雙語(yǔ)·《伊索寓言》 賣(mài)神像的人

THE IMAGE-SELLER

A certain man made a wooden Image of Mercury, and exposed it for sale in the market. As no one offered to buy it, however, he thought he would try to attract a purchaser by proclaiming the virtues of the Image. So he cried up and down the market, “A god for sale! a god for sale! One who'll bring you luck and keep you lucky!” Presently one of the bystanders stopped him and said, “If your god is all you make him out to be, how is it you don't keep him and make the most of him yourself?” “I'll tell you why,” replied he; “he brings gain, it is true, but he takes his time about it; whereas I want money at once.”

賣(mài)神像的人

有一個(gè)人做了一個(gè)木頭的墨丘利神像，帶到市場(chǎng)上去賣(mài)，可是沒(méi)有人買(mǎi)。他想，如果能夠宣傳一下這尊神像的好處，應(yīng)該就能吸引來(lái)購(gòu)買(mǎi)者了。所以，他在市場(chǎng)中來(lái)來(lái)回回地走著喊道：“賣(mài)神像啦！賣(mài)神像啦！可以給你帶來(lái)好運(yùn)，可以幫你守住好運(yùn)！”立刻就有一個(gè)看熱鬧的人攔住他問(wèn)：“要是你的神像如你說(shuō)的那樣，你怎么不留著他，給你自己謀到最大好處呢？”“是這樣的，”那人回答說(shuō)，“他的確能夠帶來(lái)益處，但卻需要時(shí)間，而我現(xiàn)在就需要用錢(qián)?！?/p>