短小英文故事

　　 父親和他的兒子

　　THE FATHER AND HIS SONSFather had a family of sons who were perpetually quarrelling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They each tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it.He next unclosed the faggot, and took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into their hands, on which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words： “My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks.”

　　一位父親有幾個孩子，這些孩子時常發生口角。他絲毫沒有辦法來勸阻他們，只好讓他們看看不合群所帶來害處的例子。為了達到這個目的，有一天他叫他們替他拿一捆細柴來。當他們把柴帶來時，他便先後地將那捆柴放在每一個孩子的手中，吩咐他們弄斷這捆柴。他們一個個盡力去試，總是不能成功。然後他解開那捆柴，一根根地放在他們手裡，如此一來，他們便毫不費力地折斷了。於是他就告訴他們說：“孩子們!如果你們大家團結一致，互相幫助，你們就像這捆柴一樣，不能被你們的敵人折斷;但如果你們自行分裂，你們就將和這些散柴一般，不堪一折了。”

　　 獅子和老鼠

　　THE LION AND THE MOUSELion was awakened from sleep by a Mouse running over his face. Rising up in anger, he caught him and was about to kill him, when the Mouse piteously entreated, saying： “If you would only spare my life, I would be sure to repay your kindness.” The Lion laughed and let him go. It happened shortly after this that the Lion was caught by some hunters, who bound him by strong ropes to the ground. The Mouse, recognizing his roar, came up, and gnawed the rope with his teeth, and setting him free, exclaimed: “You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you, not expecting to receive from me any repayment of your favor; but now you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to confer benefits on a Lion.”

　　一隻老鼠從一隻獅子面前跑過去，將它從夢中吵醒。獅子生氣地跳起來，捉住老鼠，要弄死它。老鼠哀求說：“只要你肯饒恕我這條小生命，我將來一定會報答你的大恩。”獅子便笑著放了它。 後來獅子被幾個獵人捉住，用粗繩捆綁倒在地上。老鼠聽出是獅子的吼聲，走來用牙齒咬斷繩索，釋放了他，並大聲說：“你當時嘲笑我想幫你的忙，而且也不指望我有什麼機會報答。但是你現在知道了，就算是小老鼠，也能向獅子效勞的。”

　　 獅子和農夫

　　The lion and the farmerAn Indian farmer and his child were toiling in the fields. It was almost dark by the time they had finished their work and the farmer said to the child, "Wow! It’s getting dark! Quickly pack up the tools and run. Let’s run quickly!" “Relax. We’re not far from home and we know the way home. Why are you in such a panic?” asked the child. “There’s something you don’t know. I’m generally fearless. I’m not afraid of tigers or lions. I’m only afraid of the night. When the night comes, I’m completely powerless. The night is most terrifying to me. I’m really frightened of it. I can’t stand it," answered the farmer. It so happened that a lion was hiding nearby and overheard their conversation. “What’s this thing called ‘the night’? How could it be more fearful than I am? I must find out about it,” the lion mused as it moved closer to the farmer, hoping to learn more about this “night” that was even more frightening than itself. Then darkness fell and the farsighted farmer couldn’t see nearby objects clearly. He only saw the vague outline of an animal approaching, thought it was the donkey he had recently lost, and beat the lion several times, saying, “I’ve been looking for you all day. Where have you been? How dare you come back so late?”“This is the end of me,” the lion thought with regret. “How could I have been so stupid as to come so close to this thing called ‘the night’ that beat me just now? It’s really horrifying. What should I do now?” As these thoughts flashed through the lion’s mind, the farmer again slapped it several times, urging it to go home with him. The petrified lion then obediently followed the farmer back to his house. It was even darker when they reached home. Since the farmer continued to mistake the lion for his donkey, he tied it in a corner outside his house before he went to bed. That night, the lion stayed out in the cold, starving, petrified and not knowing what to expect of “the night” when morning dawned. It believed that the farmer was “the night.”Early the next morning, before dawn broke, the farmer got up and took his “donkey” to the fields. On the way, another lion passed by and found it hilarious to see a lion obediently following a farmer. It then approached the captive lion and asked, “What are you doing? Why are you walking behind this man?”“Shh! Keep your voice down and leave quickly. Don’t you know that this being walking in front is something called ‘the night?’ He’s very terrible. Last night, he beat me and shackled me, leaving me cold and starving the entire night. I have no idea where he’s taking me now. Run along or your life will be in danger!”After hearing this story, the other lion said, “You’re incredible. You idiot! You’re a lion, the king of animals! You’ve been deceived! Just roar at him now and you’ll know who is more terrifying.” The lion accepted his advice and roared loudly, so the farmer took a closer look. Now that the sky had become brighter, he saw that it was a lion. Wow! He bolted like lightning, and the lion was free again

