秃鹫的视力

王婉宁

It was said that the eye of the vulture（秃鹰;秃鹫）could see everything clearly as he gazed down from high above. A vulture once bragged to the crow， “No one’s eyesight can be better than mine.”“You’re just boasting about your eyesight without any evidence（证据;证明），”said the crow. “If it were so， then tell me what you can see in the wilderness（荒地;荒野）.”The vulture answered， “Don’t mock（嘲弄;嘲笑）me when I say this， that there is a wheat grain in the wasteland（不毛之地）of the wilderness.”

The crow was skeptical（怀疑的）over what the vulture said， so both of them flew down towards that place to have a look. As the vulture’s position was just above the grain，a net was cast from above and he was trapped. It never occurred to the vulture that he could be trapped as he prepared to peck at the grain.

The crow sighed and said，“Oh vulture， what is the use if you can see the small grain but could not see the trap set up by the enemy？”Trapped in the net， the vulture was resigned（認命的;顺从的）to his fate. He said，“One cannot escape losing his life in a vast and boundless（无限的;无边无际的）ocean no matter how good a swimmer he is.”

精彩译文

据说，秃鹫从高处向下俯视，一切都能清楚地尽收眼底。一次，秃鹫对乌鸦吹嘘：“谁的视力也不如我的好。”乌鸦说：“空口无凭，既然你夸耀自己的眼力，那请说说在旷野上你看到了什么东西。”秃鹫答：“我若说出来，你可别笑我，有一颗谷粒掉落在旷野的土地上。”

乌鸦听了心中置疑。于是它们一同往下飞去看个究竟。当秃鹫飞到那颗谷粒上方时，忽然背后有一张大网撒了下来，它被罩住了。秃鹫万万没想到就在它啄那颗谷粒的时候，却被罩住了。

乌鸦叹息道：“秃鹫啊，你看到谷粒有何用？你却看不到敌人设置的陷阱。”而那落入猎人网中的秃鹫感叹着它的命运。它说：“在一片浩瀚无际的大海里，再高明的游泳者也在劫难逃。”