英語童話故事兩則「薦讀」

　　獵狗和狐狸的故事

A hound, roaming in the forest, spied a lion. He thought the lion might be a good prey1 and chased, thinking he would make a fine quarry2. Presently the lion perceived that he was being pursued, so, stopping short, he rounded on his pursuer and gave a loud roar. The hound immediately turned tail and fled. A fox, seeing him running away, jeered3 at him and said, "Ho! Ho! There goes the coward who chased a lion and ran away the moment the roared!"

有一條獵狗,正在森林裏閒逛,猛然看見了一隻獅子,心想這可是一個不錯的獵物,便追了上去,想施展一下自己的小伎倆。很快,獅子覺察到自己被追蹤了,便突然停住,回過頭來衝着追捕者大聲吼叫。獵狗立刻轉身逃跑了。一隻狐狸見狀,便嘲笑起獵狗:“呵呵,真是個膽小鬼,竟然還敢追獅子,只要獅子一聲吼,你可就落荒而逃了!”

　　螞蟻和螞蚱的故事

One fine day in winter some ants were busy drying their store of corn, which had got rather damp during a long spell of rain. Presently1 up came a grasshopper2 and begged them to spare her a few grains, "For," she said, "I'm simply starving." The ants stopped work for a moment, though this was against their principles. "May we ask," said they, "what you were doing with yourself all last summer? Why didn't you collect a store of food for the winter?" "The fact is," replied the grasshopper, "I was so busy singing that I hadn't the time." "If you spent the summer singing," replied the ants, "you can't do better than spend the winter dancing." And they chuckled3 and went on with their work.

冬天一個温暖如春的日子裏,螞蟻們正忙着曬乾自己存儲的糧食。由於下來很長時間的雨,糧食已經非常潮濕了。這時,來了一隻螞蚱,向他們乞討一點糧食。“因為,”螞蚱説,“我實在是餓壞了。”儘管有點違背原則,但螞蟻們還是停下了手頭的工作。“我們能問一下嗎?”他們説,“整個夏天你都在做些什麼呢?為什麼不為冬天儲存一些糧食呢?”“實際上,”螞蚱回答道,“我一直在忙着唱歌,根本沒有時間存儲糧食。”“如果你整個夏天都在唱歌,”螞蟻們回答道,“那麼,你最好在冬天就忙着跳舞吧。”他們哈哈大笑起來,繼續忙於各自的工作。