英语寓言故事

寓言故事

Making His Mark “刻舟求剑”

A man from the state of Chu was taking a boat across a river when he dropped his sword into the water carelessly. Immediately he made a mark on the side of the boat where the sword dropped, hoping to find it later. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to search for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. As we know, the boat had moved but the sword had not. Isn’t this a very foolish way to look for a sword?

楚国有个人坐船渡江时，他不小心把自己的一把宝剑掉落江中。他马上掏出一把小刀，在宝剑落水的船舷上刻上一个记号。船靠岸后，那楚人立即从船上刻记号的地方跳下水去捞取掉落的宝剑。他怎么找得到宝剑呢？船继续行驶，而宝剑却不会再移动。像他这样去找剑，真是太愚蠢可笑了。

To Pull up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow “拔苗助长” Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who planted a plot of rice. After he planted the seedlings, every day he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day, but still, he thought they were growing too slowly. Eventually he got

impatient with the young plants and suddenly he hit upon an idea that one by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. The next early morning, the young man couldn’t wait to check his “achievement”, but he was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying.

从前，有个农夫，种了稻苗（seedlings）后，便希望能早早收成。每天他到稻田时，都发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。他等得很不耐烦。想了又想，他终于想到一个“最佳方法”，他将稻苗全都拔高了几分。第二天，一早起身，他迫不及待地去稻田看他的“成果”。 哪知，却看到所有的稻苗都枯萎了。

Plugging One’s Ears While Stealing a Bell “掩耳盗铃”

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.