郭倩

1. Once upon a time， there was a warlike1 king. He made enemies everywhere. The whole country became so poor at last. 很早以前，有個國王非常好戰(zhàn)，到處樹敵，弄得國庫空虛。

2. So he ordered his soldiers to search the people for gold. 于是，他命令士兵到老百姓家里去搜刮金子。

3. The soldiers came to a farmers home and said， “It is said that you have a pot of gold.” Then they looked for it by force. 他們來到一個農夫家，說：“聽說你們家有一罐金子。”說完，便強行搜查。

4. But they found nothing at last. The soldiers were so angry that they put the farmer in prison2. 搜了半天，什么也沒撈到，他們氣得把農夫抓進了監(jiān)獄。

5. In spring， the farmer in prison received a letter from his wife. It said， “Its time to plant potatoes， but you are not at home. I have to plow3 by myself.” 春天，農夫在獄中收到妻子的來信，寫道：“該種土豆了，但你卻不能在家?guī)兔?，我只好自己來翻地?！?/p>

6. The farmer wanted to help his wife， but he couldnt go out. Suddenly， he had an idea. 農夫很想去幫妻子，但又出不去。突然，他想到了一個辦法。

7. The farmer wrote a letter to his wife and said， “Dont plow the ground. Theres a pot of gold hiding under the ground.” Then he let a guard send the letter to his wife. 農夫馬上寫了一封信囑咐妻子，信中寫道：“千萬別去翻地，因為地里藏著一罐金子。”然后農夫把信交給看守代寄。

8. The guard read the letter secretly. He was so surprised. 看守私自拆信后，驚喜萬分。

9. The guard sent it to the king in a hurry. 看守急忙將這封信交給了國王。

10. The next morning， more than ten strangers plowed the farmers ground with spades4 for several times. They even did not drink any water when they left. 第二天，十多個陌生人帶著鐵鍬，把農夫家的地來來回回翻了好幾次，連水也不喝一口就走了。

11. A week later， the farmer heard from his wife again. His wife told him what had happened at home. 過了一個星期，農夫又收到妻子的信，把家里發(fā)生的事告訴他了。

12. The farmer laughed from bottom after reading it. He wrote another letter to his wife， “Since so many people helped us plow the ground， you can plant potatoes now！ The potatoes are gold for our poor people！” 農夫看后哈哈大笑，又寫了一封回信，告訴妻子：“既然那么多人幫我們翻了地，那么快種土豆吧！土豆可是咱窮人的金子??！”

Notes：

1. warlike [] adj. 戰(zhàn)爭的；好戰(zhàn)的

2. prison [] n. 監(jiān)獄

3. plow [] v. 犁；耕地

4. spade [] n. 鐵鍬，鏟子