雙語·《伊索寓言》 老婦人和醫(yī)生

THE OLD WOMAN AND THE DOCTOR

An Old Woman became almost totally blind from a disease of the eyes, and, after consulting a Doctor, made an agreement with him in the presence of witnesses that she should pay him a high fee if he cured her, while if he failed he was to receive nothing. The Doctor accordingly prescribed a course of treatment, and every time he paid her a visit he took away with him some article out of the house, until at last, when he visited her for the last time, and the cure was complete, there was nothing left. When the Old Woman saw that the house was empty she refused to pay him his fee; and, after repeated refusals on her part, he sued her before the magistrates for payment of her debt. On being brought into court she was ready with her defence. “The claimant,” said she, “has stated the facts about our agreement correctly. I undertook to pay him a fee if he cured me, and he, on his part, promised to charge nothing if he failed. Now, he says I am cured; but I say that I am blinder than ever, and I can prove what I say. When my eyes were bad I could at any rate see well enough to be aware that my house contained a certain amount of furniture and other things; but now, when according to him I am cured, I am entirely unable to see anything there at all.”

老婦人和醫(yī)生

有一個老婦人眼睛有病，幾乎徹底瞎了。她去看了一個醫(yī)生，在其他人的見證下，她和醫(yī)生達成了一個協(xié)議：如果醫(yī)生將她的眼睛治愈，她便付給醫(yī)生高額的報酬；如果醫(yī)生沒有辦法治好她的眼睛，那便什么也拿不到。醫(yī)生制訂了治療方案，而他每次出診去給老婦人治療，便從老婦人家中帶走一些家具。當療程結束，他最后一次去看老婦人時，老婦人家中的東西已經(jīng)被他拿光了。老婦人看到房子里空空如也，拒絕付給醫(yī)生費用。老婦人一再拒絕之后，醫(yī)生將她告上了法庭。老婦人上庭之后為自己辯護說：“原告已經(jīng)準確無誤地陳述了我們之間的協(xié)議：如果我被他治愈，便付費給他；如果他失敗了，他承諾說什么費用都不收。現(xiàn)在，他說我好了，但是我得說，我比過去瞎得更厲害了。我可以證明的。過去我的眼睛起碼還是能夠看到我的房子里面裝著好多家具和其他東西的；現(xiàn)在，他說我的眼睛好了，但是我在我的房子里面卻什么也看不到?！?/p>