1、The Lion, The Bear And The Fox(狮子、熊与狐狸)Long ago a lion and a bear saw a kid. They sprang upon it at the same time. The lion said to the bear, “I caught this kid first, and so this is mine.”
"No, no," said the bear.“I found it earlier than you, so this is mine.” And they fought long and fiercely. At last both of them got very tired and could no longer fight.
A fox who hid himself behind a tree not far away and was watching the fight between the lion and the bear, came out and walked in between them, and ran off with the kid.
The lion and the bear both saw the fox, but they could not even catch the fox.
The lion said to the bear, “We have fought for nothing. That sly fox has got the kid away.”
从前,一只狮子和一只熊看见一个孩子,它们同时向他扑去。 狮子对熊说,“我首先捉住的这个孩子, 因此这个孩子是我的。”
“不,不!”熊说,“我比你早发现的,因此他是我的。”它们激烈地争论了很久。最后它们两个感到非常疲乏,再也不能打斗了。
不远处,一只狐狸正掩藏在树后,观看着狮子和熊之间的战斗,这时它走了出来,站在它们之间,叼走了这个孩子。 狮子和熊看到这个情形,但它们却不能捉住狐狸。 狮子对熊说:“我们争斗了那么久却什么也没得到,而这只狡猾的狐狸却把孩子叼走了。”
2、The Boys And The Frogs(男孩与青蛙)One spring day some naughty boys were playing near a pond. They began to throw stones into the water. In the pond lived many frogs were much afraid of the boys, for the stones hurt some of the frogs.
At last an old frog lifted his head out of the water and said, “Boys, please don’t throw stones at us.”
The boys said, “We are only playing.” “I know that, but please stop throwing stones, my boys. What is play to you is death to us,” said the old frog.
So the boys stopped throwing stones and went away.
春天里的一天,一些顽皮的男孩在一个水塘边玩耍。他们开始往水里扔石块。许多生活在水塘里的青蛙非常害怕这些男孩,因为石头曾弄伤了他们中的一些。最后一只老青蛙把他的脑袋探出水面,他说:“孩子们,请别向我们扔石头。”
男孩说:“我们只是在玩耍。”“我知道,但请别扔石头,孩子们。对你们而言的玩耍对我们可意味着死亡。”老青蛙说。
因此男孩们不再扔石头并且离开了。
3、Ye Gong was well-known for his fondness for dragons: In the house where he lived, dragons were painted on the walls and carved on the pillars and the four walls of his bedroom.
There were dragons everywhere, up and down, front and back, with each dragon baring its teeth and brandishing1 its claws.
In the heavens there was a real dragon. It was very happy to hear that Ye Gong was so fond of dragons.
One day, the sky suddenly darkened, and then came wind, thunder and rain. The real dragon flew to Ye Gong's home. It poked2 its head into the window in the south and coiled its tail to the window in the north, rocking and rattling3 the whole house.
At the sight of this real dragon, Ye Gong was frightened out of his wits. He trembled all over and hurriedly hid himself.
So it turned out that what Ye Gong liked was painted and carved fake dragons but not real ones.
叶公好龙
叶公喜欢龙,已经出了名了。他住的屋子里,墙上画着龙,柱子上雕着龙,卧室四面的墙壁上也刻着龙,上上下下,前前后后,到处都是龙,一条条张牙舞爪。
天上有一条真的龙,听说叶公这样喜欢龙,高兴极了。
有一天,天空突然暗了下来,又是刮风,又是打雷,又是下雨,真龙飞到了叶公的家里。它把头伸进了南面的窗口,把尾巴绕到了北面的窗口,把整个屋子摇得格格直响。
叶公看到这条真龙,一下子吓得魂飞魄散,浑身发抖,急忙躲了起来。
原来,叶公喜欢的只是那些画着、雕着的假龙,而不是真龙!
4、多言何益
Zi qin once asked Mohist, "Teacher, it is true that the more you say the more attention you will get from people?"
Mohist answered, "The grog and hop1 toad2 never stop shouting from day to night, but they get little from people. The rooster only sings only for a few minutes in the morning and wakes up all the people. So, it is not necessarily advisable to speak a lot."
It doesn't matte how much you say, what matters is whether you can hit the nail on the head.
子禽问墨子:“老师,话说得多是否就会引起人们的重视?”墨子回答说:“青蛙和癞蛤蟆的叫声从早到晚没有停过,但是,却几乎没有引起人们的注意。公鸡仅仅只在黎明时分叫上几声,便能将天下的人都唤醒.”因此,话多不一定有好处。话不在多,只要说到点子上就行了。
5、An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old.
One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.
Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old.
Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."
老猫
一位老妇有只猫,这只猫很老,它跑不快了,也咬不了东西,因为它年纪太大了。一天,老猫发现一只老鼠,它跳过去抓这只老鼠,然而,它咬不住这只老鼠。因此,老鼠从它的嘴边溜掉了,因为老猫咬不了它。
于是,老妇很生气,因为老猫没有把老鼠咬死。她开始打这只猫,猫说:“不要打你的老仆人,我已经为你服务了很多年,而且还愿意为你效劳,但是,我实在太老了,对年纪大的不要这么无情,要记住老年人在年青时所做过的有益的事情。”