英语小短文故事

一

Once there were two mice. They were friends. One mouse lived in the country; the other mouse lived in the city. After many years the Country mouse saw the City mouse; he said, "Do come and see me at my house in the country." So the City mouse went. The City mouse said, "This food is not good, and your house is not good. Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have nice food to eat. You must come and see me at my house in the city." The Country mouse went to the house of the City mouse. It was a very good house. Nice food was set ready for them to eat. But just as they began to eat they heard a great noise. The City mouse cried, " Run! Run! The cat is coming!" They ran away quickly and hid. After some time they came out. When they came out, the Country mouse said, "I do not like living in the city. I like living in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy, than to be rich and afraid."

从前，有两只老鼠，它们是好朋友。一只老鼠居住在乡村，另一只住在城里。很多年以后，乡下老鼠碰到城里老鼠，它说：“你一定要来我乡下的家看看。”于是，城里老鼠就去了。乡下老鼠领着它到了一块田地上它自己的家里。它把所有最精美食物都找出来给城里老鼠。城里老鼠说：“这东西不好吃，你的家也不好，你为什么住在田野的地洞里呢？你应该搬到城里去住，你能住上用石头造的漂亮房子，还会吃上美味佳肴，你应该到我城里的家看看。” 乡下老鼠就到城里老鼠的家去。房子十分漂亮，好吃的东西也为他们摆好了。可是正当他们要开始吃的时候，听见很大的一阵响声，城里的老鼠叫喊起来：“快跑！快跑！猫来了！”他们飞快地跑开躲藏起来。过了一会儿，他们出来了。当他们出来时，乡下老鼠说：“我不喜欢住在城里，我喜欢住在田野我的洞里。因为这样虽然贫穷但是快乐自在，比起虽然富有却要过着提心吊胆的生活来说，要好些。”

二

One morning a fox saw a cock.He thought,"This is my breakfast.'' He came up to the cock and said,"I know you can sing very well.Can you sing for me?''The cock was glad.He closes his eyes and began to sing.The fox saw that and caught him in his mouth and carried him away. The people in the field saw the fox.They cried,"Look,look!The fox is carrying the cock away.'' The cock said to the fox,"Mr Fox,do you understand?The people say you are carrying their cock away.Tell them it is yours.Not theirs.'' The fox opened his mouth and said,"The cock is mine,not yours.''Just then the cock ran away from the fox and fled into the tree.

一天早上，一只狐狸看到了一只公鸡。他想：这是我的早餐。他朝公鸡走来，对他说：“我知道，你能唱得非常好听，你能唱给我听么？”公鸡很高兴。他闭上眼睛开始唱歌。狐狸看到这些抓住它放到自己的嘴里走了。在田地里

的人们看到了狐狸。大喊大叫：“看，看！狐狸抓住公鸡逃走了。”公鸡对狐狸说：“狐狸先生，你能理解么？人们认为你叼走了公鸡。告诉他们这是你的，不是他们的。” 狐狸张开她的嘴说：“公鸡是我的，不是你们的。”就在那时，公鸡逃离了狐狸的嘴巴，跑到了树底下。

三

Jonesie The Great Lion Hunter A small village was troubled by a man-eating lion. So its leaders sent a message to the great hunter, Jonesie, to come and kill the beast. For several nights the hunter lay in wait for the lion, but it never appeared. Finally, he told the village chief to kill a cow and give him its hide. Draping the skin over his shoulders, he went to the pasture to wait for the lion. In the middle of the night, the villagers woke to the sound of blood-curdling shrieks coming from the pasture. As they carefully approached, they saw the hunter on the ground, groaning in pain. There was no sign of the lion. "What happened, Jonesie? Where is the lion?" asked the chief. "Forget the damn lion!" he howled. "Which one of you idiots let the bull loose?" 伟大的猎手Jonesie 有个小村庄正为一只吃人的狮子而烦恼。于是，村长派人去请伟大的猎手Jonesie来杀死这只野兽。 猎手躺着等了几个晚上，但狮子一直没有出现。最后，他要求村长杀只羊然后把头皮给他。把羊皮披在身上后，猎人到草原上去等狮子。 半夜，村民被从草原传来的声嘶力竭的尖叫声惊醒。他们小心地靠近后，看到猎手正躺在草地上痛苦地呻吟。没有狮子出没的蛛丝马迹。 “Jonesie，怎么了？狮子在哪？”村长问。 “哪有狮子！”猎人怒吼道，“哪个傻瓜把公牛放出来了？”

