兩則英語寓言故事
The Fox and the Crow “狐狸和烏鴉”
One day a crow stood on a branch near his nest and felt very happy with the meat in his mouth. At that time, a fox saw the crow with the meat, so he swallowed and eagerly thought of a plan to get the meat. However, whatever the fox said to the crow, the crow just kept silent. Until the fox thought highly of the crow’s beautiful voice, the crow felt flattered and opened his mouth to sing. As soon as the meat fell down to the ground, the fox took the meat and went into his hole.
有一天,一隻烏鴉站在窩旁的樹枝上嘴裡叼著一片肉，心裡非常高興。這時候，一隻狐狸看見了烏鴉，饞得直流口水，非常想得到那片肉。但是，無論狐狸說什麼，烏鴉就是不理睬狐狸。最後，狐狸讚美烏鴉的音最優美，並要求烏鴉唱幾句讓他欣賞欣賞。烏鴉聽了狐狸讚美的話，得意極了，就唱起歌來。沒想到，肉一掉下來，狐狸就叼起肉，鑽回了洞.
The Father and His Son 父親和孩子們
Father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarrelling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks. When they had done so, he placed the faggot into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They each tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it.
He next unclosed the faggot, and took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into their hands, on which they broke them easily. He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this faggot, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."
一位父親有幾個孩子，這些孩子時常發生口角。他絲毫沒有辦法來勸阻他們，只好讓他們看看不合群所帶來害處的'例子。為了達到這個目的，有一天他叫他們替他拿一捆細柴來。當他們把柴帶來時，他便先後地將那捆柴放在每一個孩子的手中，咐他們弄斷這捆柴。他們一個個盡力去試，總是不能成功。
然後他解開那捆柴，一根根地放在他們手裡，如此一來，他們便毫不費力地折斷了。於是他就告訴他們說：「孩子們!如果你們大家團結一致，互相幫助，你們就像這捆柴一樣，不能被你們的敵人折斷;但如果你們自行，你們就將和這些散柴一般，不堪一折了。