放羊的孩子

The Shepherds Boy

There was once a young shepherd boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so he thought out a plan by which he could get a little company and some excitement. He rushed down towards the village calling out “Wolf, Wolf,” and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stayed with him for a considerable time. This pleased the boy so much that a few days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help. But shortly after this a wolf actually did come out from the forest, and began to worry about the sheep, and the boy of course cried out “Wolf, Wolf,” still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them, and nobody came to his help. So the Wolf made a good meal of the boy’s flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the village said: “A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”

【日積月累】

◇shepherd n. 牧羊人，牧羊狗 v. 牧羊，看管，帶領

【參考譯文】

放羊的孩子

從前，有一個放羊的小男孩，他在山腳下的茂密森林附近照料羊群。他整天都太孤單了，所以他想出一個計劃，想通過這個計劃獲得一點點陪伴和很大的興奮。他沖進村子大喊：“狼來了，狼來了”，村民們趕緊沖過來看他，其中有些與他停了相當長的時間。這個孩子非常高興，以至于幾天后，他又嘗試了同樣的伎倆，村民們又再一次過來幫助他。但是，不久后，一只狼真的從森林里出來了，開始騷擾羊群，當然，這個男孩又開始大喊“狼來了，狼來了”，比以前喊得要大聲很多。但是這次，已經被欺騙了兩次的村民們以為男孩又在騙他們，沒有一個人去幫助他。所以狼把羊群變成了一頓豐富的美餐，當男孩抱怨這件事的時候，村里的智者說：“說謊的人將永遠不會被信任，即使他說的是事實。”

【人生啟迪】

誠實是很重要的，一個人贏得誠實，就會贏得尊重，贏得生命的價值；相反，一個人失去了誠實，他便失去了起碼的人格，失去了生命的意義。生活需要誠實，交友需要誠實，學習更需要誠實。我們要做一個誠實的人，讓誠實陪伴在我們的身邊，讓誠實融入到我們的生活之中。