四

Weather Predict A film crew was on location deep in the desert. One day an old Indian went up to the director and said, "Tomorrow rain." The next day it rained. A week later, the Indian went up to the director and said, "Tomorrow storm." The next day there was a hailstorm. "This Indian is incredible," said the director. He told his secretary to hire the Indian to predict the weather. However, after several successful predictions, the old Indian didn't show up for two weeks. Finally the director sent for him. "I have to shoot a big scene tomorrow," said the director, "and I'm depending on you. What will the weather be like?" The Indian shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know," he said. "Radio is broken." 天气预报 一个电影摄制组在沙漠深处工作.一天,一个印度老人到导演跟前告诉导演说"明天下雨."第二天果然下雨了. 一周后,印度人又来告诉导演说,"明天有风暴."果然,第二天下了雹暴. "印度人真神,"导演说.他告诉秘书雇佣该印度人来预报天气. 几次预报都很成功.然后,接下来的两周,印度人不见了. 最后,导演派人去把他叫来了."我明天必须拍一个很大的场景,"导

演说,"这得靠你了.明天天气如何啊?" 印度人耸了耸肩."我不知道,"印度人说,"收音机坏了."

五

It doesn't matter where you are coming from.All that matters is where you are going.

Your decision to be,have and do something out of ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well.Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.

You cannot control what happens to you,but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you,and in that,you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.

Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.

The more you seek security ,the less of it you have.But the more you seek opportunity,the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire.

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.Unsuccessful people are always asking,"What's in it for me?"

All successful people,men and women,are big dreamers.They imagine what their future could be,ideal in every respect,and then they work every day toward their distant vision,that goal or purpose.

六

A man was going to the house of some rich person. As he went along the road, he saw a box of good apples at the side of the road. He said, "I do not want to eat those apples; for the rich man will give me much food; he will give me very nice food to eat." Then he took the apples and threw them away into the dust. He went on and came to a river. The river had become very big; so he could not go over it. He waited for some time; then he said, "I cannot go to the rich man's house today, for I cannot get over the river."

He began to go home. He had eaten no food that day. He began to want food. He came to the apples, and he was glad to take them out of the dust and eat them.

Do not throw good things away; you may be glad to have them at some other time.

【译文】

一个人正朝着一个富人的房子走去，当他沿着路走时，在路的一边他发现一箱好苹果，他说：“我不打算吃那些苹果，因为富人会给我更多的食物，他会给我很

好吃的东西。”然后他拿起苹果，一把扔到土里去。

他继续走，来到河边，河涨水了，因此，他到不了河对岸，他等了一会儿，然后他说：“今天我去不了富人家了，因为我不能渡过河。”

他开始回家，那天他没有吃东西。他就开始去找吃的，他找到苹果，很高兴地把它们从尘土中翻出来吃了。

不要把好东西扔掉，换个时候你会觉得它们大有用处。

七

There was once a farmer who had a fine olive（橄榄树）orchard（果园） . He was very hardworking, and the farm always prospered under his care. But he knew that his three sons despised（轻视，看不起）the farm work, and were eager to make wealth, trough adventure.

When the farmer was old, and felt that his time had come to die, he called the three sons to him and said, "My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

The sons tried to get him to tell them in what part of the orchard the gold was hidden; but he would tell them nothing more.

After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold; since they did not know where the hiding-place was, they agreed to begin in a line, at one end of the orchard, and to dig until one of them should find the money. They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, round the tree-roots and between them. But no pot of gold was to be found. It seemed as if someone must have stolen it, or as if the farmer had been wandering（漫游，闲逛）in his wits. The three sons were bitterly disappointed to have all their work for nothing.

The next olive season, the olive trees in the orchard bore more fruit than they had ever given; when it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of gold.

And when they saw how much money had come from the orchard, they suddenly understood what the wise father had meant when he said, "There is

gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

从前有一个农民，他有一座漂亮的橄榄园。他非常勤劳，而且农场在他的照管下蒸蒸日上。可他知道自己的三个儿子瞧不起农活，都迫不及待的想通过冒险发家致富。

这个农民上了年岁，感到死期快要来临时，将三个儿子叫到身边说：“儿子们，橄榄园里藏有一罐金子。你们想要，就去挖吧。”

儿子们想让父亲告诉他们金子藏在果园的那一块地方，可他什么也没再给他们说。

那个农民死后，三个儿子就开始挖地，想找到那罐金子；因为他们不知道金子藏在什么地方，所以他们一致同意排成一行从果园的一头开始挖起，知道其中一人挖到金子为止.

