農夫與蛇

編者注

相信大家以前都看過《農夫與蛇》的故事吧。故事講的是一個老人救了一條凍僵的蛇，但最后卻被蛇咬死了。但今天這篇《農夫與蛇》講的是另外一個農夫與蛇的故事，趕快來看看吧！

Every day， a farmer went to the city to sell flowers and farm produce (農產品) and then went home after selling all his things. One day， he left home very early. When he arrived at the city， the gate was still closed. So he lay down to take a nap (睡覺). When he woke up， he found that the bin (儲物箱) containing (裝著) his farm produce was empty. And there was a gold coin in the bin. He thought that maybe someone had taken his things and left the payment (付款) there， and went home happily with the money.

有一個農夫，每天都到城里去賣花和農產品，賣完以后就回家。有一天，他很早出門，但是當他來到城門時，城門還沒開，所以他就先躺在那邊睡覺。當他醒過來時，看到他裝農產品的箱子都空了，箱子里面有一個金幣。他想大概是有人拿走了他的東西，然后把錢放在那里了，于是他帶著錢高興地回家了。

The next day， the farmer went out to sell his things again. But he arrived too early again. So he slept outside the city gate. And the same incident (事件) happened again. All the produce that the farmer had brought disappeared， and there was a gold coin in the bin again! At that time， gold was very valuable（值錢的）. One gold coin had a value many times higher than the farmer’s produce.

第二天，農夫又出門去做買賣，同樣也是來得太早，所以他又在城門那里睡覺。結果又發生一樣的事情，農夫帶來的東西都不見了，箱子里面又多了一個金幣！那時候黃金是很值錢的，所以一個金幣比農夫的農產品要高出好幾倍的價值。

One day， the farmer’s father asked him， “Where have you gotten so many gold coins lately? Where did the money come from?” The farmer told his father what had happened. After listening to his story， the father thought， “I’ll follow my son as he goes out one day， and see who has taken his things and left the money in the bin.”

有一天，農夫的父親問他：“最近你怎么忽然間得到那么多金幣？那些錢是從哪里來的？”農夫就把他遇到的事情告訴了他的父親。他的父親聽了以后，心想：“我要找一天跟著我的兒子出門，看看到底是誰拿了他的東西，然后把錢放在他的箱子里。”

So one day， after the farmer went out， his father quietly followed him. When the farmer was sleeping near the city gate， his father saw a snake crawl (爬) up to his bin and eat his produce. Having finished eating， the snake once again spat (吐出) a gold coin into the bin as payment to the farmer before leaving. Seeing this， the farmer’s father thought， “If I kill the snake， I’ll be able to get all its gold coins!” He then picked up a stone and cut the snake into two parts.

因此，有一天，當農夫出門后，他的父親就悄悄地跟著他。當農夫在城門附近睡覺的時候，他的父親看到一條蛇爬到他的箱子那邊吃他的東西，吃完以后，就吐出一個金幣到箱子里面，算是付錢給農夫，然后蛇就爬走了。農夫的父親想：“如果我把這條蛇殺掉，就可以得到它全部的金幣了！”于是他撿起一塊石頭，把那條蛇打成兩段。

At that time， the head and body of the snake were already in its den (窩)， and only the tail was outside. The father thought that there must be a big treasure in the den， so he told his son to reach inside for it. But unexpectedly (沒想到地)， when the farmer put his hand into the den， the snake bit him and killed him!Even though it had been cut into two parts， the snake could still bite!

那時候，那條蛇的頭部和身體已經爬進它的窩里，只剩下尾巴露在外面。農夫的父親認為蛇窩里面肯定有很多寶藏，就叫農夫伸手去拿。沒想到當農夫把手伸進去時，卻被蛇咬死了！被打成兩段的蛇竟然還可以咬人！

Seeing his son was killed， the father cried brokenheartedly （心碎地） next to the son’s dead body. Then he asked the snake， “You snake!Why did you kill my son? Why did you bite my son and kill him?” Instead of answering him， the snake asked， “Why did you break my back with the stone? There was no animosity (仇恨) between us. I had never done anything bad to you， nor had I done you any harm. If you had been more patient and waited， I will give the entire treasure here to you. However， because you struck me， I bit and killed your son. If I have killed you， you would not be in such deep sorrow. I killed your son so that you’d live the rest of your life in agony (極大的痛苦).”

看到自己的兒子被殺死了，他父親在兒子的尸體旁心碎地哭泣著。然后他問蛇：“蛇啊，你為什么要殺我的兒子？為什么要把我的兒子咬死呢？”那條蛇就反問他：“那你為什么用石頭打斷我的背呢？我們之間又沒有什么仇恨，我從來沒有對你做過什么壞事，也不曾傷害過你，如果你有耐心一點，慢慢來，我里面的寶藏都會給你的。不過，因為你打我，所以我才把你的兒子咬死。如果我把你咬死的話，你就不會那么傷心，所以我把你的兒子咬死，讓你一輩子都痛苦。”

This story tells us that we shouldn’t be so greedy (貪婪的). We shouldn’t hurt others to get their things. Or we will ensure (承擔) the bad result ourselves.

這個故事告訴我們做人不能太貪得無厭，不能為了得到別人的東西而去傷害別人，否則，后果自負。