含哲理的英語故事短文

　　故事對人們來說,有著天然的吸引力。人們創作故事時,就期待著讀者能夠與之產生共鳴,得到愉悅的體驗、得到情緒的釋放。本文是，希望對大家有幫助!

　　：抱薪救火

　　In the last years of the Warring States period ***戰國, 475-221BC***, the State of Qin ***秦國*** attacked the State of Wei ***魏國*** on a large scale repeatedly and occupied large areas of land, for the State of Wei was too weak to defend itself.

　　戰國末期，秦國向魏國接連發動大規模的進攻，魏國無力抵抗，大片土地都被秦軍佔領了。

　　In 273 BC, the Qin army launched another attack upon the State of Wei with a momentummore vigorous than ever. The king of the State of Wei summoned his officials,and asked with a worried look if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army.

　　到公元前273年，秦國又一次向魏國出兵，勢頭空前猛烈。魏王把大臣們召來，愁眉苦臉地問大家有沒有使秦國退兵的辦法。

　　After years of chaos caused by the wars,the officials trembled when fighting was mentioned, and no one dared to speak of “resistance”.

　　大臣們由於經過多年的戰亂，提起打仗就嚇得哆嗦，誰也不敢談“抵抗”二字。

　　At the critical moment when a large enemy force was approaching the border, most of the officials persuaded the king to sue for peace, at the cost of giving away to the State of Qin the large area of land north of the Huanghe River

　　***huáng hé 黃河*** and south of the Taihang Mountain ***tài háng shān 太行山***.

　　在這大兵壓境的危急時刻，多數大臣都勸魏王，用黃河以北和太行山以南的大片土地為代價，向秦王求和。

　　However Su Dai ***sūdài 蘇代***, a counsellor, did not agree. He hurried up to the king and said:"Your Majesty, they don't think about the interests of the country at all.It is just because they are cowardly and afraid of death that they ask you to sue for peace by betraying the country.Of course you can temperarily satisfy the ambition of the king of the State of Qin isinsatiably greedy. It will never stop assaulting us until our land is totally given away."

　　謀士蘇代聽了這些話，很不以為然，忙上前對魏王說：“大王，他們是因為自己膽小怕死，才讓您去賣國求和，根本不為國家著想。您想，把大片土地割讓給秦國雖然暫時滿足了秦王的野心，但秦國的慾望是無止境的，只要魏國的土地沒割完，秦軍就不會停止進攻我們。”

　　Once there was a man whose house was on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not listen. Instead, he carried a faggot to put out the fire, only to make the fire fiercer. That was because he didn't know that,instead of putting out the fire, faggots could only make it burning more vigorously. Isn't it equivalent to carrying faggots to put out a fire if you agree to sue for peace at the cost of the land of the State of Wei?"

　　說到這裡，蘇代講了一個故事：“從前有一個人，他的房子起火了，別人勸他快用水去澆滅大火，但他不聽，偏抱起一捆柴草去救火，是因為他不懂得柴草不但不能滅火反而能助長火勢的道理。大王若同意拿著魏國土地去求和，不就等於抱著柴草救火嗎?”

　　Though Su Dai's argument was very convincing, the king accepted the suggestion of those officials and gave away to the State of Qin a large area of the land of the State of Wei.

　　儘管蘇代講得頭頭是道，但是膽小的魏王只顧眼前的太平，還是依大臣們的意見把魏國大片土地割讓給秦國。

　　The State of Wei was finally destroyed by the State of Qin. This story appears in the Historical Records Written by Sima Qian. The set phrase"carrying faggots to put out a fire"is used to mean adopting a wrong method to save a situation and ending up by making it worse.

　　到公元225年，魏國最終被秦國滅掉了。這個故事出自司馬遷的《史記》，“抱薪救火”就是指“用錯誤的方式去挽救現狀，最終只會令狀況更糟糕”。

　　：九牛一毛

　　Li Ling was a great general during the time of emperor Han Wu-di ***hàn wǔ dì漢武帝***. He was a very good fighter, and he won every battle.

　　西漢時代有個很有名的大將軍名叫李陵，他驍勇善戰，百戰百贏。

　　One time, however, Li Ling's troops were so hopelessly outnumbered by the Huns that although they fought bravely, the whole army was soon taken captive.

