简短英语成语故事带翻译

简短英语成语故事带翻译

成语寓言故事:The Clever Way to Get Rich致富妙法

There lived a rich man named Guo in the State of Qi and a poor man named Xiang in the State of Song.

齐国有个姓“国”的富人，宋国有个姓“向”的穷人。

The poor man came to the State of Qi to visit the rich man, and asked him about the way to get rich.

穷人到齐国去拜访那位富人，向他请教致富的方法。

The rich man in the State of Qi told him:

齐国富人告诉他:

"I was also very poor before, but now I am quite well-off. The only reason is that I can steal and rob. But it is very painstaking. By stealing and robbing, I could make a living in the first year, and in the second year I had more than enough to eat and wear. In the third year, my family's storehouse

was truly filled with grain and millet."

“我原来也很贫穷，可是现在日子过得很好。原因只是我会偷、会抢罢了。不过太辛

苦了。我偷呀抢呀，第一年生活就够维持了，第二年就已经吃不完穿不完了，第三年我家

里真是粮满囤、谷满仓。”

The man of Song only heard him talk profusely about stealing and robbing, but did not find out clearly how to steal and rob. The minute he returned home, he got dizzy with imagined success and started to steal and rob.

宋国人只听见他满口的偷呀抢呀，却没有问清楚究竟怎么个偷法、怎么个抢法。他一

回到家就得意忘形地动手去偷、去抢。

As soon as it was dark, he climbed over the wall of the family on the east, and dug a hole in the wall of the family on the west. He stole whatever he saw. After some time, his family actually began getting rich. But just when he was immensely proud of himself, the bailiffs from the yamen government office came and arrested him. He was declared guilty and put in prison. All the things he had stolen and robbed, together with his own old and worn-out stuff, were confiscated.

天一黑，他就翻东家的墙，挖西家的洞。看到什么偷什么。时间一长，家里居然也富起来了。可是，正当他洋洋自得的时候，衙门差人到他家里，将他捉拿归案，判了罪，坐了牢。他偷来抢来的一切，连同他原有的破旧东西，全部被没收了。

As soon as the thief was released upon completion of his prison term, he went to Guo's home in the State of Qi to blame him. The rich man asked him in haste:

这个小偷刑满之后从监牢里一出来就跑到齐国姓“国”的家里责怪他。富人连忙问他:

"How are you doing?"

“你干得怎么样了?”

The thief told him what had happened and sighed:

小偷将经过诉说了一遍，唉声叹气地说:

"I am now even poorer than before."

“我比以前更穷了。”

The rich man was astonished at first, then said regretfully:

富人先是大吃一惊，接着惋惜地说:

"How can you be in reduced circumstances? Alas, you completely misunderstood what I meant by stealing and robbing."

“你怎么会弄到这个地步呢?哎呀!你把我说的偷、抢的意思完全误会了。”

He continued:

又说:

"By stealing and robbing, I meant seeking for the resources of the earth, and racing against the seasons of the heavens. Dense forests, broad land, sunshine, rain and dew, wind and cloud, all these are my targets for robbing.

I approach them, make friends with them, and rely on them to plant crops and build houses. Birds in the sky, beasts on land, fish and shrimp in the river…all these don't belong to me by nature. But I, fearing neither hardship nor toil, use my brains and think up ways to steal them and rob them. This is stealing and robbing in an open and aboveboard way. It is by no means committing a crime. As to the clothing, food and articles of individuals, they are obtained through people's own labour, and can only belong to these people.