胡斯蒂儿童寓言故事节选1-英语

2021年1月11日发(作者：狄景襄)

The Young Crab and His Mother
“Why in the world do you walk sideways（向侧面地、横着） like that?” said a Mother Crab
to her son. “You should always walk straight forward with your toes turned out.”
“Show me how to walk, mother dear,” answered the little Crab obediently(服从地), “I want
to learn.”
So the old Crab tried and tried to walk straight forward. But she could walk sideways only,
like her son. And when she wanted to turn her toes out, she tripped and fell on her nose.
Don’t tell others how to act unless you can set a good example.
除非你自己为他人树立一个好榜样，否则不要对别人的行为指指点点。

The Frogs and the Ox
An Ox came down to a reedy(芦苇丛生的) pool to drink. As he splashed(溅、涉) heavily
into the water, he crushed a young Frog into the mud. The old Frog soon missed the little one
and asked his brothers and sisters what had become of(降临、遭遇) him.
“A great big monster,” said one of them, “stepped on little brother with one of his huge
feet!”
“Big, was he! ” said the old frog, puffing herself up(使肿胀). “Was he as big as this?”
“Oh, much bigger.” They cried.
The frog puffed up still more. “He could not have been bigger than this,” said she. But the
little frogs all declared that the monster was much, much bigger and the old frog kept puffing
herself out more and more until, all at once, she burst(爆裂).
Don’t attempt the impossible. 不要尝试不可能做到的事情。

The Bundle(捆) of Sticks
A Certain Father had a family of Sons, who were forever quarreling among themselves. No
words he could say did the least good, so he cast about(搜索) in his mind for some very striking
example that should make them see that discord(意见不合) would lead them to misfortune.
One day when the quarreling had been much more violent than usual and each of the Sons
was moping(郁闷) in a surly(粗暴的) manner, he asked one of them to bring him a bundle of
sticks. Then handing the bundle to each of his sons in turn, he told them to try to break it. But
although each one tried his best, none was able to do so.


The father then untied the bundle and gave the sticks to his sons to break one by one. This
they did very easily.
“My sons,” said the father, “do you not see how certain it is that if you agree with each other
and help each other, it will be impossible for your enemies to injure you? But if you are divided
among yourselves, you will be no stronger than a single stick in that bundle.”
In unity is strength. 团结就是力量。兄弟同心，其利断金。

The Wolf and the Crane
A wolf had been feasting(宴请) too greedily(贪心地), and a bone had stuck(卡住)
crosswise(交叉地) in his throat. He could get in neither up nor down, and of course he could
not eat a thing. Naturally that was an awful(可怕的) state of affairs for a greedy wolf.
So away he hurried to the crane(鹤). He was sure that she, with her long neck and bill(尖
嘴、鸟嘴), would easily be able to reach the bone and pull it out.
“I will reward you very handsomely,” said the wolf, “if you pull that boen out for me.”
The crane, as you can imagien, was very uneasy about putting her head in a wolf’s throat.
But she was grasping(贪婪的) in nature, so she did what the wolf asked her to do.
When the wolf felt that the bone was gone, he started to walk away.
“But what about my reward!” called the crane anxiously(焦急地). “What!” snarled(咆哮)
the wolf, whirling around(旋转). “Haven’t you got it? Isn’t it enough that I let you take your
head out of my mouth without snapping it off (咬断)?”
Expect no reward for serving the wicked. 别妄想坏蛋会因为你的帮助而向你付出回
报。

The Gnat(叮人小虫) and the Bull
A gnat flew over the meadow with much buzzing for so small a creature and settled on the
tip of one of the horns of a Bull. After he had rested a short time, he made ready to fly away.
But before he left he begged the bull’s pardon for having used his horn for a resting place.
“You must be very glad to have me go now,” he said.
“It’s all the same to me,” replied the bull. “I did not even know you were there.”
We are ofter of greater importance in our own eyes than in the eyes of our neighbor.
我们总是把自己看得很重要，而别人却并不总是这么看。