湖北省武漢市 朱丹 供稿

Small Frying－pan

煎鍋太小了

One morning,a man was crossing a narrow bridge when he saw a fisherman was going fishing on the shady river bank.He stopped to watch him quietly.

After a few minutes，the fisherman pulled his line out.There was a big， fat fish at the end of it.The fisherman took it off the hook and threw it back into the water.Then he put his hook and line in the water again.After a few more minutes,he caught another big fish.Again he threw it back into the river.Then，the third time， he caught a small fish.He put it into his basket and got ready to go.The man on the bridge was very surprised， so he said， “Why did you throw those beautiful，big fish back into the water and keep only that small one？”

The fisherman looked up and answered，“Because the frying－pan is small.”

一天早上，一個(gè)人路過(guò)一座很窄的橋，這時(shí)他看見一個(gè)漁夫在蔭涼的河岸邊釣魚，他停下腳步悄悄地觀看。

幾分鐘過(guò)后，漁夫拉起線，線的末端有一條大而肥的魚，漁夫從魚鉤上取下魚并把它扔進(jìn)河里，然后他把魚鉤和線又放進(jìn)水里。又過(guò)了幾分鐘，漁夫又釣到一條大魚，他第二次把魚放回河里。過(guò)后，第三次，漁夫釣到一條小魚，他把小魚放到籃子里準(zhǔn)備走。站在橋上的人很奇怪，所以他問(wèn)漁夫：“你為什么把那些漂亮的大魚放回水里而只留下那條小魚呢？”

漁夫打量了一下橋上的人回答到：“因?yàn)榧邋佁×?。?/p>

I Will Take It Down

我將記下它

An elephant said to a small mouse， “No doubt that you are the smallest and the most useless thing that I have ever seen.”

“Please say it again.Let me take it down，” the mouse said， “I will tell a flea who I know.”

一頭大象對(duì)一只小老鼠說(shuō)：“你無(wú)疑是我見過(guò)的最小、最沒(méi)用的東西?！?/p>

“請(qǐng)?jiān)僬f(shuō)一遍，我將把它記下來(lái)，”老鼠說(shuō)，“我要講給我認(rèn)識(shí)的一只跳蚤聽”。

A Waste of Time

浪費(fèi)時(shí)間

One day,a visitor from the city came to a small rural area.He was driving around the country roads.He wanted to see how the farms looked，and he also wanted to see how farmers earned their living.

The city man saw a farmer in his yard holding a pig up in his hands，and lifting it so that the pig could eat apples on an apple tree.The city man said to the farmer，“I see that your pig likes apples，but isn’t that quite a waste of time？”The farmer replied，“What is time to a pig？”

一天，有一個(gè)城里的游客來(lái)到一個(gè)小鄉(xiāng)村。他在鄉(xiāng)間路上開著車，想看看農(nóng)莊是什么樣子，也想看看農(nóng)夫怎樣種田過(guò)日子。

這位城里人看見一位農(nóng)夫在自家院子里，手中抱著一頭豬，并把它舉得高高的，好讓它能夠吃到樹上的蘋果。城里人對(duì)農(nóng)夫說(shuō)：“我看你的豬挺喜歡吃蘋果的，但是，這不是很浪費(fèi)時(shí)間嗎？”那位農(nóng)夫回答說(shuō)：“時(shí)間對(duì)豬有什么意義？”

A Good Boy

好孩子

Little Robert asked his mother for two cents.“What did you do with the money I gave you yesterday？”

“I gave it to a poor old woman，”he answered.

“You’re a good boy，”said the mother proudly.“Here are two cents more.But why are you so interested in the old woman？”

“She is the one who sells the candy.”

小羅伯特向媽媽要兩分錢。

“昨天給你的錢干什么了？”

“我給了一個(gè)可憐的老太婆，”他回答說(shuō)。

“你真是個(gè)好孩子，”媽媽驕傲地說(shuō)。“再給你兩分錢。可你為什么對(duì)那位老太太那么感興趣呢？”

“她是個(gè)賣糖果的?！?/p>