Once there was a fish who lived in the great ocean， and because the water was transparent and he could always move freely， he didnt know he was in the ocean. Well， one day the fish did a very dangerous thing. He began to think， “Surely I am a most remarkable being， since I can move around like this in the middle of empty space.” Then the fish became confused because of thinking about moving and swimming， and he suddenly had an anxiety convulsion and thought he had forgotten how to swim.

At that moment he looked down and saw the yawning chasm of the ocean depths， and he was terrified that he would drop. Then he thought， “If I could catch hold of my tail in my mouth， I could hold myself up.” And so he curled himself up and snapped at his tail. Unfortunately， his spine wasnt quite supple enough， so he missed. As he went on trying to catch hold of his tail， the black abyss below became even more terrible， and he was brought to the edge of a total nervous breakdown.

The fish was about to give up， when the ocean， who had been watching with mixed feelings of pity and amusement， said， “What are you doing？” “Oh，” said the fish， “Im terrified of falling into the deep dark abyss， and Im trying to catch hold of my tail in my mouth to hold myself up.” So the ocean said， “Well， youve been trying that for a long time now， and you still havent fallen down. How come？” “Oh， of course， I havent fallen down yet，” said the fish， “because， because—Im swimming！”

“Well，” came the reply， “I am the Great Ocean， in which you live and move and are able to be a fish， and I have given all of myself to you in which to swim， and I support you all the time you swim. Instead of exploring the length， breadth， depth， and height of my expanse， you are wasting your time pursuing your own end.”

From then on， the fish put his own end behind him （where it belonged） and set out to explore the ocean.

從前，大海里有一條魚(yú)。由于海水是透明的，而且他總能自由地游來(lái)游去，所以他不知道自己在海洋里。有一天，他做了一件非常危險(xiǎn)的事。他想：“我一定是一個(gè)了不起的生物，因?yàn)槲铱梢栽谶@樣空曠的空間里隨意移動(dòng)。”接著他就一直思考著游泳的事兒，越想越困惑。突然，他由于焦慮發(fā)生了痙攣，以為自己忘記了怎么游泳。

那一刻，他看著自己下方的深淵，如同張著血盆大口，他好害怕自己會(huì)掉下去。他想：“如果我可以用嘴抓住尾巴，那我就不會(huì)往下掉了?！庇谑?，他把身子蜷縮成一團(tuán)，去咬自己的尾巴。不幸的是，因?yàn)樗募棺挡粔蛉彳洠运](méi)有咬住尾巴。他繼續(xù)嘗試著，下方黑色的深淵顯得更可怕了，他覺(jué)得自己快要崩潰了。

就在魚(yú)快要放棄的時(shí)候，大海發(fā)話了，他一直觀察著魚(yú)的一舉一動(dòng)，他很同情這條魚(yú)，同時(shí)又感到好笑。大海說(shuō)：“你在做什么？”“哦?！濒~(yú)回答，“我怕自己掉進(jìn)黑漆漆的深淵里，所以我試著用嘴抓住尾巴，這樣就不會(huì)掉下去了?！比缓蟠蠛Ｕf(shuō)：“那么，你已經(jīng)嘗試了這么久，卻還沒(méi)有掉下去，這是為什么呢？”“哦，我當(dāng)然還沒(méi)有掉下去?！濒~(yú)說(shuō)，“那是因?yàn)椋驗(yàn)槲以谟斡景?！?/p>

“哦?！贝蠛；卮?，“我是寬闊的海洋，你在我里面生活，在我里面游動(dòng)，因?yàn)槲夷悴拍苌頌橐粭l魚(yú)而存在。我已經(jīng)把我的全部都給了你，供你自由自在地游動(dòng)，在你游泳的時(shí)候時(shí)刻支持著你。你不盡情地去探索我的浩瀚和深邃，卻在這里庸人自擾地追自己的尾巴！”

從那一刻起，魚(yú)把他的尾巴放到它應(yīng)放的位置——身后，然后啟程去探索整個(gè)海洋。

Word Study

transparent /tr?ns'p?r?nt/ adj. 透明的

snap /sn?p/ v. （動(dòng)物）突然出聲咬

A dog was snapping at his heels.

pursue /p?'sju?/ v. 追逐

She pursued the man who had stolen a womans bag.