寓言三则

The Oxen and the Axletrees

公牛与车轴

A heavy wagon was being dragged along a country lane by a team of Oxen. The Axletrees groaned and creaked terribly; whereupon the Oxen, turning round, thus addressed the wheels, “Hullo there! Why do you make so much noise? We bear all the labor, and we, not you, ought to cry out.”

Moral: Those who suffer most cry out the least.

一队公牛拉着载满货物的车子行走在乡间的小路上。这时货车的轮子开始哀号，不断地发出嘎吱声；于是公牛们扭头对轮子说：“喂，你们干吗发出这样的声音？是我们在拉着货物呀，不是你们，要抱怨也是应该我们，轮不着你们。”

寓言：那些最任劳任怨的人反倒是抱怨最少的人。

The One-Eyed Doe

独眼雌鹿

A doe blind in one eye was accustomed to graze as near to the edge of the cliff as she possibly could, in the hope of securing her greater safety. She turned her sound eye towards the land that she might get the earliest tidings of the approach of hunter or hound, and her injured eye towards the sea, from whence she entertained no anticipation of danger.

Some boatmen sailing by saw her, and taking a successful aim, mortally wounded her. Yielding up her last breath, she gasped forth this lament, “O wretched creature that I am! To take such precaution against the land, and after all to find this seashore, to which I had come for safety, so much more perilous.”

Moral: Trouble comes from the direction we least expect it.

有一头瞎了一只眼睛的雌鹿为了保护自己，总喜欢在最接近悬崖边缘的地方吃草。她将那只完好的眼睛对着陆地，这样每当有猎户或猎狗来袭时，她就能得到最快的消息；她将那只受伤的眼睛面朝大海，她预感在那个方向不会有任何危險。

一些船夫经过看到了站在悬崖边上的她，成功地瞄准并重重地射伤了她。临死之前，她抓住仅有的最后一口气哀叹道：“唉，我真可怜！为了应对来自陆地上的危险，我才做了这么多的预防措施。好不容易来到海边，以为能确保自己的安全，到头来却发现海边更危险。”

寓意：麻烦总是不期而至。

The Lark Burying Its Mother

百灵鸟葬母

The lark, according to an ancient legend, was created before the earth itself; and when her mother died by a fell disease, as there was no earth, she could find for her no place of burial. She left her mother lie uninterred for five days. On the sixth day, she had no way out and bury her mother in her own head. So she got her crest, which is popularly said to be her mothers grave-hillock.

Moral: Youths first duty is to show their respect to parents.

据古代传说，百灵鸟诞生于地球未成形以前；其母死于一场重病，那时因为没有泥土，她找不到地方葬母，于是就停丧五天。到了第六天，她仍一筹莫展，就将母亲葬在自己的头上，因此，她就得到了冠毛，大家都说这是她母亲的坟山。

寓意：青年人的第一责任就是孝敬父母。

Vocabulary

drag  v. (常指费力地)拖，拉，拽，扯

suffer  v. 遭受，经受；感到(痛苦) ；受挫

respect  v. 尊敬；敬重；尊重

accustomed  v. 习惯的；适应的

secure  v. 使……免遭攻击(或伤害)；保卫；保护 ；取得，实现

sound  adj. (身体)健康的；(心智)健全的

entertain  v. 考虑，心存，怀有（主意、建议等）