五則雙語寓言小故事

　　寓言故事的結構簡短，多用借喻手法，使富有教訓意義的主題或深刻的道理在簡單的故事中體現。接下來，小編給大家準備了,歡迎大家參考與借鑑。

　　1

　　One morning a countryman went to his goose's nest, and saw a yellow and glittering egg there.

　　He took the egg home. To his delight, he found that it was an egg of pure gold.

　　Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs.

　　The countryman became more and more greedy. He wanted to get all the gold at once, so he killed the goose, when he looked inside, he found nothing in its body.

　　一天早晨，一位農夫發現自家的鵝窩中有一隻金燦燦的蛋。

　　他將蛋帶回家，驚喜地發現這是一個金蛋。

　　此後，農夫每天都能得到一個金蛋。從此，他靠賣他的金蛋變得富有起來。

　　農夫變得越來越貪婪，他想一下子得到鵝肚子中所有的金蛋。於是他殺死了鵝，但是，鵝肚子中什麼也沒有。

　　2

　　A Woodman came into a forest to ask the Trees to give him a handle for Ax. It seemed so modest a request that the principal tree at once agreed to it, and it was settled among them that the plain, homely1 Ash should furnish what was wanted. No sooner had the Woodman fitted the staff to his purpose, than he began laying about him on all side. Felling the whole matter too late, whispered to the Cedar2: "The first concession3 has lost all. If we has not a sacrificed our humble4 neighbor, we might have yet stood for ages ourselves."

　　有一個樵夫來到森林裡，要求樹給他一跟斧柄，看來他的請求非常謙虛，立刻得到了樹的首領的同意。他們決定由平凡而樸素的白楊樹來提供所需要的東西。樵夫剛安好斧柄，就開始到處亂砍，森林裡最高的樹都砍倒了，樹林現在察覺大勢已去，就小聲對衫樹說：“第一次的讓步已失去了一切。如果我們不犧牲我們的小小的鄰居，我們自己還可以活無數年呢。”

　　3

　　Once a man planned to build a terrace1.

　　He worked very hard and spent a lot of time digging and carrying earth.

　　When the mound2 was almost completed and only one more basket of earth was needed, the man gave up.

　　The terrace was never completed.

　　This idiom means to fail to succeed for lack of final effort.

　　古時，有一個人要築一座九仞八尺=一仞高的山。

　　他十分努力的建造這座山，並且花了很多時間挖土、搬運泥土。

　　終於當山快要建成的時候，幾乎只差最後一籃子的泥土就行了的時候，他放棄了。

　　這座山便永遠無法完工。

　　這個典故用以形容“離成功只有一步之遙，但最終失敗告終”的意思。

　　4

　　One day, Confucius led his disciples1 to the State of Chu. When crossing a stretch of forest, they saw a hunchbacked old man standing2 under a tree, catching3 cicadas with a bamboo stick. With each stroke he caught one cicada, just as easily as picking it up at will. Confucius asked: "You are very skillful at catching cicadas. You must have followed some pattern."

　　"That's right!”the old man answered. "The cicada is a clever little insect. It would fly away at the mere4 rustling5 of leaves in the wind. Therefore, to catch cicadas, one must, first of all, train one's hand to hold the bamboo stick without shaking. When 2 pellets are put on the top of the bamboo stick and do not fall off, one has certain assurance in catching cicadas; when 3 pellets are put there and do not fall off, only one cicada out of ten can manage to escape; when 5 pellets are put there and do not fall off, then catching cicadas is as easy as picking them up at will."

　　He then added: "But that is not enough. One must be good at hiding oneself. Now I am standing under a tree, just like half of a tree stump6, with my arm stretching out like part of a withered7 twig8. Last of all, one must be attentive9. When I am catching cicadas, I don't think at all of the vastness of the universe, nor do I look at the numerous things around. I only see the two wings of the cicada. No matter what happens, nothing will distract my attention. As I manage to accomplish all these, I can be so skillful at catching cicadas."

　　Hearing this, Confucius turned to his disciples and said: "Whatever you do, only when you persevere10 with concentrated attention and devotion, can you achieve the acme11 of perfection. This is the truth that this hunchbacked old man has taught us."

　　一天，孔子帶著弟子去楚國。穿過一片樹林的時候，他們看到一位駝背老人站在樹下，手拿竹竿捕蟬，一粘一隻，就像隨手拾來一樣容易。孔子問：“您捕蟬捕得這麼熟練，一定掌握了什麼規律吧?”

　　老人回答說：“是啊!蟬是一種非常乖巧的小蟲。一有風吹草動，它就飛掉了，所以要捕蟬，首先要練得手拿竹竿不晃動。一直練到在竹竿頂端放兩顆彈丸不掉下來的時候，捕蟬就有了一定的把握;當放三顆彈丸不掉下來的時候，捕十隻蟬只會逃走一隻;當放五顆彈丸不掉下來的時候，捕蟬就像隨手拾取一樣容易了。”

　　又說：“不過，這還不夠，還必須善於隱蔽自己。我現在站在樹下，就像是半截子樹樁;伸出去的手臂，就像是一段枯萎的樹枝。最後，還必須用心專一。我捕蟬時，根本不想天地多麼廣大，也不看眾多萬物，只看見蟬的兩隻翅膀，不管發生什麼情況，都不會分散我的注意力。因為我能夠做到這些，所以捕蟬才會這樣熟練。”

　　孔子聽了，回頭對他的弟子說：“無論做什麼事情，只有鍥而不捨，專心致志，才能達到這樣出神人化的境界。這就是這位駝背老人告訴我們的道理。”

　　5

　　According to legend, there was a kind of birds called "dais" swallow on the East China Sea.

　　The Yidais were slow in reaction. They could not fly very high and seemed clumsy and incapable1.

　　But when they moved about, they always moved in groups, depended on one another for survival, and flew and landed together.

　　When they advanced, no one dared to advance rashly. When they retreated, no one dared to fall behind at will. When they fed, no one dared to scramble2 to be the first. All their activities were orderly.

　　When they went into action,萬 dais always acted uniformly without any disorder3. They depended upon the collective efforts to avoid any harm from the outside world.

　　傳說，東海上有一種叫做“意怠”的鳥。

　　意怠反應比較遲鈍，不能高飛，似乎笨拙無能。

　　但是，它們行動的時候，總是成群結隊，相依為命，一起飛翔，一起降落。

　　它們前進的時候，沒有一隻敢擅自冒進;後退的時候，沒有一隻敢隨便掉隊;吃食的時候，也沒有一隻敢搶先。一切活動，都很有秩序。

　　意怠行動起來總是這樣一致而不散亂，它們就是靠著集體的力量來避免外界對自己的傷害。