雙語·《伊索寓言》 驢和貨品

THE ASS AND HIS BURDENS

A Pedlar who owned an Ass one day bought a quantity of salt, and loaded up his beast with as much as he could bear. On the way home the Ass stumbled as he was crossing a stream and fell into the water. The salt got thoroughly wetted and much of it melted and drained away, so that, when he got on his legs again, the Ass found his load had become much less heavy. His master, however, drove him back to town and bought more salt, which he added to what remained in the panniers, and started out again. No sooner had they reached a stream than the Ass lay down in it, and rose, as before, with a much lighter load. But his master detected the trick, and turning back once more, bought a large number of sponges, and piled them on the back of the Ass. When they came to the stream the Ass again lay down: but this time, as the sponges soaked up large quantities of water, he found, when he got up on his legs, that he had a bigger burden to carry than ever.

You may play a good card once too often.

驢和貨品

有一個小販，他有一頭驢。有一天他購進了一些鹽，依據(jù)驢的負擔能力，將最大量的鹽放在了驢背上?；丶衣飞?，他們要涉過一條小溪，驢腳下不穩(wěn)，摔進了水里。鹽整個兒被水浸濕，大部分都溶化掉了，所以，驢重新站穩(wěn)的時候，發(fā)現(xiàn)負擔輕了好多。不過他的主人趕著他回了城里，又買了一些鹽。小販把鹽放入籮筐，再度出發(fā)。他們一到小溪，驢就故意躺進溪水中，等起來時，和上次一樣，負擔又輕了許多。主人察覺到了他的把戲，于是趕著驢又回到了城里，這次買了好多海綿，放在了驢的背上。等他們第三次來到小溪，驢又故意躺下，而這次，海綿吸收了大量的水分，等驢站起來的時候，發(fā)現(xiàn)背上的負重增加了很多。

訓誡：便宜不要多占。