A farmer can’t read or write. One day he asks a man to write a letter for him. He wants to post the letter to his uncle.
一个农民既不会读书也不会写字。一天,他请一个男子为他写一封信。他要把这封信寄给他叔叔。
“I can’t write you letter,” says the man, “Because I have a bad leg.”
“我不能为你写信,”男子说,“因为我有一条腿坏了。”
“Sir,” says the farmer, “I know, but I can’t see what a bad leg has to do with writing a letter.”
“先生,”农民说道,“我知道,但是我不明白写信与腿坏了有什么关系。”
“It has much to do with it,” says the man, “because I can’t walk so far and read the letter to you uncle.”
“有很大关系,”男子说,“因为我不能走那么远为你叔叔读信。”
“What do you mean, sir?” says the farmer. “His son can read it to him. Why do you need to read if for him?”
“您这是什么意思,先生?”农艺说道:“他的儿子可以读给他听。为什么需要你读给他听呢?”
“Don’t you understand,” answers the man, “that only I can read what I write?”
“你还不明白吗,”男子说道,“我写的只有我能读得懂。”
Selling Cow
卖牛
An old man is selling a big cow. A young man comes to the cow and begins to look at it carefully. Then the old man goes up to him and says in his ears. “Don’t say anything about the cow before I sell it, then I will give you some meat.”
“All right,” says the young man. After the old man sells the cow, he gives the young man some meat and says, “Now, you can tell me how do you think of the bad leg of the cow.”
“I didn’t find the bad leg,” says the young man. “Then why did you look at the cow carefully?” asks the old man.
“我没发现坏腿呀。”年轻男子说。“那你为什么仔细地看着这头牛?”老人问道。
Then young man answers, “Because I have never seen a cow, and I wanted to know what it looks like.”
年轻人回答道:“因为我从未见过奶牛,我只想知道它长得什么样。”
Number Twenty Now
现在排第二十名
Peter’s father wants to know how his son is getting along in school. One day he asks, “Peter, how are you getting along in school? What is your place in the class?” “Number twenty-one.” “And how many students are there in your class?” “Twenty-one, Father.”
A man was going to the house of some rich person. As he went along the road, he saw a box of good apples at the side of the road. He said, "I do not want to eat those apples; for the rich man will give me much food; he will give me very nice food to eat." Then he took the apples and threw them away into the dust.
He went on and came to a river. The river had become very big; so he could not go over it. He waited for some time; then he said, "I cannot go to the rich man's house today, for I cannot get over the river."
He began to go home. He had eaten no food that day. He began to want food. He came to the apples, and he was glad to take them out of the dust and eat them.
Do not throw good things away; you may be glad to have them at some other time.
An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old. One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.
Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old. Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."