can hurt you. If you all disagree the whole time and insist on going your separate ways, the first enemy you meet will be able to destroy you.' United we stand; divided we fall. 从前有一个人,他有四个儿子。儿子们不断地争吵。他一再告诫他们说,如果他们一起干活儿,生活会舒适得多,但他们丝毫不理会他的意见。有一天,他决定通过示范把自己的意思告诉他们。 合则存,分则败。 来源 | 网络 明师俱乐部进行综合整理,如涉及版权问题,请及时与我们联系。 |
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