英語童話故事：貓與狐貍

It happened that the cat met Mr. Fox in the woods. She thought, "He is intelligent and well experienced, and is highly regarded in the world," so she spoke to him in a friendly manner, "Good-day, my dear Mr. Fox. How is it going? How are you? How are you getting by in these hard times?"

The fox, filled with arrogance, examined the cat from head to feet, and for a long time did not know whether he should give an answer. At last he said, "Oh, you poor beard-licker, you speckled fool, you hungry mouse hunter, what are you thinking? Have you the nerve to ask how I am doing? What do you know? How many tricks do you understand?"

"I understand but one," answered the cat, modestly.

"What kind of a trick is it?" asked the fox.

"When the dogs are chasing me, I can jump into a tree and save myself."

"Is that all?" said the fox. "I am master of a hundred tricks, and in addition to that I have a sackful of cunning. I feel sorry for you. Come with me, and I will teach you how one escapes from the dogs."

Just then a hunter came by with four dogs. The cat jumped nimbly up a tree, and sat down at its top, where the branches and foliage completely hid her.

"Untie your sack, Mr. Fox, untie your sack," the cat shouted to him, but the dogs had already seized him, and were holding him fast.

"Oh, Mr. Fox," shouted the cat. "You and your hundred tricks are left in the lurch. If you been able to climb like I can, you would not have lost your life."

一只貓在森林里遇到一只狐貍，心想：“他又聰明，經(jīng)驗又豐富，挺受人尊重的。”於是它很友好地和狐貍打招呼：“日安，尊敬的狐貍先生，您好嗎?這些日子挺艱難的，您過得怎么樣?”

狐貍傲慢地將貓從頭到腳地打量了一番，半天拿不定主意是不是該和它說話。最后它說：“哦，你這個倒霉的長著鬍子、滿身花紋的傻瓜、饑腸轆轆地追趕老鼠的傢伙，你會啥?有甚么資格問我過得怎么樣?你都學(xué)了點甚么本事?”

“我只有一種本領(lǐng)。”貓謙虛地說。

“甚么本領(lǐng)?”狐貍問。

“有人追我的時候，我會爬到樹上去藏起來保護自己。”

“就這本事?”狐貍不屑地說，“我掌握了上百種本領(lǐng)，而且還有滿口袋計謀。我真覺得你可憐，跟著我吧，我教你怎么從追捕中逃生。”

就在這時，獵人帶著四條狗走近了。貓敏捷地竄到一棵樹上，在樹頂上蹲伏下來，茂密的樹葉把它遮擋得嚴嚴實實。

“快打開你的計謀口袋，狐貍先生，快打開呀!”貓沖著狐貍喊道。可是獵狗已經(jīng)將狐貍撲倒咬住了。“哎呀，狐貍先生，”貓喊道，“你的千百種本領(lǐng)就這么給扔掉了!假如你能像我一樣爬樹就不至於丟了性命了!”