247、英语小故事（英汉对照）“神奇的鹅卵石”

正文

“Why do we have to learn all of this dumb stuff?” Of al lthe complaints and questions I have heard from my students during my years in the classroom, this was the one most frequently uttered（表达） .I would answer it by recounting（讲述） the following legend.

“我们为什么非要学这些没用的东西呢？”在我多年教学生涯中，这是我从学生那里听到的最多的抱怨和质疑。通常我会给他们讲下面这个故事，作为解答。

One night a group of nomads（游牧民） were going to sleep when suddenly they were surrounded by a great light. They knew they were in the presence of God.

某天晚上，一群游牧民正准备睡觉的时候，突然被一圈耀眼的光芒包围了他们。他们明白，神马上就会出现了。

A voice spoke finally,“Gather as many pebbles（鹅卵石） as you can. Put them in your saddle bags（马鞍袋）. Travel a day’s journey and tomorrow night will find you glad and it will find you sad.”

终于传来一个声音：“尽可能地多捡些鹅卵石吧，装到你们的马褡子里。再走上一天，到了明天晚上，你们将同时品尝到快乐和沮丧的滋味。”

The nomads（游牧民） were disappointed and angry — the task made no sense to them at all. However, the memory of the brilliance（光辉） of their visitor caused each one to pick up a few pebbles. They traveled a day’s journey.

这群游牧民们感到既失望又愤怒——神交代下来的这个任务竟然如此无理。但是，处于对刚才神灵现身时的那股灵光的敬畏，他们每个人还是捡了一些鹅卵石。 他们又跋涉了一天。

At night they searched their saddle bags and discovered every pebble had become a diamond. They were glad they had diamonds. They were sad they had not gathered more.

在夜幕降临时，他们便查看了一下自己的马褡子，竟然发现每颗鹅卵石都变成了钻石。他们因为得到了钻石而高兴，但同时也因自己没有捡更多的鹅卵石而懊悔不已。

尽量多地收集一些这样的鹅卵石吧，那么你可能会收获一个钻石般的未来。

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