　　. 有一個印度的農夫跟他的小孩子出去耕田，耕完了地以後，天快要黑了，他就跟小孩說：“哇!天快黑了!不行、不行了!快收東西，快點走，我們趕快走吧!” 小孩說：“哎呀!你別緊張嘛!回家的路不遠，而且我們也知道路，你幹什麼這麼緊張呢?”農夫說：“不行啊!你不知道啊!我什麼都不怕，我不怕老虎、不怕獅子，我最怕那個‘晚上’!只要‘晚上’一來，我就軟趴趴。那個‘晚上’最恐怖了，我好怕、好怕，我受不了!”剛好有一隻獅子躲在旁邊聽到了，它就想：“這個‘晚上’是什麼東西?它怎麼可能比我還恐怖呢?我倒要試試看!”它就靠近農夫，想檢視‘晚上’是什麼種類的東西，竟然比獅子還要恐怖。 那個時候天已經黑了，那個農夫有老花眼，看不清楚，只看到一個動物跑過來靠近他，認為是他那頭剛走掉的驢子，就打它幾下，說：“找你整天找不到，去哪裡了?現在才回來!” 這隻獅子心想：“完了!我怎麼那麼笨，跑來靠近‘這個’，剛剛打我就是叫‘晚上’的東西吧!好恐怖啊!現在怎麼辦呢?”它在想的時候，農夫又打了它好幾下，催它趕快回家去，這隻獅子怕死了，就跟著農夫走回去。 回家時天更黑了，因為農夫認為是他的驢子，就把獅子綁在屋外的角落邊，然後進去睡覺。那隻獅子在那邊又餓又冷整個晚上，又害怕，不曉得明天早上那個“晚上”會再對待它怎麼樣?它認為農夫就是所謂的“晚上”。 隔天一大早，天還不怎麼亮的時候，農夫已經起來了，出門帶那頭“驢子”要去耕田。走到半路時，剛好有另外一隻獅子經過，它看到這隻獅子乖乖地跟著農夫走在後面，就感覺到好笑，它靠近這隻獅子，問：“你做什麼啦?為什麼跟著那個人的後面走呢?” 被綁的獅子說：“噓!你不要那麼吵，趕快離開!你不知道前面走的那個，就是叫‘晚上’的東西，他很恐怖啊，昨天我被他打，然後被綁了整個晚上又餓又冷，現在不曉得要帶我到哪裡去。你趕快跑，不然的話你生命難保啊!” 另外那隻獅子聽說這樣，就說：“你真好笑，你笨蛋!你是獅子、是動物之王啊!你被騙了!你現在吼他一聲，就知道誰才恐怖。”果然，這隻獅子聽它的話大吼一聲以後，那個農夫就靠過來看，現在天亮了，一看是隻獅子，哇!跑得要命。然後這隻獅子就自由了。

　　 孰能生巧小故事

　　Skill comes from practiceDuring the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a skilled archer. One day he drew a big crowd while he was practicing on the drill ground. He shot so accurately that the on-lookers cheered with excitement. He became very proud of his skill. But among the crowd an old oil peddler only nodded his head indifferently. This hurt his Pride.“Can you do this?” he asked the old oil peddler.“No, I can’t.”“What do you think of my skill?”“Just OK, but nothing special. You’ve gained your accuracy from persistent practice. That’s all.”“What can you do, then?” the old man said nothing. He put a gourd bottle on the ground and covered its mouth with a copper coin. He then scooped out a ladle of oil from his big jar, held it high and began to fill the bottle.Now, a thread of oil came down from the ladle into the bottle just through the hole of the coin. Everybody looking on watched with amazement. But the old man said, “This is nothing special, I can do this because I have practiced it a lot.” And with these words, he left.Later, people use this phrase to mean “Practice makes perfect”

　　.北宋時期，有個技藝高超的射手。有一天，他在訓練場上練習射箭，引來了一大群人觀看，大家都稱讚他的技藝，他感到非常驕傲。但他發現人群中有個賣油翁只是淡淡的點點頭，這使得他很不高興。他就問那老頭：“你會射箭嗎?”“不會。”“你認為我的技術如何?”“一般。沒什麼特別的，你只能對付固定的東西，僅此而已。”“你會幹什麼?”這個老頭沒有回答。他把一個葫蘆放在地上，接著把一枚銅錢放在瓶口。然後從他的大油壺裡舀起一勺油。從高處往放在地上的葫蘆裡倒。只見那油就像線一樣從銅錢中間的小洞裡滴下去，一滴都沒有漏出來。圍觀者都驚呆了。而這個賣油翁卻說：“其實沒什麼大不了的，只不過是天天練的結果。”說完，他就離開了。後來，人們用“熟能生巧”這個成語來表示熟練了就能作得好。