　　有一次，雖然李陵的軍隊奮勇殺敵，因為兵力不足而戰敗投降。

　　Li Ling shamefully surrendered for the moment, planning to wait for an opportunity to strike back.

　　李陵打算暫時先忍辱投降，以便伺機等待機會反擊。

　　But when news of the surrender reached the capital, the emperor's jealous ministers began todegrade Li Ling in front of the emperor.

　　但當李陵投降的訊息傳到首都，皇上身邊嫉妒的大臣們都開始指責李陵。

　　What he heard made the emperor so angry that he had Li Ling's wife and mother put to death.

　　皇上十分氣憤，他將李陵的妻子與母親都賜死了。

　　Ze-ma Chian, who had always respected Li Ling, believed that he wouldn't surrender without a reason, and urged the emperor not to believe rumors.

　　司馬遷一直很敬重李陵，他不信李陵會無緣無故投降，便諫言皇上不要聽信謠言。

　　This time, the emperor grew angry at Sz-ma Chian, and locking him up, punished him severely.

　　但就因為這樣，皇上便遷怒司馬遷，並將他囚禁，進行嚴懲。

　　Sz-ma Chian then wrote a long letter to a friend, saying, "I am now in the middle of writing a history book. If I die, it will be as if one ox in a group on nine were to lose a single hair. I am willing to withstand punishment in order to complete this book." Sz-ma Chian finally did finish his book - the very famous Shr-Ji.

　　司馬遷隨後寫了一封長信給他的朋友，說道：“我現在在寫一部歷史長篇，如果我死了，就如同九牛一毛般微不足道，但我願意承受住這般的懲罰，來完成這部書。”最終，司馬遷完成了這部名流千古的史學著作——《史記》。

　　：口蜜腹劍

　　Li Lin-fu was a prime minister of China during the T'ang dynasty ***唐朝, 618—907AD***.

　　李林甫，唐玄宗時官居“兵部尚書”兼“中書令”這是宰相的職位。

　　He was good at both calligraphy and painting, but had a crafty and sinister personality which made him disliked by everyone.

　　此人若論才藝倒也不錯，能書善畫。但若論品德，那是壞透了，所以並不受歡迎。

　　Li Lin-fu would bribe the palace eunuchs and concubines to tell him what the emperor liked, and then would immediately go prepare that thing for the emperor. The emperor was therefore very fond of Li Lin-fu, and trusted him unduly.

　　李林甫常常賄賂宦官來告訴他皇上的喜好，然後再準備東西討好皇上。因此皇上很倚重李林甫。

　　One time, the minister Li Shr-jr offended Li Lin-fu. Li Lin-fu pretended not to care, and was in fact especially nice to the minister.

　　有一次，大臣李適之冒犯了李林甫，李林甫表面上並不在意，還裝作對這個大臣特別好。

　　Then on a day, he told Li Shr-jr about some gold that was hidden over in Hua Mountain, and encouraged him to suggest mining this gold to the emperor.

　　然後有一天，李林甫告訴李適之在華山後面藏著金子，並慫恿他讓皇上去挖金。

　　Li Shr-jr being of an honest and upright disposition, believed that it was true, and immediately went and told the emperor.

　　李適之為人老實，就信以為真，馬上就去告訴了皇上。

　　But when the emperor began to discuss this with Li Lin-fu, Li Lin-fu acted very frightened and said,

　　"Hua Mountain in the place where all of Your Majesty's auspicious aurora are gathered. If we were to mine that area, it could be very dangerous for you. Who is it that wants to harm you?”

　　玄宗立刻把李林甫找來商議，李林甫卻說：“這件事我早知道了，華山是帝王風水集中的地方，怎麼可以隨便開採呢?別人勸您開採，恐怕是不懷好意;我幾次想把這件事告訴您，只是不敢開口。”

　　Today we can describe someone who is two-faced and always nice on the outside and yet is mean to people behind their backs as having "Honey in the Mouth and Swords in the Stomach."

　　如今當我們形容一個人是兩面派，表面對人溫文爾雅，但暗地傷人的人時，我們就用“口蜜腹劍”這個成語。