农夫与蛇

武汉大学 陶杏供稿

Every day,a farmer went to the city to sell flowers andfarm produce(农产品)and then went home after selling all his things.One day,he left home very early.When he arrived at the city,the gate was still closed.So he lay down totake anap(睡觉).When he woke up,he found that thebin(储物箱)containing(装着)his farm produce was empty.And there was a gold coin in the bin.He thought that maybe someone had taken his things and left thepayment(付款)there,and went home happily with the money.

有一个农夫，每天都到城里去卖花和农产品，卖完以后就回家。有一天，他很早出门，但是当他来到城门时，城门还没开，所以他就先躺在那边睡觉。当他醒过来时，看到他装农产品的箱子都空了，箱子里面有一个金币。他想大概是有人拿走了他的东西，然后把钱放在那里了，于是他带着钱高兴地回家了。

The next day,the farmer went out to sell his things again.But he arrived too early again.So he slept outside the city gate.And the sameincident(事件)happened again.All the produce that the farmer had brought disappeared,and there was a gold coin in the bin again!At that time,gold was veryvaluable（值钱的）.One gold coin had a value many times higher than the farmer’s produce.

第二天，农夫又出门去做买卖，同样也是来得太早，所以他又在城门那里睡觉。结果又发生一样的事情，农夫带来的东西都不见了，箱子里面又多了一个金币！那时候黄金是很值钱的，所以一个金币比农夫的农产品要高出好几倍的价值。

One day,the farmer’s father asked him,“Where have you gotten so many gold coins lately?Where did the money come from?”The farmer told his father what had happened.After listening to his story,the father thought,“I’ll follow my son as he goes out one day,and see who has taken his things and left the money in the bin.”

有一天，农夫的父亲问他：“最近你怎么忽然间得到那么多金币？那些钱是从哪里来的？”农夫就把他遇到的事情告诉了他的父亲。他的父亲听了以后，心想：“我要找一天跟着我的儿子出门，看看到底是谁拿了他的东西，然后把钱放在他的箱子里。”

So one day,after the farmer went out,his father quietly followed him.When the farmer was sleeping near the city gate,his father saw a snakecrawl(爬)up to his bin and eat his produce.Having finished eating,the snake once againspat(吐出)a gold coin into the bin as payment to the farmer before leaving.Seeing this,the farmer’s father thought,“If I kill the snake,I’ll be able to get all its gold coins!”He then picked up a stone and cut the snake into two parts.

因此，有一天，当农夫出门后，他的父亲就悄悄地跟着他。当农夫在城门附近睡觉的时候，他的父亲看到一条蛇爬到他的箱子那边吃他的东西，吃完以后，就吐出一个金币到箱子里面，算是付钱给农夫，然后蛇就爬走了。农夫的父亲想：“如果我把这条蛇杀掉，就可以得到它全部的金币了！”于是他捡起一块石头，把那条蛇打成两段。

At that time,the head and body of the snake were already in itsden(窝),and only the tail was outside.The father thought that there must be a big treasure in the den,so he told his son to reach inside for it.Butunexpectedly(没想到地),when the farmer put his hand into the den,the snake bit him and killed him!Even though it had been cut into two parts,the snake could still bite!

那时候，那条蛇的头部和身体已经爬进它的窝里，只剩下尾巴露在外面。农夫的父亲认为蛇窝里面肯定有很多宝藏，就叫农夫伸手去拿。没想到当农夫把手伸进去时，却被蛇咬死了！被打成两段的蛇竟然还可以咬人！

Seeing his son was killed,the father criedbrokenheartedly（心碎地）next to the son’s dead body.Then he asked the snake,“You snake!Why did you kill my son?Why did you bite my son and kill him?”Instead of answering him,the snake asked,“Why did you break my back with the stone?There was noanimosity(仇恨)between us.I had never done anything bad to you,nor had I done you any harm.If you had been more patient and waited,I will give the entire treasure here to you.However,because you struck me,I bit and killed your son.If I have killed you,you would not be in such deep sorrow.I killed your son so that you’d live the rest of your life inagony(极大的痛苦).”

看到自己的儿子被杀死了，他父亲在儿子的尸体旁心碎地哭泣着。然后他问蛇：“蛇啊，你为什么要杀我的儿子？为什么要把我的儿子咬死呢？”那条蛇就反问他：“那你为什么用石头打断我的背呢？我们之间又没有什么仇恨，我从来没有对你做过什么坏事，也不曾伤害过你，如果你有耐心一点，慢慢来，我里面的宝藏都会给你的。不过，因为你打我，所以我才把你的儿子咬死。如果我把你咬死的话，你就不会那么伤心，所以我把你的儿子咬死，让你一辈子都痛苦。”

This story tells us that we shouldn’t be sogreedy(贪婪的).We shouldn’t hurt others to get their things.Or we willensure(承担)the bad result ourselves.

这个故事告诉我们做人不能太贪得无厌，不能为了得到别人的东西而去伤害别人，否则，后果自负。