The Golden Cup and the Old Jar

翻譯：寒 星

The Golden Cup and the Old Jar

金杯和舊罐子

翻譯：寒 星

教師節馬上就要到啦！來看一則老師與學生的小故事吧！這個故事所反映的和現實生活中的很多時候一樣，我們平時看到的或許并不是事情的實質。老師們的良苦用心，大家需要用心才能發現哦！

One day, two students of the teacher Chang Hu came to his house. They sat down at the table. Chang Hu put a golden cup in front of one of his students, and in front of the other student, he put an old and1)cracked jar. Both the cup and the jar were filled with water.

“Help yourself,” Chang Hu said.

The student who got the golden cup drank the water and he2)bowed to his3)former teacher with4)gratitude. The other student, whom the old jar was given to, looked at the teacher with5)reproof and asked, “Tell me, honorable Chang Hu, do you treat your former students so differently, that you offer one of them to drink water from a golden cup, and for the other one—from an old jar?”

Chang Hu smiled and said, “My dear students, the golden cup is stored in my house for many years. I place it before the most honored guest. Not everyone is allowed to drink from it, because it is a6)valuable thing. But I myself never use this cup. However, every day I drink water from my favorite old jar. It7)faithfully8)serves me for so many years. This jar is valuable to my heart. I know every9)cleavage on it. So, my dear students, how I treat both of you, only you can decide. But remember one thing—in this house, I don’t have any dishes apart from a golden cup and an old jar. And into both of them, I simply pour water.”

一天，長湖先生的兩名學生到其家中做客。他們在桌前坐了下來。長湖先生把一盞金杯放在了其中一名學生面前，而在另一名學生面前，則放下了一個老舊且開有裂縫的水罐。杯子和罐子里都盛滿了水。

“請自便，”長湖先生說。

拿到金杯的學生將水一飲而盡，并向先生鞠躬致謝。而另一個拿到舊水罐的學生則略帶責備地看著先生，問道：“可敬的長湖先生，學生不解，為何您如此區別對待您的老學生，讓其中一人以金杯飲水，而到了另一個，卻只給一個舊罐子呢？”

長湖先生微笑著說：“我親愛的學生們，這盞金杯已被我珍藏在家多年。我只用它來招待最尊貴的賓客。并非每個人都能用上這盞金杯，因為它價值連城。可我自己從未用過這盞金杯。反而，我每天都會用我最喜愛的舊水罐喝水。它忠誠地為我服務了很多年。在我心里，它很寶貴。我熟悉它上面的每一條裂紋。因此，我親愛的學生們，我如何對待你們，只有你們才能做出判斷。不過請記住一點——在這間屋子里，除了一盞金杯和一個舊水罐，我沒有其他器皿了。而且在這兩個杯子里，我都只是倒入了水而已。”

詞義辨一辨

大家應該都見過honor這個詞吧？它在作名詞時有“尊敬，榮譽”的意思，而由這個意思演變出來的形容詞卻有兩種不同的形式哦，下面一起來分辨一下吧！

1）honorable形容（人）值得尊敬，強調內在的美德。如：People who works hard is honorable.（努力工作的人值得尊敬。）。它還常被用在某些貴族和法官等官員的名字前，作為尊稱，如在本文中，學生將它放在了老師的名字前面，以示對老師的尊敬。

2）honored形容（人）受人尊敬，強調人的名譽。如：That old man was once an honored gentleman.（那個老人曾是一位受人尊敬的紳士。）。

1) cracked [kr?kt] adj. 有裂痕的

2) bow [ba?] v. 鞠躬

3) former ['f??m?] adj. 以前的，從前的

4) gratitude ['gr?t?tju?d] n. 感激，感謝

5) reproof [r?'pru?f] n. 責備

6) valuable ['v?lj??bl] adj. 貴重的，寶貴的

7) faithfully ['fe?θf?l?] adv. 忠實地

8) serve [sз?v] v. 為……服務

9) cleavage ['kli?v?d?] n. 裂痕