曲永華

中國(guó)擁有五千年的歷史文化，誠(chéng)實(shí)守信一向是中國(guó)人引以為傲的美德，“人無(wú)信而不立”、童叟無(wú)欺的故事熏陶了我們幾千年。然而古今中外關(guān)于不誠(chéng)實(shí)、不守信用的事件卻屢屢發(fā)生。請(qǐng)閱讀面包師與農(nóng)民的故事，并以此思考我們?nèi)绾卧谏钪凶鲆粋€(gè)誠(chéng)實(shí)的人。

In a small town in France，there was a farmer who lived alone. Every day he sold a pound of butter to his neighbour，a baker. ①One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound. After he weighed it，he found that he wasn’t. The baker then took the farmer to the judge.

The judge asked the farmer if he had any way to weigh the butter. ②The farmer replied，“I am so poor that I do not have enough money to buy anything to weigh it，but I do have a kind of scale.”The judge asked，“Then how do you weigh the butter？”The farmer replied，“Before the baker started buying butter from me，I had bought bread from him. ③So now every time I bring home the bread from the baker，I put it on the scale and give him the butter of the same weight.”

We get back what we give to others in life. ④Whenever you take action，ask yourself this question，“Am I honest？”

Honesty or dishonesty can become a habit. Some dishonest people can lie without a red face. Others lie so much that they do not even know what the truth is any more. But who is it bad for？ As a matter of fact，those who lie will hurt themselves by their own dishonest behaviour.

精彩譯文

在法國(guó)一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)上，有一個(gè)獨(dú)居的農(nóng)民。他每天都賣(mài)給他的鄰居——一個(gè)面包師一磅黃油。一天，面包師決定稱一下黃油看看是否重一磅。在稱完之后，他發(fā)現(xiàn)重量不足。于是面包師把農(nóng)民帶到了法官面前。

法官問(wèn)農(nóng)民他是否有辦法稱黃油。農(nóng)民回答說(shuō)：“我很窮，沒(méi)有足夠的錢(qián)買(mǎi)稱黃油的東西，但是我確實(shí)有一個(gè)天平?！狈ü賳?wèn)：“那么你是怎么稱黃油的？”農(nóng)民回答說(shuō)：“在面包師開(kāi)始從我這兒買(mǎi)黃油之前，我先從他那買(mǎi)了面包。所以現(xiàn)在每次我從面包師那拿回面包，我就把它放在天平上，然后給他稱出同樣重量的黃油?！?/p>

生活中我們拿回的是我們給予別人的東西。無(wú)論何時(shí)采取行動(dòng)，都要問(wèn)一下自己這個(gè)問(wèn)題：“我誠(chéng)實(shí)嗎？”

誠(chéng)實(shí)或不誠(chéng)實(shí)會(huì)成為習(xí)慣。一些不誠(chéng)實(shí)的人說(shuō)謊時(shí)毫不臉紅，其他人撒謊成性以至于他們不再知道什么是真相。但是那對(duì)誰(shuí)有壞處呢？實(shí)際上，撒謊的人會(huì)因?yàn)樽约翰徽\(chéng)實(shí)的行為而傷害自己。

【新鮮詞】

1. pound /pa?nd/ n.磅，英鎊

2. baker /?be?k?（r）/ n.面包師，烤爐

3. judge /d??d?/ n.法官，裁判

4. scale /ske?l/ n.天平，規(guī)模

5. action /'?k?n/ n.行動(dòng)，動(dòng)作

6. lie /la?/ v. 撒謊，說(shuō)謊

【句型解讀】

1. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound.

翻譯：一天，面包師決定稱一下黃油看看是否重一磅。

解讀：句中if引導(dǎo)一個(gè)賓語(yǔ)從句，if可用whether替換。decide to do sth.意為“決定做某事”。

2. The farmer replied，“I am so poor that I do not have enough money to buy anything to weigh it，but I do have a kind of scale.”

翻譯：農(nóng)民回答說(shuō)：“我很窮，沒(méi)有足夠的錢(qián)買(mǎi)稱黃油的東西，但是我確實(shí)有一個(gè)天平。”

解讀：直接引語(yǔ)使用了so...that結(jié)構(gòu)，引導(dǎo)結(jié)果狀語(yǔ)從句;have前面的do表示強(qiáng)調(diào)。

3. So now every time I bring home the bread from the baker，I put it on the scale and give him the butter of the same weight.

翻譯：所以現(xiàn)在每次我從面包師那拿回面包，我就把它放在天平上，然后給他稱出同樣重量的黃油。

解讀：every time為名詞短語(yǔ)，在句中充當(dāng)連詞，引導(dǎo)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句。

4. Whenever you take action，ask yourself this question，“Am I honest？”

翻譯：無(wú)論何時(shí)采取行動(dòng)，都要問(wèn)一下自己這個(gè)問(wèn)題：“我誠(chéng)實(shí)嗎？”

解讀：Whenever引導(dǎo)一個(gè)讓步狀語(yǔ)從句，主句為祈使句;take action意為“采取行動(dòng)”。