誰是更不誠實的

曲永華

中國擁有五千年的歷史文化，誠實守信一向是中國人引以為傲的美德，“人無信而不立”、童叟無欺的故事熏陶了我們幾千年。然而古今中外關于不誠實、不守信用的事件卻屢屢發生。請閱讀面包師與農民的故事，并以此思考我們如何在生活中做一個誠實的人。

In a small town in France，there was a farmer who lived alone. Every day he sold a pound of butter to his neighbour，a baker. ①One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound. After he weighed it，he found that he wasn’t. The baker then took the farmer to the judge.

The judge asked the farmer if he had any way to weigh the butter. ②The farmer replied，“I am so poor that I do not have enough money to buy anything to weigh it，but I do have a kind of scale.”The judge asked，“Then how do you weigh the butter？”The farmer replied，“Before the baker started buying butter from me，I had bought bread from him. ③So now every time I bring home the bread from the baker，I put it on the scale and give him the butter of the same weight.”

We get back what we give to others in life. ④Whenever you take action，ask yourself this question，“Am I honest？”

Honesty or dishonesty can become a habit. Some dishonest people can lie without a red face. Others lie so much that they do not even know what the truth is any more. But who is it bad for？ As a matter of fact，those who lie will hurt themselves by their own dishonest behaviour.

精彩譯文

在法國一個小鎮上，有一個獨居的農民。他每天都賣給他的鄰居——一個面包師一磅黃油。一天，面包師決定稱一下黃油看看是否重一磅。在稱完之后，他發現重量不足。于是面包師把農民帶到了法官面前。

法官問農民他是否有辦法稱黃油。農民回答說：“我很窮，沒有足夠的錢買稱黃油的東西，但是我確實有一個天平。”法官問：“那么你是怎么稱黃油的？”農民回答說：“在面包師開始從我這兒買黃油之前，我先從他那買了面包。所以現在每次我從面包師那拿回面包，我就把它放在天平上，然后給他稱出同樣重量的黃油。”

生活中我們拿回的是我們給予別人的東西。無論何時采取行動，都要問一下自己這個問題：“我誠實嗎？”

誠實或不誠實會成為習慣。一些不誠實的人說謊時毫不臉紅，其他人撒謊成性以至于他們不再知道什么是真相。但是那對誰有壞處呢？實際上，撒謊的人會因為自己不誠實的行為而傷害自己。

【新鮮詞】

1. pound /pa?nd/ n.磅，英鎊

2. baker /?be?k?（r）/ n.面包師，烤爐

3. judge /d??d?/ n.法官，裁判

4. scale /ske?l/ n.天平，規模

5. action /'?k?n/ n.行動，動作

6. lie /la?/ v. 撒謊，說謊

【句型解讀】

1. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound.

翻譯：一天，面包師決定稱一下黃油看看是否重一磅。

解讀：句中if引導一個賓語從句，if可用whether替換。decide to do sth.意為“決定做某事”。

2. The farmer replied，“I am so poor that I do not have enough money to buy anything to weigh it，but I do have a kind of scale.”

翻譯：農民回答說：“我很窮，沒有足夠的錢買稱黃油的東西，但是我確實有一個天平。”

解讀：直接引語使用了so...that結構，引導結果狀語從句;have前面的do表示強調。

3. So now every time I bring home the bread from the baker，I put it on the scale and give him the butter of the same weight.

翻譯：所以現在每次我從面包師那拿回面包，我就把它放在天平上，然后給他稱出同樣重量的黃油。

解讀：every time為名詞短語，在句中充當連詞，引導時間狀語從句。

4. Whenever you take action，ask yourself this question，“Am I honest？”

翻譯：無論何時采取行動，都要問一下自己這個問題：“我誠實嗎？”

解讀：Whenever引導一個讓步狀語從句，主句為祈使句;take action意為“采取行動”。