他们挖啊挖，从果园的一头一直挖到了另一头，果树周围和果树之间也都挖到了，可还是没有找到那罐金子。看来一定是有人已经把那罐金子头走了，要么就是他们的父亲一直在异想天开。三个儿子对他们白干了一场，感到大失所望。

到了第二年的橄榄季节，果园里的橄榄树接出的果子比以往的都多；卖完果子后，三个儿子赚了整整一罐金子。

他们从果园里得到这么多钱后，突然明白了聪明的父亲所说的“果园里藏有金子，想要就去挖吧”这句话的含义。

八

A young shoemaker left his village. Along the way, he found some ants, who were very sad because a bear had destroyed their anthill（蚁冢，人群密集的地方） . The shoemaker helped them rebuild it, and the ants offered to return the favor.

The shoemaker followed his way and found some bees with the same problem as the ants. The young man also helped them, and the bees promised to help him in the future.

Further along, the shoemaker learned that the king’s daughter was in the castle of a witch（巫婆，女巫） . The young man decided to rescue her. But the witch locked him up in a stinking（发恶臭的，非常讨厌的）dunge on with a sack of sand mixed with poppy（罂粟）seeds and told him that if he wasn’t able to separate the two, she would cut off his head at dawn.

The young man thought about his death. But his friends the ants came and helped him pass the test. The witch was astounded. Then she took him to a room where there were thirteen maidens with their faces covered: the shoemaker had to discover which one was the princess.

The young man became discouraged but he saw a bee that landed on... the sweetest one, the true princess. When the shoemaker uncovered her face, the witch was changd into a crow（乌鸦） . The young people fell in love and lived surrounded by animals and poppies.

一个年轻鞋匠离开他所在的村子。沿途中看到一些蚂蚁，蚂蚁们很伤心，因为熊破坏了他们的家。于是这个鞋匠帮助它们重修了蚁丘，蚂蚁们说将来会回报他的帮助。

鞋匠上路继续前行，发现一些蜜蜂遭遇到和蚂蚁一样的状况。于是这个年轻人也帮助了蜜蜂们，蜜蜂承诺将来也会帮助这位年轻人。

又走了很远，鞋匠听说国王的女儿困在女巫的城堡里，年轻人决定去营救她。但女巫把他锁在恶臭的粪土堆旁，还扔给他一麻袋混合在一起的沙子和罂粟种子。告诉他如果不能够在黎明前把这些区分开来，就要在黎明时砍掉他的脑袋。

年轻人想着他要死了。这时他的朋友蚂蚁来了，帮助他通过了这个考验。女巫大吃一惊，接着她把年轻人带到了一个房间，里面有蒙着面纱的是三个少女：鞋匠必须从中找出真正的王妃。

年轻人有些灰心了，但这时他看到了一只蜜蜂降落在一个人身上……那人就是真正的王妃。当鞋匠揭开她的面纱，于是女巫变成了一只乌鸦。年轻人跟公主坠入爱河，动物们和罂粟花都围绕着他们。

九

The Young Thief and His Mother

Long ago, there were a mother and a son living in a house. She worked hard everyday, but they were always poor.

One day, her son stole his friend's bag. "Mom, what do you think of this bag?" His mother praised her son rather than scolding him. "It looks great!"

The next time, he stole an overcoat. She praised him again when he stole it.

A few years later, he grew up to be a young man. He stole jewelry and brought them to his mother. "How beautiful!" This time, she did not scold her son again.

Then, because he was elated by his mother, he started to steal more expensive things. One day, the police caught him. Before putting him in jail, he begged the police to meet his mother. They took him to his mother.

As soon as he saw his mother, he bit her earlobe. "Ouch! What's the matter with you?" She finally scolded him. Her son answered. "If you had given me a scolding like that when I stole the first bag, I could not have become a thief."

She collapsed as she looked at her son heading to prison. "If I only could turn back time, I would scold him severely." She regretted that she always praised him, whatever he did.

小偷和他的年轻妈妈

很久以前，有一个母亲和儿子住在一所房子。她每天都努力工作，但他们始终贫困。

有一天，她的儿子偷了他朋友的袋子。“妈，你怎么看这个包的?”他的母亲受表扬而不是骂他，她的儿子。“这看起来很棒!”

下一次，他偷了一件大衣。他儿子偷这个的时候，她又表扬了他。

几年后，他成长为一名年轻男子。他偷了珠宝，交给他母亲。“真漂亮!”这一次，她并没有骂她的儿子。

然后，因为他认为他的母亲高兴，他开始偷更昂贵的东西。有一天，警察抓到他。他将在监狱前，他恳求警察，见一下他的母亲。他们把他带到他母亲面前。

当他看到他的母亲，他咬了她耳垂。“哎哟!怎么回事呀?”她终于骂他。她的儿子回答说。“如果你在我偷第一个包的时候这样责骂我的话，我就不会成为一个小偷了。”

当她看到她的儿子走进监狱的时候，她内心崩溃了。“如果真的可以时光倒流，我会严厉责骂他。”她感到遗憾的是她总是称赞他，无论他做了什么。