英語寓言小故事

　　Plugging One’s Ears While Stealing a Bell

　　Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to steal his neighbor’s doorbell. However, he knew clearly that the bell would ring and catch the other people’s attention as long as he touched the bell. So he thought hard and suddenly hit on a clever “idea”. He plugged his ears with something, thinking that everything would go well when he stole the bell. Unfortunately to his disappointment, the bell still rang loudly and he was caught on the spot as a thief.

　　【譯文】

　　“掩耳盜鈴”

　　從前，有一個人想偷鄰居門上的鈴，但是他知道一碰到鈴，鈴就會響起來，被人發現。他想啊想，終於他想出一個“妙極”，他把自己的耳朵用東西塞起來，就聽不見鈴聲了。但是當他去偷鈴時，鈴聲仍舊響起來，他被別人當場抓住。

　　The Old Cat

　　An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old. One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.

　　Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old. Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."

　　【譯文】

　　老貓

　　一位老婦有隻貓，這隻貓很老，它跑不快了，也咬不了東西，因為它年紀太大了。一天，老貓發現一隻老鼠，它跳過去抓這隻老鼠，然而，它咬不住這隻老鼠。因此，老鼠從它的嘴邊溜掉了，因為老貓咬不了它。

　　於是，老婦很生氣，因為老貓沒有把老鼠咬死。她開始打這隻貓，貓說：“不要打你的老僕人，我已經為你服務了很多年，而且還願意為你效勞，但是，我實在太老了，對年紀大的不要這麼無情，要記住老年人在年青時所做過的'有益的事情。”

　　Draw a Snake and Add Feet to It

　　Long long ago, several people had a jar of wine among them and all of them wanted to drink it by himself. So they set a rule that every one would draw a snake on the 4 / 12 ground and the man who finished first would have the wine. One man finished his snake very soon and he was about to drink the wine when he saw the others were still busy drawing, so he decided to draw the feet to the snake. However, before he could finish the feet, another man finished and grabbed the jar from him, saying, "Who has ever seen a snake with feet?” The story of "Draw a snake and add feet to It.” tells us going too far is as bad as not going far enough.

　　【譯文】

　　“畫蛇添足”

　　古時幾個人分一壺酒。他們都想獨自喝完那壺酒，所以就定了一個規矩：每人在地上畫一條蛇，誰畫得最快，這壺酒就歸誰。有一個人很快就把蛇畫好了。他正打算喝這壺酒時，看見別人都還在忙著畫，就決定給蛇再畫上幾隻腳。結果，他的蛇腳還沒加完，另一個人已經把蛇畫好了。那人一下把酒壺奪了過去，說：“有誰見過長腳的蛇?”。這個故事告訴我們這樣的道理：做得過分和做得不夠都是不對的。

　　Drunk

　　One day, a father and his little son were going home. At this age, the boy was interested in all kinds of things and was always asking questions. Now, he asked, "What's the meaning of the word 'Drunk', dad?" "Well, my son," his father replied, "look, there are standing two policemen. If I regard the two policemen as four then I am drunk."

　　"But, dad," the boy said, " there's only ONE policeman!"

　　醉酒

　　一天，父親與小兒子一道回家。這個孩子正處於那種對什麼事都很感興趣的年齡，老是有提不完的問題。他向父親發問道：“爸爸，‘醉’字是什麼意思?” “唔，孩子，”父親回答說，“你瞧那兒站著兩個警察。如果我把他們看成了四個，那麼我就算醉了。” “可是，爸爸， ”孩子說，“那兒只有一個警察呀!”