A cobbler passed his time in singing from morning till night, it was wonderful to see, wonderful to hear him. He was more contented making in shoes, than was any of the seven sages. His neighbor, on the contrary, who was rolling in wealth, sung but little and slept less. He was a banker, when by chance he fell into a doze at day-break, the cobbler awoke him with his song. Having at length sent for the songster, he said to him: “How much a year do you earn, master Gregory?” “How much a year, sir?” Said the merry cobbler laughing: “I never reckon in that way, living as I do from one day to another; somehow I manage to reach the end of the year, each day brings its meal.” “Well then! How much a day do you earn, my friend?” “Sometimes more, sometimes less, but the worst of it is, and, without that our earnings would be very tolerable, a number of days occur in the year on which we are forbidden to work, and the curate, moreover, is constantly adding some new saint to the list.”
The banker, laughing at his simplicity, said: “In the future I shall place you above want. Take this hundred crowns, preserve them carefully, and make use of them in time of need.” The cobbler fancied he beheld all the wealth which the earth had produced in the past century for the use of mankind. Returning home, he buried his money and his happiness at the same time, no more singing. He lost his voice, the moment he acquired that which is the source of so much grief. Sleep quitted his dwelling, and cares, suspicions, and false alarms took its place, all day, his eye wandered in the direction of his treasure; and at night, if some stray cat made a noise, the cat was robbing him. At length the poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbor: “give me back,” said he, “sleep and my voice, and take your hundred crowns.”
Vocabulary 词汇
cobbler ["k?bl?] n. 补鞋匠,工匠,冷饮料,脆皮水果馅饼
sage [seid?] n. 圣人,贤人;
adj. 明智的,贤明的,审慎的
providence ["pr?vid?ns] n. 天意,深谋远虑
tolerable ["t?l?r?bl] adj. 可容忍的,可以的
fancied ["f?nsid] adj. 空想的,虚构的,受喜爱的
dwelling ["dweli?] n. 住处,寓所;
v. 居住(dwell的现在分词)
Practice
The cobbler is so happy until he has money, why?
译文
一个皮匠从早到晚在唱歌中度过。无论见到他本人或听见他的歌声都使人觉得很愉快。他对于制鞋工作比当上了古希腊七圣人还要满足。与此相反,他的邻居是个银行家,拥有万贯家财,却很少唱歌,晚上也睡得不好。他偶尔在黎明时分迷迷糊糊刚入睡,皮匠的歌声和工作就把他吵醒了。后来,银行家就叫人把这位歌手请来,问道:“格列戈里师傅,你一年赚多少钱?”“先生,你问我一年赚多少钱吗?”快乐的皮匠笑道:“我从来不算这笔账,我是一天一天地过日子,总而言之坚持到年底,每天挣足三餐。”“啊,朋友,那么你一天赚多少钱呢?”“有时多一点,有时少一点,不过最糟糕的是一年中总有些日子不准我们做买卖,牧师又常常在圣徒名单上添新名字,否则我们的收入也还算不错的。”
银行家被皮匠的直率逗笑了,他说:“我要你从今以后不愁没钱用。这一百枚钱你拿去,小心放好,需要时拿来用吧。”皮匠觉得自己好像看到了过去几百年来大地为人类所需而制造出来的全部财富。他回到家中,埋藏好硬币,同时也埋葬了他的快乐。他不再唱歌了,从他得到这种痛苦的根源那一刻起,他的嗓子就哑了。睡眠与他分手,取而代之的却是担心、怀疑、虚惊。白天,他的目光尽朝埋藏硬币的方向望;夜间,如果有只迷途的猫弄出一点声响,他就以为是有人来抢他的钱。最后,这个可怜的皮匠跑到他那富有的邻居家里说:“把你的一百枚钱拿回去,还我的睡眠和歌声来。”
练习
为什么皮匠有了钱之后不再快乐?
Because he begin to worried about losses and cares, suspicions took away the happy.
19 What I Have Lived For 我为何而生
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy—so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what—at least—I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
Vocabulary 词汇
passion ["p???n] n. 激情,热情,酷爱,盛怒
overwhelmingly ["ov?"hwelmi?li] adv. 压倒性地,不可抵抗地
verge [v?:d?] vi. 濒临,接近,处在边缘;
n. 边缘
ecstasy ["ekst?si] n. 入迷,狂喜,忘形
shivering ["?iv?ri?] n. 颤抖,小片;
adj. 颤抖的;
v. 颤抖
unfathomable [?n"f?e?m?bl] adj. 深不可测的,无底的,莫测高深的
abyss [?"bis] n. 深渊,深邃,无底洞
miniature ["mini?t??] adj. 微型的,小规模的;
n. 缩图
apprehend ["?pri"hend] 领悟,领会,理解,懂得,认识
echo ["ek?u] vt. 重复,反射;
vi. 发出回声;
n. 回音,效仿