A Frog in the Well 井底之蛙

王靜云

“井底之蛙”最早出自戰國思想家莊子所作的《莊子·秋水》。該成語指井底的青蛙只能看到井口那么大的一片天，比喻眼界狹隘、見識短淺的人。

A frog has been living in a dry well. He is very satisfied with his littleworld. One day， he saw a soft-shelled turtle from East Sea walking not faraway.

The frog hurriedly shouted， “Hey， turtle， please come here！ Youveprobably never seen such a spacious 1）residence before.”

The turtle probed into the well， and saw a pool of muddy water coveredwith green moss at the bottom of the shallow well， and smelled a foul 2）odor.The frog continued to boast， “I feel very comfortable to live here. I jump onthe well fence to enjoy the cool in the evening， I sleep in the hole in the wellwall at night， I can swim when I soak myself in water， and I can roll when Ijump into the mud. Those little bugs， crabs， 3）tadpoles， no one can comparewith me！”

“Turtle， why not go in for sightseeing？” The turtle felt that the frog wasso kind that he could not refuse， so he asked the frog， “Have you heard?of the sea？” The frog shook his head. The turtle said， “The sea is vast and4）boundless. It cannot be described by thousands of miles， and its depthcannot be expressed by ten thousand feet. I just live in the sea. You see，compared with your dry well and shallow water， which world is more openand which is more fun？”

1） residence n. 住所

2） odor n. 氣味

3） tadpole n. 蝌蚪

4） boundless adj. 無邊無際的

有一只青蛙一直住在一口枯井里。它對自己生活的小天地十分滿意，一天，它看見不遠處有一只來自東海的鱉在散步。

青蛙連忙喊道：“嘿，鱉兄，快請過來！你大概從來沒見過這么寬敞的房子。”

鱉探頭往井里一瞥，只見淺淺的井底積了一攤長滿青苔的泥水，還聞到一股撲鼻的臭味。青蛙繼續吹噓：“住在這兒，我舒服極了。晚上可以跳到井欄上乘涼；深夜可以鉆到井壁的窟窿里睡覺；泡在水里，可以游泳；跳到泥里，可以打滾。那些小蟲子、螃蟹、蝌蚪，哪一個能比得上我呢！”

“鱉，你不想進來參觀嗎？”鱉感到盛情難卻，便問青蛙：“你聽說過大海嗎？”青蛙搖了搖頭。鱉說：“大海無邊無際。千里無法形容它的遼闊，萬丈無法表明它的深度。我就生活在大海中。你看，比起你這一口枯井，哪個天地更開闊，哪個樂趣更大呢？”

Fill in the blanks：

1. The frog can jump on the __________ to enjoy the cool in the evening.

2. The turtle lives __________ .

Know More

This idiom tells people that behind an able man there are always other ablemen， so dont rest on your laurels， just keep going.

這個成語告訴人們：山外有山，人外有人，不要故步自封，而要保持進取之心。

參考答案：1. well fence 2. in the sea