正文

A beggar found a leather purse that someone had dropped in the marketplace. Opening it, he discovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold.

有人在集市丟了一個(gè)皮錢(qián)包，一個(gè)乞丐撿到了。他打開(kāi)一看，里面有100個(gè)金幣。

Then he heard a merchant shout, “A reward（懸賞）! A reward to the one who finds my leather purse!” Being an honest man, the beggar came forward and handed the purse to the merchant saying, “Here is your purse. May I have the reward now?”

這時(shí)，他聽(tīng)到一個(gè)買(mǎi)賣(mài)人喊到：“懸賞！懸賞！誰(shuí)找到我的皮錢(qián)包，我重重有賞！” 乞丐是個(gè)老實(shí)人，他走上前去把錢(qián)包交給生意人，說(shuō)：“我撿到了你的錢(qián)包，現(xiàn)在請(qǐng)把賞錢(qián)給我吧?！?/p>

“Reward?” scoffed（嘲笑） the merchant, greedily counting his gold. “Why, the purse I dropped had 200 pieces of gold in it. You've already stolen more than the reward! Go away or I'll tell the police.”

“賞錢(qián)？”生意人一邊貪婪地?cái)?shù)著金子，一邊嘲弄道。“我說(shuō)，我丟錢(qián)包的時(shí)候，里面還有200個(gè)金幣，分明是你偷了金幣，還敢問(wèn)我要賞錢(qián)！快滾，不然我就報(bào)警了！”

“I'm an honest man,” said the beggar defiantly（挑戰(zhàn)地）, “Let us take this matter to the court.” In court the judge patiently listened to both sides of the story and said, “I believe you both. Justice is possible!

“我這人向來(lái)老實(shí)本分?！逼蜇げ环獾卣f(shuō)，“咱們上法庭評(píng)評(píng)理吧?！?法庭上，法官耐心聽(tīng)完兩方的陳述，說(shuō)：“你倆說(shuō)的話我都信。司法是公正的！

Merchant, you stated that the purse you lost contained 200 pieces of gold. Well, that's a considerable cost. But, the purse this beggar found had only 100 pieces of gold. Therefore, it couldn't be the one you lost.”

做買(mǎi)賣(mài)的，你說(shuō)你丟的錢(qián)包里面有200塊金幣，那可不是筆小數(shù)目啊。可這要飯的撿到的錢(qián)包里只有100塊金幣，那說(shuō)明他撿的就不是你丟的那個(gè)錢(qián)包?！?/p>

And, with that, the judge gave the purse and all the gold to the beggar.

說(shuō)完，法官把錢(qián)包和所有金幣全部判給了乞丐。

生詞

scoff [sk?f] v.嘲弄

defiantly [d??fa??ntl?] adv.大膽對(duì)抗地

圣雄甘地(Mahatma Gandhi)認(rèn)為：“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.”(地球提供給我們的物質(zhì)財(cái)富足以滿足每個(gè)人的需求，但不足以滿足每個(gè)人的貪欲。)